Kiara Jordan never envisioned she would become a lifeguard – let alone a certified lifeguard instructor – during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 28-year-old applied to become an assistant manager at the YWCA El Paso del Norte Region when she realized getting a lifeguard certification was part of the requirement.

“I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m not the best swimmer.’ But I do consider myself an athlete,” Jordan said, adding that running is her sport of choice. “I was ready to do it regardless.”

After what she referred to as the toughest week of her life, she passed training and became a certified lifeguard. Soon after, she was a certified lifeguard trainer. Though Jordan said she hasn’t had to jump in the water to save a life, she’s proud to have trained one of her students who did.

“He did everything right, so that was great,” she said about her student, now a certified lifeguard.

Jordan and her student are among a select few certified lifeguards in the region, a job that grew in demand the past several years as fewer people achieved the required training and more pools and water recreation areas opened. The pandemic didn’t help, with social distancing leading to fewer training and certification opportunities.

The city and county pools and water parks, which had faced difficulty recruiting lifeguards in recent years, increased salaries and in some cases offered sign-on bonuses to fill their rosters. 

But with the summer pool season kicking off this weekend, some area organizations such as the YWCA have struggled to fill their lifeguard positions. 

“It’s something that we’re still dealing with right now,” said Desiree Ramirez, branch operations manager with the YWCA El Paso del Norte Region.

It’s not a phenomenon unique to El Paso: The shortage of lifeguards has continued to be an issue throughout the country, according to the American Lifeguard Association, which estimates that one-third of the 309,000 pools in the United States were affected by the shortage in 2023 and will reduce hours or close pools in 2024.

While the shortage came to a head after the height of the pandemic, a challenge has long been the turnover: Lifeguarding is viewed as a summer job for teens and not a career, the association states.

Demand for lifeguards grew with more water recreation

In El Paso, the pandemic shut down pools in 2020, and with them, swimming and lifeguard certification classes. By 2021, pools and splash parks reopened, as did a second Olympic-sized city natatorium at the Beast Urban Park in far East El Paso. The city’s first natatorium opened in West El Paso in 2018.

In addition, the city’s four new water parks – Camp Cohen in Northeast, Chapoteo in the Lower Valley, Lost Kingdom in East-Central and Oasis in far East – came on line in 2021. Destination El Paso operates the city water parks.

Destination El Paso declined an interview request with El Paso Matters, but issued a written statement.

“El Paso Water Parks has been successful in hiring lifeguards for this season,” said Jose Garcia, Destination El Paso President and CEO, in the emailed statement.

He also said he credits that with aggressive and creative recruiting and competitive wages, and that all four water parks are fully staffed with all positions.

“They all have to have lifeguards, so part of the lifeguard shortage is because there’s more of a demand for them,” said Claire Cowan, vice president of the Drowning Prevention Coalition of El Paso, an organization that works to improve water safety and increase awareness about water dangers. The coalition was established in 2010 after nine drowning deaths in El Paso County the year before.

How much do lifeguards make? Demand increased pay

The YWCA is short 14 certified lifeguards to be fully staffed even after adjusting swimming activity schedules at its four pools and training its own lifeguards.

“It’s something that we’re trying to figure out how we’re going to overcome, because we’ve got to push through it,” Ramirez said.

There are currently six certified lifeguards on staff including Ramirez and fellow branch operations manager Jordan.

Jordan said one challenge is that other organizations offer higher pay rates than the YWCA, which now pays lifeguards about $13 per hour.

“What also comes into play is that they don’t have a lot of side work (such as cleaning at the YWCA),” Jordan said, adding that flexibility is a plus at the YWCA. “If you need more hours, you can get more hours. If you need your hours cut, you can cut your hours – we’re extremely flexible.”

Swimming instructors at the YWCA earn $14 an hour – a difference Ramirez said she hopes helps get people in the door who can begin as swim instructors and move up to become certified lifeguards.

“Swim lessons help reduce accidents and deaths by 88%, so we can start there, and then help work their way up,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez said another challenge has been that some lifeguards’ certification expired during the pandemic and were never renewed.

The YWCA typically teaches lifeguard certification classes, but the Joyce Whitfield Jaynes Branch pool, where classes are taught, is undergoing renovations, so classes are on pause. Ramirez said she directs applicants to the city or county for the American Red Cross lifeguard certification classes.

The city operates 10 swimming pools – one open outdoor pool, two natatoriums and 11 splash pads – so recruiting and retaining lifeguards required improved compensation.

Brenda Romero, the city’s aquatics division manager, said city lifeguards were paid about $11 an hour in 2021 – less than what other organizations were paying at the time.

“We were a little behind on the pay rate,” Romero said.

In 2021, the city started a $1,000 incentive program for new employees, including lifeguards. The incentive would be paid after six months of work, but Romero said many employees would leave their jobs after receiving the incentive.

The city bumped up pay to $14 per hour in 2022 and the rate is now at $16, which Romero said has significantly improved retention.

“It’s much, much, much better now,” Ramirez said.

For the first time since the pandemic the city pools are fully staffed with 102 lifeguards.

The outdoor pools of Grandview and Nations Tobin parks in Northeast El Paso have been closed and will remain closed indefinitely, due to millions of dollars in repairs that have not been budgeted.

The county – which operates outdoor pools in Fabens, Ascarate Park and Canutillo – has also seen an improvement in hiring this year, paying lifeguards $14.38 per hour.

“We have the majority of our staff already on board,” said Amy Wheeler, county sports and aquatics manager.

Wheeler also said similar to pandemic years, she is still getting a lot of applicants that are not certified as lifeguards. She said the county will likely be holding the certification courses during the summer, so they do not interfere with other classes being provided by the city or other agencies.

“Even if they’re not looking for a job, they’ll still be able to become certified so in the future, they can get a job,” Wheeler said.