Campus Unsafety: in our pools?

Duke University began subcontracting management of the Central Campus Pool to a small company called Pool Professionals in 2004. I was hired as the manager for the 2004 season and was offered the position again this year. The opening date for the pool was April 22, two weeks before final exams, and my contract stated that I would not be required to lifeguard until after my exams. The company also agreed to provide 10 lifeguards to staff the pool, but two days before the pool was to open, they only gave me four guards. I discovered on my own that one was unavailable until after final exams, and the remaining three were not CPR-certified.

I notified the company of this serious problem and repeatedly asked for certified lifeguards, but they refused. I removed the uncertified guards from the schedule and was forced to close the pool frequently, as many of you that visited the pool during the beginning of the season may remember. As I was studying for an exam one day in the Bryan Center, I found out that my supervisor at Pool Professionals had ordered one of the uncertified guards to open the pool by himself. I called my supervisor at Pool Professionals and told him that what he was doing was unsafe and illegal. My supervisor made it clear that my position as manager was at risk if the pool was not open at all times, regardless of guards’ certification.

I drove to Central Campus Pool, removed the uncertified guard from duty and closed the pool. Pool Professionals terminated my contract a few days later.

While Pool Professionals’ employment practices are reprehensible, it is a minor issue. What’s frightening is that they attempted to coerce a subordinate employee into breaking the law and jeopardizing our safety.

Imagine that a loved one now has a permanent disability from a simple infection because the family physician had been practicing without a license. A lifeguard that doesn’t know CPR can do as much to help a drowning victim as a six-year-old bystander can (call 911). When I notified The Chronicle of these events in late May and they began collecting information, the president of Pool Professionals ordered the staff to not speak with The Chronicle. The Duke community deserves better than to deal with a company that operates in such a shady nature and pays no regard to our safety.

Some good has come out of this incident: the elevated lifeguard stand was suddenly fixed after a year of ignored repair requests, there is now new equipment in the guard room and to my knowledge, the entire staff is now CPR-certified. However, these actions were only taken in response to inquiries from The Chronicle. I wouldn’t feel any safer in the hands of the unlicensed family physician now that he has new furniture in the office and keeps his stethoscope nice and shiny....

The Duke community is now aware of this lifeguard safety issue and will be at fault if no action is taken.

You’re right, one idealistic 18 year old cannot possibly save Kenya, Africa or the rest of the developing world. Making that realization is the first step toward productive humanitarianism. And even if that’s all you’ll take away from your summer volunteering in Africa, you will come out ahead.

But I believe your volunteering experience has already taught you much more than that. You have learned how deeply rooted in culture many of Africa’s problems are. And you’ve learned how frustrating it is to constantly adjust your expectations. But in any cross-cultural volunteering experience, adjusting and re-adjusting goals is what it’s all about.

You have empowered 12 Kenyans to take control of their own sexual health. That means twelve fewer victims of HIV/AIDS and many more potential cases of HIV avoided when your students do not transmit the disease to their sexual partners. And that’s before we consider the potential impact your students have on their community as they, in your words, “may or may not go on to teach their friends” and relatives about HIV. It may be a small dent, but what we have to understand as volunteers is that small dents are the name of the game when it comes to HIV/AIDS education.

Consider, also, that what you take away from volunteering can be as important as what you contributed. How much has your perspective changed? How much more of a global citizen (and malaria victim) do you feel, and how will that change the way you live upon your return to Duke? How many more people can you inspire to volunteer—instead, perhaps, of having those internships? What you gain—and share back home—in the way of perspective can be extremely impactful. This is especially true in your case: Your words in The Chronicle reach thousands of readers.

So don’t throw your hands up with “my hours of work have actually done little good.” Find the value in the small dents you’ve made and keep working to inspire your friends back home to take on the task of making dents.

Lindsay Boole, Pratt ’04