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Swimmers to your rescue

PHOTO: R. SHIVAJI RAO

VITAL LINK Immediate administration of first aid matters

For the last few days, visitors to the Aquatic Complex at Velachery were treated to an unusual sight. Swimmers between the ages of 20 and 55 dipped into the pool and swam back and forth while their timings were recorded. An open-for-all endurance swimming contest? Yes and no. The swimmers were being assessed for endurance and agility. But they were not in any sort of competition with one another – each of them was battling against himself. And, the event was restricted those manning SDAT-run swimming pools across the State.

Trained by the Rashtriya Life Saving Society India (RLSS-I), they took back to their workplaces a skill set that includes different ways of rescuing a drowning man and also the ability to keep him alive till medical help is reached.

Shiva Sundaram (president, RLSS-I, south zone) says the training programme is aimed at making public swimming pools safer. As the SDAT (Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu) wanted the training to go beyond swimming coaches and lifeguards and engage pump operators as well, a few in the 126-member group were first-time swimmers. T. Selvam, a motor-pump operator at a city pool, admits he is yet to master swimming. Those who don’t pass muster have to return for another session — even pump operators can’t escape this rule.

“Pump operators can be a vital link in saving a life. After the lifeguard has brought the drowning person out of the water, the pump operator can revive him using CPR techniques,” says Shiva. Fifty-one-year-old Prathap, a senior coach at Shenoy Nagar and one of the high scorers at the programme, had undergone training at the National Institute Sports, Patiala.

He says: “The training in non-contact methods of rescue and use of modern equipment have further enhanced me,”— an idea that was echoed by J. Venkatesan, Shakthimurugan and N. Rajagopalakrishnan, who come from the southern districts.

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