How to get certified in water rescue, cpr, and first aid.?

Question

to be a life guard.

Answer 1

You would likely have to go to the Red Cross (or Cresent in some countries) and they have programs that you can take. Also if you happen to be a Boy Scout and have Lifesaving merit badge you can sign up for Lifeguarding BSA which is a rigorous lifeguarding course which typically lasts 3 weeks every single day.

But either one of these will get you things like certification in CPR and all forms of water rescue and they might also teach you advanced techniques like victim energy control, long-distance unassisted deep water retrieval and single-person full treatment (how to get them up on a dock by yourself and things like that). After you're certified you'll be all set for a lifeguarding job (also realize that without certification there are very few job openings and in some cases you won't even be allowed to lifeguard by state law without certification).

Answer 2

When I saw the words "how to get certified" I had SUCH a great answer

Answer 3

In Canada, you can do all these courses through the Lifesaving Society.  I would recommend looking at your city's website. Sometimes these courses are listed as aquatics courses in municipal recreation guides.

Answer 4

go through the red cross, its the easiet way, they do CPR/AED, lifeguard training, and first aid all in the training class. it isnt hard at all and it porbably cost 150-250 and it is worth the money, you definetly back it back fast in like the first 2 months or less of working as a lifeguard. just call you locak red cross and find out when the next class is and sign up for it and attend and thats all you have to do.

in the class they teach you ALL the saves, jumps, first aid, cpr/aed things that lifeguard needs. then at the end you take a test which is easy if you remember the first aid stuff and you look over the book they give you.

http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/aqu...

Answer 5

"they might also teach you advanced techniques like victim energy control"

...you get them in a headlock, it's really not that complicated.

Ok...so I'm not a trained lifeguard, but I have taken basic water rescue...and going to do more this weekend (yay SCUBA).  What I've been taught is that you knock them out if you have to to be able to rescue them safely.

As to the original question, Red Cross is a good option, but a little expensive.  Look around a little, and you should be able to get cpr and first aid either cheaper or free.

Also, NAUI has a water based first aid course, but unless there's a lot of active diving in your area, it may be a little hard to find.  Best thing to do to find water first aid (IMO) is to poke around in dive shops that also teach and ask them if they offer it.