What is an tragedy is the fact that people are on here talking smack about a situation that they don’t fully know or understand. Everything was done correctly at Skyline Pool. The people posting on here have no clue of the actual events that occurred at Skyline. It is true that through the Red Cross certification lifeguard are trained to use preventative lifeguarding techniques. I know this because I am a current employee of Skyline. So before any of you think you know what happened or choose to tell us how to perform our jobs maybe you should get your facts straight.
First of all, the 3 year old girl is fine. There are absolutely no long term, life altering complications from the accident. She will be a healthy child and plans on returning to the pool as soon as the doctors say it’s safe to return to the water.
Second of all, what gives you the right to attack a young 16 year old lifeguard, because by your standards she didn’t do her job properly. She is a bright young lady who saved a young girl’s life. If YOU think you could do the job better, maybe you should take the rigorous Red Cross lifeguarding course and apply for a job. She recognized the girl was in trouble, got down from her stand, and removed the girl from the water in a timely and safe manner. Without her, the girl would have suffered some of these “life long implications”.
Maybe you should check your facts before you judge the young men and women who have taken the responsibility of watching and protecting the children of Lancaster. As you can see, the lifeguards at Skyline did the job they were set out to do. The life of a young woman was saved, more than can be said for the unfortunate situation that occurred just up the road at Sweetbrier Apartments.
Editor’s comment: We are relieved to learn the little girl has fully recovered. We stand 100% behind our assertions concerning the failure of guarding at Skyline when this incident took place. Perhaps there were not sufficient guards on duty, but this in itself is a failure. No child or bather should ever nearly drown in a pool if properly guarded… ever!
Editor, how do you know that there were not sufficient guards? How do you know it was a failure? Were you even THERE? Accidents can happen in the BLINK of an eye, which is why they are called accidents. Until you can actually be there and *witness* the events that took place, perhaps you should not give opinion on them.
I agree with the person who wrote this letter. Maybe you should check your facts a little bit better before you jump on your high horse and attack someone when you do not know the situation. I don’t care how many lifeguards are on duty, it only takes a single SECOND for someone to glance away TO CHECK ON OTHERS IN THE POOL for an accident to happen.
Children have drowned or gotten seriously injured in their own homes because their parents looked away for just a second or two. Does that make them negligent or bad parents? No, but everyone points fingers at them saying so. We are ALL human and we can’t be everywhere at every second preventing everything from happening.
Maybe instead of trying to make everything about your own agenda because you want to cause waves, you should get your facts straight about situations and not claim to know exactly what happened when you weren’t even there to witness said events. I’m sure even “witnesses” of the event have different sides of what happened that are only a fraction of what actually happened because we don’t always see everything or know everything that happened despite being there.
EDITOR’S RESPONSE: It takes more than “seconds” for a child to be in trouble. Moreover, lifeguards learn to anticipate problems, such as a neglectful parent or a child by himself by a pool.
I repeat that the Watchdog’s apartment complexes and hotels have provided 600 pool seasons over 45 years without a serious injury or drowning.
Anyone who has a serious iterest in improving guarding at a public pool, be they lifeguard, manager or owner, need only contact the Manor House Apartments to arrange a visit. We will also be pleased to provide a copy of our pool procedures manual.
Stop making excuses. Start learning. Safety first!