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churninbutter t1_iwev2v5 wrote

Reply to comment by SocalPizza in TIL about Deaf lifeguard Leroy Colombo, who overcame childhood paralysis through swimming and saved a record-breaking 900+ lives during his career. His swimming talent and use of sight rather than sound to identify drowning swimmers allowed him to save people other lifeguards would have missed. by lemontreelemur

Yup. I was a lifeguard at a Boy Scout camp, and was up early for a 1 mile swim at the choke point of the pool we had (iirc it was like 25 yards long but had this narrow section in the middle that I was stationed in. It was a very long time ago so could be wrong on the length though). I was dutifully scanning the field of swimmers when another lifeguard on the other side of the choke point yelled my name and pointed basically to my feet. A kid not 2 feet away from the side of the pool, and honestly just inside my scan zone, was struggling to stay up and made ABSOLUTELY ZERO NOISE. It was shocking, and I basically threw the donut straight down on his head. The fact I missed someone in trouble 2 feet away from me kinda fucked me up for a bit, but what I took away from it was that someone drowning makes literally zero noise. None. Zip. Zilch. It was so crazy to me that I could have almost grabbed this person but they never said ANYTHING. It was all good because we designed our lifeguard stations with that in mind, but it was still wild to me.

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bsloss t1_iweynl9 wrote

You shouldn’t feel bad about that… the space directly under a lifeguard stand is usually considered to be a “blind spot” for the lifeguard stationed there. Lifeguards working in teams are supposed to be trained to scan their areas as well as the spaces directly below their fellow lifeguards.

It’s one of those things that seem silly in theory, but in practice can be absolutely vital (as it seems you found out!).

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churninbutter t1_iwezp39 wrote

I do appreciate you saying that, cause even though it’s been like a decade it’s always kinda stuck with me as like a “woah” moment. Really drove home just how silent drowning is

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boricimo t1_iwfjwzx wrote

Did the person make even a splashing noise?

Edit: just read other comments about what real drowning looks like and makes sense why zero noise.

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churninbutter t1_iwfkbzq wrote

No, it was like he couldn’t get his hands above the water. Like take every image you’ve ever had about someone drowning and throw it away. It was nuts how quiet it was. Hypothetically if he was the only one in the pool and the same situation happened if you were facing the other way you would have no idea something was wrong

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Levlove t1_iwj59vf wrote

My 6 year old stepped off the bottom step in a pool while I was turned the other way saying something to my grandmother. He made absolutely no noise at all and I only realized he was drowning because I turned around to check and make sure he was still within arm’s reach (you know, so he wouldn’t drown). It’s happens SO fast and it’s so quiet. Now I won’t even swim with my younger kids unless there is a 1:1 adult to kid ratio, even if there are lifeguards, and we don’t take our eyes off them.

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Levlove t1_iwj5ss8 wrote

My 6 year old stepped off the bottom step in a pool while I was turned the other way saying something to my grandmother. He made absolutely no noise at all and I only realized he was drowning because I turned around to check and make sure he was still within arm’s reach (you know, so he wouldn’t drown). It’s happens SO fast and it’s so quiet. Now I won’t even swim with my younger kids unless there is a 1:1 adult to kid ratio, even if there are lifeguards, and we don’t take our eyes off them.

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Accurate_String t1_iwg15th wrote

I worked in the summers at a pool at a boy scout camp too. Only ever had to make one save. We were having a tournament of greased "watermelon" (expert it was a watermelon-sized mayo container partially filled with water). Anyways the round was over and all the kids were swimming back to the sides, except one. He was just dog paddling 2 feet away from the wall. Definitely not making a sound. He was literally right in front of me. And I just watched him dog paddle for awhile before I realized that he wasn't moving at all and that he was in the early stages of drowning. I quickly hit the deck and reached my hand out to pull him in, pretty lame as far as rescue stories go.

But it still struck me as weird that after all the training (and teaching) that I did, it took me so long to identify drowning when it was right in front of me, happening to a kid that I knew because he was in my home troop.

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Raichu7 t1_iwg4c01 wrote

If you were a lifeguard why the hell didn’t your training tell you what drowning sounds/looks like? That’s a training issue, not your fault.

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