Lifeguard Jenna Harrell, 17, looks over the pool during a break at the Riverview Parks Pool in Lake Station, Indiana Wednesday June 22, 2022. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)
Lifeguard Jenna Harrell, 17, looks over the pool during a break at the Riverview Parks Pool in Lake Station, Indiana Wednesday June 22, 2022. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)
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A national lifeguard shortage is impacting swimming pools and beaches in Northwest Indiana forcing one popular waterpark to close two days a week and a national park beach to go unguarded for two days while officials scramble to find qualified lifeguards.

The shortage comes as beachgoers and pool lovers flock to the water as summer temperatures rise.

“People entering the classes nationally for certification is down by almost 30%,” said Chris Landgrave, chief operating officer of the Lake County Parks and Recreation Department, which operates the Deep River Waterpark in Merrillville.

The waterpark told its patrons Wednesday it will remain closed Mondays and Tuesdays throughout the season. It couldn’t attract lifeguards to complete the 40-plus hours of initial training to maintain the safe level of staffing to stay open seven days a week.

During the waterpark’s busy summer months, it employs about 180 lifeguards. Landgrave said the park has about 110 now and they earn $14 an hour to watch over kids on rides like the Kraken and the Slidewinder.

“I know the pandemic had a lot to do with it,” he said.

The American Red Cross, which offers the largest certification program in the U.S., halted classes and pools closed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020.

That slowed the lifeguard pipeline.

The American Lifeguard Association estimates the shortage impacts one-third of U.S. pools. Bernard J. Fisher II, director of health and safety at the association, expects that to grow to half of all pools by August, when many teenage lifeguards return to school.

“It is a disaster,” Fisher said.

Sometimes Landgrave said applicants have been flaky.

“They’ll commit to things via the computer and if you get 30 responses, you might have 10 show up,” he said.

Young adults, who typically fill lifeguard jobs, also have more lucrative employment options.

Indiana University Northwest economist Micah Pollak said the economy is playing a big role in diminishing the lifeguard pool.

He said workers are returning from the pandemic with a reassessment of work and that’s driven up wages in hourly service jobs, which compete with lifeguard positions.

“Bottlenecks in the certification programs may also be a factor, but you can’t force young adults to complete a certification for a job they aren’t interested in,” said Pollak.

“Bringing certification programs back up to speed will help, but that’s unlikely to be a complete solution.”

West Beach, the most popular destination in the Indiana Dunes National Park, doesn’t have enough lifeguards to cover the beach seven days a week, said park spokesman Bruce Rowe.

He said the beach is unguarded Tuesdays and Wednesdays. As temperature hit the high 90s Tuesday, swimmers flocked to Lake Michigan.

Rowe said the park is offering overtime for the seven guards it employs this summer. He said they earn $17.20 an hour and the lead guard earns $19.24 an hour. They’re on duty from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday-Monday.

Beachgoers are allowed to swim at their own risk at national park beaches that aren’t guarded, such as Porter Beach, Central Avenue, and Mount Baldy, Rowe said.

“But it’s important for people to understand the dangers of Lake Michigan. They should check for beach hazard warnings and people need to understand the north of the sandbars, there can be a big drop off.”

He said patrons who want to swim at a guarded beach should call ahead to make sure guards are stationed on their platforms that day.

Lake Station Mayor Bill Carroll said his staff anticipated the lifeguard shortage and worked hard to make sure it could keep its pool at Riverview Park open.

“We started securing lifeguards very, very early,” he said.

Officials there said they had trouble finding lifeguard instructors.

“I could only find two people to get my kids certified,” said Adrian Vera, Carroll’s chief of staff who hired the guards who earn $10 an hour. “Right now, there aren’t many lifeguard instructors out there.”

Vera said he turned to an instructor at the Hobart Family YMCA.

At Hobart High, which has a new aquatics center, director Ken Cawthon said students can earn their lifeguard certification in classes offered during the school day.

If the student works at the high school’s aquatics center, the school pays for the certification.

“We have lifeguards for every single hour of school,” he said.

He said the problem is an acute one.

“People are talking to me from Plymouth, there’s not enough lifeguards across the country,” he said.

Gaining the certification is not easy. Cawthon described it as a strenuous regimen and some quit when they find out how much work is involved.

For example, his students must swim down 10 feet and pick up a 10-pound brick and bring to the surface and carry it 15 yards. The Hobart students get an entire semester to hone their skills.

“In Northwest Indiana with Lake Michigan and all the pools everywhere, swimming is a vital skill,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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