Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato day 2

Day 2

Written: 5-27-2013

            It was day two. This time, I wore nicer white shorts and a pink polo. I was ready for my teach back for child CPR with a poster with a very plain layout and a handout. I took the handout down to the copier machine at the front of the building to make enough copies for everyone.

            The first thing we did that day was meet in the room, and then jump into the pool. Everyone who had teach backs that involved the pool went first. We did the different rescues, and the guards teaching it did demonstrations on land and in the water. Then we all got to try it. We took turns going on stand so that every one of us had a chance to go. But it seemed like every time it was time to give good comments and constructive criticism, Doug always had something to say for both, sometimes several things. That guy knew his stuff. When the guards teaching asked if anyone had any questions, he asked something challenging to see if they would answer correctly, only he asked them as if he knew nothing.

            There was one teach back in the pool that was especially good, and that was Anissa teaching about Vigilance Awareness Tests. She was very specific and convincing I her words. She was clear and easy to understand and covered everything. She told the importance of a VAT; if you can’t see a VAT, then how are you going to see a drowning person? It was really good and there was hardly any constructive criticism from anyone, except Doug, of course J

            When we were done with the water teach backs, we went back into the party room and started on our land teach backs. They were everything from v vacks to CPR to FBAO. I have to say that they were all really good. Some were a lot better than others, but everyone did a fantastic job. I could see where corrections could be made and where improvement was needed in each individual. Cesar stumbled over his words a lot, but that was okay; that was what he needed to work on. Someone else sometimes didn’t make sure that everyone could see what they were showing them. Everyone had something to work on; even Doug. He was teaching us about AEDs. Even he forgot to tell about the child key to reduce the shock.

            But that’s why we were all there, to help each other out, so that we could realize our weaknesses and strong points, so that we could use our strong points to help others strengthen their weak points in their job. I have to say that that was the mane reason for the BLT class; to strengthen each other and to boost the confidence.

            I went last in my teach back, since I had child CPR and everything that was already taught lead up to CPR. The only problem with my teach back was that everyone in the room had just sat through three hours of teach backs from other people. Everyone was tired and capturing the full attention of every person in the room was going to be a bit of a challenge. Unfortunately, I couldn't actually demonstrate it because everyone was sitting in chairs at tables at the wrong angle and would not be able to see me working on the floor. But I had a poster prepared and handouts with very clear guide lines and instructions on how to perform child CPR and rescue breathing. I asked for a volunteer to hold the poster, and I got two. I used a very clear vocabulary, explained what CPR meant along with other things, and explained why things were the way they were. I used a clear voice and made eye contact as best I could with the people in the room. I asked questions for everyone to answer together as a group.

            When I was done, I got a lot of good compliments and one piece of constructive criticism from Doug. He said that I should explain more why we do things. He said we could just do the CPR, but we should know why we are doing each step to it. He was right, and in fact, I was planning on doing that a lot more. I had everything all planned out in my head, but when it came down to it, I couldn’t remember absolutely everything; especially since I was the last one to go for the day.

            “Okay everyone,” Mike said as he handed out iPads, one for every few people. “Do not try and unlock these until I say so.” He finished handing out the iPads and then instructed everyone to unlock the iPads, telling us the passwords, and showing which app to open up.

            We spent the next forty-five minutes going over everything in the portal. It held all the paperwork needed for a day to run correctly. It had VAT forms, rescues reports, incident/accident reports, daily task reports, delegating future tasks to other supervisors and managers, and everything else needed. Some of the iPads were being stubborn and didn’t want to load because the wifi connection was weak in that stone walled party room. But we made it work and stood on chairs and held up the iPads until they loaded.

            This was the time to be using our notebooks. I took mine out and took some notes about each form; what each one was for and when it was to be used. To be honest, I was confused. The forms made sense, but I wasn't sure how I was going to remember each and every little detail about them. I took some simple but clear notes and did my best. Some of the other lifeguards who were already supervisors told me it would get easier the more I did it. I knew they were right.

            The day came to a close much like the one before. We went around the room and everyone told one good things about the day and one thing everyone needed to work on. I could already see the progress that everyone in the room had made. I realized I didn't know the real reason why no one under 48 inches was allowed to go down the slides; it was because of the requirements made by the slide company from the speed and turns, someone under four feet tall could get hurt. Everyone else in the room learned other things much of the same sort.

            I heard lifeguards talk about the BLT before; that someone could be a supervisor just fine without the training. Well in some cases with certain people, that may be true. But I do not believe so with most of us. For me, I would not be a good supervisor without the BLT. Even though it may have seemed like all we did was do a bunch of skits and teach backs and then went through the iPads, I feel like we all learned from that. Just having everyone gather there in that room, all of us building leaders out of each other, makes us learn a lot.

            Day two was over. Now for the final day.