As the weather begins to warm back up the YMCA in Cadillac is looking for lifeguards, but the national shortage in lifeguards is making that task challenging.
The Program Director for the YMCA in Cadillac, John Leech, says the shortage in lifeguards has been a problem for about a decade.
“It’s not a career that a lot of people want to go into if you’re not on the coast unfortunately, but it’s definitely a career that’s needed,” Leech says.
Leech says they’ve struggled recently with finding people interested in lifeguarding and has been attending job fairs to try to get more people interested in the field.
“It’s important because of the amount of water that we have around, the amount of camps we have around and the amount of people that are using that,” Leech states.
People interested must be 15-years-old and be able to complete the prerequisite swim test which includes being able to swim 550 yards continuously and tread water for two minutes using just your legs.
“There’s camps around the area, we’re looking for guards [at the YMCA] all the time. We have Camp Torenta we need lifeguards for that as well,” Leech says. “So, yeah it’s definitely important.”
People training will learn CPR and how to use an AED.
Click here for more information on the program and how to get signed up.
