Lifeguards play vital role for city and serve as good summer jobs

The City of Cape Girardeau is having trouble finding lifeguards.

Lifeguarding at swimming pools was once the go-to summer job for teenagers, but fewer teenagers today are signing up for the gig.

The city has hired 70 lifeguards for next year, but ideally wants to hire another 30, city officials recently told government reporter Mark Bliss.

The reasons for the decline are anyone’s guess; some speculate teens can get paid higher wages at other local businesses, which has the city thinking about whether to increase the hourly rate.

The city employs lifeguards for the Central Municipal Pool and Cape Splash water park.

Lifeguarding is an important job, even if it is a first job for many teens. Not long ago, two teenage lifeguards saved a 5-year-old’s life after pulling the drowning girl from a pool and performing CPR.

If you know a teen who is a good swimmer, enjoys the water, would be interested in training in life-saving techniques, there are jobs available this summer.