The participants in Mike Freeman’s lifeguard certification class don’t look like your typical lifeguards. With a few extra wrinkles and silver hairs, what they lack in youthfulness, they make up for with a passion for aquatics.
Freeman is the recreation program manager at the Aquatic Facility, and he’s struggled with staffing shortages since the beginning of the pandemic.
“We’re trying to get some of our regular lap swimmers who are retired to step up and lifeguard so that we can keep the (Aquatic Facility) open. We’re seeing a lot of interest in that,” he said.
Many of those regular lap swimmers just so happen to be seniors and retirees.
Of the eight participants in Freeman’s current class, the majority are older adults and retirees who frequent the community pool. They signed up for the class in response to signs plastering the front door and locker rooms: “Lifeguards Needed.”
Mike Freeman, recreation program manager at the Aquatic Facility, has had to pick up lifeguarding shifts to fill schedule gaps. (Photo: Faith Evans/Nevada Appeal)
Carson City isn’t alone in the struggle to fill its lifeguard towers. Since 2020, pools nationwide haven’t been able to offer lifeguard certification classes due to the pandemic, according to numerous reports. The backlog in training caught up to aquatic facilities in the summer of 2021, resulting in lifeguard shortages in most states. Many are still scrambling to get more hands on deck.
According to Jennifer Budge, Carson City Parks and Recreation director, the Aquatic Facility has about half the lifeguards it needs to offer full programming. It disappoints staff just as much as it disappoints swimmers.
“Normally this time of year we’d be offering a full range of swim lessons. We don’t have those going on right now because we don’t have enough staff to teach them,” Freeman said.
He said that the water fitness class, usually taught by a paid instructor, has been run by volunteers on a very limited basis. He sometimes has to close the therapy pool without any lifeguards to staff it.
“Hopefully it will never get to the point that we have to shut down the entire facility, but it’s not impossible. … We won’t operate unsafely,” Freeman said.
Jane Brinson is a frequent swimmer at the Aquatic Center, and she’s one of the retirees in the current lifeguarding class. Though she’s happy to see seniors like herself fill gaps in the schedule, she doesn’t think it’s entirely sustainable.
“I only see this as a short-term solution to a long-term problem,” she said during public comment time at a Board of Supervisors meeting. “I’m wondering if there’s something we can look at creatively to encourage the young adult population to feed into this program a little more continuously, so we don’t have the issues.”
It’s a problem that Dan Earp, Carson City recreation superintendent, is working on. He is seeing staffing shortages across Parks and Recreation, especially in jobs where the city usually hires teenagers and college-aged students.
Aside from plastering the Aquatic Facility with “Lifeguards Needed” signs, Earp is helping the city make a push to raise lifeguard base wages from $10.50 hourly to $12. He also wants to find more ways to reach teenagers and young adults through city programs, like field trips and the junior lifeguarding program.
“If we can connect with the teens at the high school … (we can) build those relationships and say, ‘Hey, if you’re looking for a job, come work with us. We’re fun,’” he said.
He joked that teenagers won’t follow Parks and Rec on Facebook, so the face-to-face time is what he really needs to boost recruitment.
Earp and Freeman agree that one advantage the Aquatic Facility has over other jobs is schedule flexibility. Because Freeman’s teenage employees often have extracurricular activities, some work as often as every day, or as little as once a month. He’s happy to accommodate their schedules.
Freeman also emphasizes to teens that, even if lifeguarding isn’t their ultimate career goal, it’s a good steppingstone.
“A lot of pre-med, pre-firefighter, pre-EMT type people like to take this as a base level, and it’s a good core training for a lot of those folks,” he said.
Mia Aunkst doesn’t like telling people her age, but she thinks she might be the oldest lifeguard in Nevada. She’s been working with the Aquatic Facility for almost 20 years, and she says it’s a great way for retired seniors to “set (themselves) up for a fun job.” (Photo: Faith Evans/Nevada Appeal)
On the other hand, Aquatic Facility Program Supervisor Tami Jennings thinks that the push to hire retirees as lifeguards is the way to go. She disagrees with Brinson.
“I want to normalize the senior lifeguard,” she said. “These are the clientele that value the facility, and the ones that are getting involved (and) want to be a part of the solution.”
Mia Aunkst is proof of that argument.
She’s a retired school teacher, and not only is she an avid swimmer, but she’s been lifeguarding at the Aquatic Facility for nearly 20 years.
“I set myself up for a fun job,” she said. “I love the water, and I love swimming, and I love teaching swimming, and I’m a people person. So it was perfect.”
She jokes that she won’t tell people her age, but she’s probably the oldest lifeguard in Nevada. She stays because she loves her job.
“Almost 100 percent of our staff – they don’t have to work. They work because they want to. They’re doing us a favor by being here,” Jennings said. “Maybe they can only work two days a month or whatever. That may be the two shifts we need to make it all run.”
The city will start its big recruiting push for summer lifeguards in April. Freeman will host at least three more 30-hour lifeguarding classes after the current cohort finishes their training.
He, Earp, Jennings, and Brison have different opinions on who will ultimately fill the lifeguarding shortage. In truth, the city is hoping to hire anyone, old or young, who has a passion for aquatics.
