For Newtown’s Lifeguards,

There’s No Relaxing By The Pool

By Steve Bigham

The Dickinson Park pool is scheduled to open for the first time this Saturday and Newtown’s team of lifeguards will be on hand to scan the waters. Leading the way will be veteran lifeguard Heather Martins. She and her two brothers, Sean and Ray, have taken turns atop the chair for nearly a decade.

Sean and Ray have since moved on, but Heather, the little sister, is still there, carrying on the Martin lifeguarding tradition.

“All of us were on the swim team in high school and to become lifeguards was just a natural progression,” said Heather, 22, who is just one semester away from graduating from the University of Connecticut. After that, it’s off to graduate school and eventually a career in teaching. For now, however, she and her crew are focused on the task of saving lives.

“It’s a big responsibility. You have to watch 60 to 100 people at a time. That’s why we sit in the chair in 15-30 minute shifts,” explained Heather, a 1996 NHS graduate now in her ninth year as a lifeguard.

Twenty-year-old Ryan Loring, a student at Springfield College, returns as the Dickinson Park assistant lifeguard.

The pool at Treadwell Park opened Memorial Day weekend and has already had a handful of busy days, including this past Saturday when heat and humidity drew residents by the dozens. At Treadwell, Christine Foster, 22, captains the 10-person lifeguard crew. A nine-year veteran, Christine knows a thing or two about the job and begins her third year as head lifeguard.

Unlike the vastness of the Dickinson Park pool, Treadwell’s pool is much smaller. Easier to guard, you may think. Not when more than 100 children and adults fill the pool on sultry days. It can create tense situations for the eyes in the chairs.

Christine, also a 1996 NHS graduate, recently graduated from Marist College. Her assistant this year is Nick Taylor, 20, a student at Keane State University. Just this past weekend, Nick had to dive into the Treadwell pool to save a young boy who had gone under.

In all, more than 20 lifeguards will staff Newtown’s two public pools this summer, with plenty of substitutes waiting in the wings.

Parks & Recreation Director Barbara Kasbarian believes Newtown has some of the most experienced lifeguards around.

“We’re very fortunate here because we’re capable of offering lifeguard certification courses at the high school,” Mrs Kasbarian said.

Heather and Christine have 16 years of life guarding experience between them.

“They’re both very responsible and very reliable. They’re good leaders. The lifeguards all look up to them,” Mrs Kasbarian said.

Nevertheless, every summer brings it share of “99s” – a code called when a lifeguard is approached by a frantic parent who cannot find a child. That’s when Heather or Christine will blow their whistles to start a well-planned rescue drill. Not a minute is wasted as the pool is emptied and a search is conducted. Of course, the missing child is usually found over by the sandbox – the only place mom or dad forgot to look. The lifeguards have to be prepared for a true rescue, however, and they are constantly honing their skills.

 The rest of the Dickinson Park lifeguard crew consists of Evan Liljengren, Helene Powers, Mike Powers, Joe Blanchard, Katherine Ryan, Ryan Eberts, Karlis Griffith, Robert Weiss, Ashley Molden, and A.J. Palmer.

 At Treadwell, Christine Altieri, Katherine Matz, Megan Tomasko, Blair Balmforth, Megan Randlov, Jessica Oswald, Greg Taylor, Genna McCann, and Kerin Sovern will also be manning the chairs.