As Pools Reopen, Lifeguard Shortage Poses New Challenge

ALGONQUIN, IL — As many suburbanites get ready for a return to normalcy this summer, area pools and park districts are struggling to find lifeguards to safely reopen with pre-COVID hours.

Dolphin Cove Family Aquatic Center, located at Route 25 and Route 68 in Carpentersville, will be opening this weekend with shorter weekday hours due to the shortage with hopes hiring more throughout the season.

“Some parents are concerned about COVID in general and are trying to protect their families from it, and there does seem to be a level of our anxiety out there in the teenage population,” said Mike Eschenbach of the three-pool Dundee Township Park District, told the Chicago Tribune earlier this month.

“Kids are already anxious, and when you try to give them a level of responsibility like lifeguarding has, it scares them even more.”

Dolphin Cove is offering a $50 bonus to any staffer who refers a person who is hired as a lifeguard.

Lions Armstrong Pool in Algonquin, which was closed for the entire 2020 season, has had a hard time hiring lifeguards as well — a trend that Algonquin officials say pools and park districts across the region are dealing with.

Offerings at the pool and hours may have to be adjusted this season if the village is not able to recruit more lifeguards. The village pays $11 per hour for the position. Lions Armstrong Pool, 599 Longwood Drive, will open on June 5.

The Des Plaines Park District is also looking for lifeguards for its Prairie Lakes Aquatic Center and is offering training as well as a $50 Amazon gift card for those who are onboarded before June 4. The park district opted to raise its pay rate by 50 cents to $12 per hours to try and attract more applicants, Gene Haring of the Des Plaines Park District told the Chicago Tribune.

The Crystal Lake Park District is among the park districts that is fully staffed and ready to reopen its beaches this weekend, park district officials told Patch in an email response. Both Main and West beaches are set to reopen on May 29.

• When Are Beaches Opening In Crystal Lake?

The park district has had a tougher time in recent years finding young people to work through Labor Day, as many high schools and college students head back to school in mid- or early-August.

Under current Illinois Bridge Phase guidelines, outdoor recreation programs can have up to 100 people in a group, but multiple groups are possible. Illinois is set to fully reopen on June 11.