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Lifeguarding /

Lifeguarding - Comparing American Red Cross to Ellis and Associates

Update:

Since first working on this page I have become a Red Cross LG Instructor and generally researched much more into both programs. When time allows, I'll be updating this page to compare not only Ellis and ARC, but also the YMCA and StarFish lifeguarding programs.

Introduction

The intent of this wiki document is to compare the Jeff Ellis and Associates lifeguarding program to the American Red Cross lifeguarding program in a fair (but opinionated) manner.

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Scanning

10/20 Rule

  • While it was presented as extra information in my university class, and I'm sure many other Red Cross instructors are aware of it, I do not see any indication that the 10/20 protection rule is taught by the ARC.
  • According to the Ellis program, the 10/20 rule was first implemented by them and is now a proven industry standard. To those unfamiliar the 10/20 rule essentially says that guards must scan their entire zone every 10 seconds, and be able to reach a victim within 20 seconds. This rule is taught before any other aspects of scanning and is important not just to guards but to facility managers as they establish their guard zones.

Rotation

  • Ellis's program requires guards to actively scan the entire zone, especially the bottom of the water, before taking over zone coverage.
  • ARC only specifies that the in-coming guard scans "for a moment" before taking over coverage.

Active victim, front approaches

  • ARC teaches to either:
    1. release one hand from the rescue tube and extent it towards the victim
      • I find this method OK, but I have issues with letting go of the tube with one hand and counting on the victim to see and grab onto the tube.
    2. swim around the victim and use a rear-approach instead.
      • This is absolutely absurd. Not only does it waste time, but the victim is probably going to see the lifeguard and attempt to turn toward them.
      • If I were a victim, and I see a lifeguard swim around me because they were afraid I might be so in distress that I might grab them - I'm going to give them plenty of justification for being afraid once I get within reach.
  • Ellis teaches the Front-Drive approach, keeping both hands on the tube and arms fully extended to keep maximum distance from a victim in distress.
    • While you could argue that swimming the extra few feet to reach the guest is slower than the ARC method of tube extension, I believe the time it takes a guard to maneuver the tube around and toward the victim makes both rescues approaches roughly the same.
    • The Ellis method keeps both hands on the tube. This control of the tube allows for:
      • Keeping the lifeguard supported in case the victim does not immediately grab the tube, the lifeguard can reach over the tube and pull the victim onto it. With the ARC method, if a victim does not immediately grab the tube, the lifeguard now must attempt to put the victim onto it without the tube's support.
      • In case the victim submerges, by keeping the tube in both hands and in front the lifeguard is ready to reach over the tube and do a just-beneath-the-surface "duck pluck" rescue, placing the victim onto the tube.
      • By keeping both hands on the tube, once the victim is rescued, the lifeguard is able to "drive" the victim quickly to the exit by a full kicking motion, with the eyes always on the victim. With the ARC method, the lifeguard is dragging the tube - preventing a full kick, and requiring the lifeguard to take his eyes off the victim to see where he is going.

Passive Victims

  • ARC does not teach any in-water assessment of breathing, or rescue breathing.
  • Ellis teaches to assess a passive victim while swimming back to the extrication point, and mandates that a mask be available for use by the guard in the water. Protocol dictates that a non-breathing victim will have had at least rescue breath by the time they are extricated.
    • This is taught so as to not slow down the ultimate objective of getting the victim out of the water, but to begin providing oxygen immediately.
  • Ellis also teaches how to perform the Heimlich maneuver in water.

Extrication

For a passive, non-spinal victim:

  • ARC teaches:
    1. Primary rescuer brings victim to wall.
    2. Secondary rescuer brings backboard to deck.
    3. P passes victims hands to S
    4. S crosses hands, and grabs right-to-right, left-to-left
    5. S holds victim vertically while P leaves water
      • This is absurd! At first glance, you might think the ARC method is better for the guards health because the primary helps the secondary pull the victim out, however, it's not! While waiting on the primary rescuer to get out of the water, the secondary must support much more weight by holding the victim straight up. Furthermore, when both rescuers attempt to pull the victim out, they are pulling largely up because the victim is now vertical instead of lying down on the backboard at a small angle.
    6. P - now out of the water - places backboard in water
    7. S uncrosses hands while rolling victim onto backboard
    8. P grabs one victim hand and together:
    9. P and S pull backboard and victim up and out.
  • The Ellis approach is:
    1. Primary brings victim to wall
    2. Secondary brings backboard, placing one end on the edge, submerging the rest
    3. P guides victim onto backboard
    4. P removes tube from underneath victim, and if necessary, puts tube under foot of board to help support it
    5. S keeps board at very shallow angle while pulling backboard and victim back - not up while the P helps push victim out.
  • Comments:
    • This is one of the bigger differences I was unaware of and where I find the ARC's method absolutely inferior.
    • The ARC method has the guard on deck standing up, bending over, and leaning forward because they must support the victim's extra weight while holding them straight up. The Ellis method allows the guard on deck to bend from the knees and pull directly back, because the board is kept at a very shallow angle.
    • More importantly, the Ellis method is twice as fast, because it's much, much more direct.

Sayings/Mnemonics

  • Overall / Decision Making
    • Ellis:
      • Anticipate, Recognize, Respond
      • "Go! If you don't know, Go!"
    • ARC:
      • "ensure patron safety and protect lives"
      • FIND
        • Figure out the problem
        • Identify possible solutions
        • Name the pros and cons for each solution
        • Decide which solution is best

Accountability / Unification

Statistics

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Page last modified on August 08, 2008, at 09:26 AM