Philadelphia voters overwhelmingly voted to send a man to the US Senate despite his stroke during the campaign and the struggles to understand language, think, and speak afterward.
Now the people who hired John Fetterman are recruiting lifeguards.
And it’s about as awful as you can possibly imagine.
Nothing says summer like long days at the pool.
It’s the stuff childhood memories are built on.
But there’s also an element of danger.
Drowning is the number one cause of death among young children ages 1-4 and the second biggest cause of accidental death among children up to age 14.
Even more shocking, USA Management reports that 19% of annual drowning deaths among children in the United States happen at a public pool with a lifeguard present.
With that in mind, you’d think city aquatic program managers would be taking every precaution to make sure they staff their pools with highly-qualified lifeguards more at home in the water than on land.
But in Philadelphia the city is actually recruiting people who can’t swim to guard the community’s children this summer.
It seems the City of Brotherly Love is facing a persistent lifeguard staffing shortage for its aquatic program.
Rather than shut down the pools until they can find qualified workers, the city is taking a jaw-dropping risk.
Philly Magazine reports that “desperate for lifeguards, Philly says it’s ok if interested candidates can’t swim.”
Ironically, Googling “number of drowning deaths in Philadelphia public pools” generates a long list of legal firms all too aware of the danger.
But somehow the geniuses running the City of Philadelphia have decided they’ll deal with a staffing shortage by lowering their standards.
“So, for the 2023 pool season in Philadelphia, the city has started recruiting early. And if you can’t swim, you can still apply. That’s right,” Philly Magazine writer Victor Fiorillo reported. “According to representatives of the city’s Parks & Recreation Department I spoke with, the city is actively recruiting lifeguard candidates who would sink like a stone if you threw them in the deep end today.”
The city reportedly plans to “provide free swimming lessons at Lincoln High School in Mayfair to anybody who doesn’t know how to swim, assuming they are committed to testing into the lifeguard program this summer.”
Perhaps officials in a city where people were willing to elect a candidate who struggled to understand language, think, and speak during his campaign for Senate should never be in charge of such decisions with life-and-death consequences.
Stay tuned to Blue State Blues for any updates to this ongoing story.
