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All Blog Posts
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Our company is celebrating "Diversity Week" this week with a host of activities and educational encounters. Today, one of our youn guys, Dan Baum, wrote the following note to all our staff. It's terrific and I wanted to share it with you: "Hi everybody, Today, while Angela, Alexi, Denise, Chris and John go visit the new Greensboro Museum, I want to remind you all to sign up for the pot luck on Friday and share with you the story of the South’s first integrated college basketball game, known now as the “Secret Game.” North Carolina is college basketball country, so it’s fitting that the South’s first integrated game would take place here. In 1944, the NCCU basketball team made...
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I've been blogging on and off for about a year and I'll be posting more regularly in the future, which is either good or bad, depending on your world view. I've had a lot to say about the role of for-profit companies in today's communities and it occurred to me that readers of this blog have no real idea of how the company I work for operates. In other words, do I walk the talk? I know a good writer who has a blog about sustainable workplaces who recently posted some pretty cool stuff about our company -- The Redwoods Group -- and I thought it might frame some of my views for you. If it sounds like a commercial, I apologize. To be honest, virtually everyone who advises me about...
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Liberal Democrats love to hate Joe Lieberman. I was on the White House lawn on Inauguration day as all our legislators assumed their seats. One by one and two by two, they walked from the building out onto the platform, each "announced" to the hundreds of thousands of spectators by the cameras, which projected their images onto hundreds of 30-foot screens all along the Mall. When the Republican leaders appeared, there were scattered boos and general grumbling but there was a palpable spirit of respect that day and virtually every negative utterance was met immediately with a forceful round of "Shhhh" from the crowd. That is, until Mr. Lieberman appeared. He was booed lustily...
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Preventing drowning death is a challenge is so big that it requires support from everyone at your organization, not just the aquatics staff. But getting non-aquatics staff engaged in checking on lifeguards, filling out quick check forms and supporting efforts to make the pool safe, is not always easy. Here is a great example, from Kathy Fisher, the Aquatics Director at the West Morris Area YMCA in New Jersey, of how to get that done : We held an all staff training on aquatics safety on the pool deck, during off hours from 7-9am on a Sunday morning. Prior to the training I dropped two silhouettes into the deep end of the pool. Everyone met in the bleachers of the pool area. I gave them my lecture...
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We recently received a Stop Use Notice provided by the Association for Challenge Course Technology (ACCT) for ALL Redpoint Auto-Belay Descender devises. There have been two incidents in which climbers using a Redpoint Auto-Belay device experienced rapid rates of descent resulting in injury. This Stop Use Notice applies to the following descender units: All Redpoint Descenders (part numbers 10024873, 10027646, and 10027798) regardless of the date the unit was manufactured or last serviced, Auto-Belay Descenders (part number 10021806) manufactured or last serviced on or after June 30, 2000. The part number, date of manufacture, and date of last factory service of the unit is located on the white...
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Special events account for about seventy-five percent (75%) of all drowning deaths in YMCAs. Seventy-five percent—three out of every four. This is without a doubt the most dangerous time at your aquatic facility. I hope you have recently viewed the webinar presented by YMCA of the USA and Tom Pearson of The Redwoods Group—if you haven’t, it can be viewed at http://media.ymca.net/aquatic-safety-0910/index.html . The Redwoods Group and the YMCA of the USA share the same goal: that no person ever drowns in YMCA water, at any time. In reaching that goal, our first step needs to be to address the highest risk times first. Why do people drown more often during special events? Lots of reasons: Swimmers...
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As you now know, Senator Edward M. Kennedy has died. As is appropriate, much is now being said of the long life of public service Ted Kennedy led, (as one example, I’ve included below the email sent by the President yesterday about his feelings for Senator Kennedy.) Fortunately, much is also being made of his unique ability to collaborate with legislators of both parties to move ahead an agenda of social justice. Over the years, he co-sponsored bills with, among others, Bob Dole, John McCain and he worked closely with President George W. Bush to develop the “No Child Left Behind” education initiative. We can only imagine that the current debate on health care access would be more civil and more...
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Recently we have received a number of inquiries regarding the appropriate seat height for lifeguard chairs. A number of factors should be considered when determining the right lifeguard chairs for your pools. They include: Size of the zone the lifeguard has to scan Depth of water underneath the chair and in the zone the guard is scanning Glare potential on the water Number of guard chairs present The Redwoods Group typically recommends a chair with a 42 to 48-inch seat height which is appropriate for most indoor and outdoor pools. At this height the risk of injury to the guard is reduced and the chair is usually high enough for the guard to see all areas of the zone. There are a number of chair...
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In the past few weeks we have seen a number of severe injuries related to climbing walls and ropes activities. The first injury happened to a young male camper. Three other campers were belaying him on the high ropes course. He gave them the command to come down, and they appropriately responded. Within the last 10 feet of the camper's descent the belayers lost control; he fell to the ground and fractured his tailbone. The second injury happened when a young female camper was on the high ropes course. The knot in the rope came undone and dropped the camper onto the ground, where she fractured both arms. In this incident a first year staff member who only had three weeks of ropes experience...
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The final step (in this outline—you may think of more steps, and please share if you do…) is to hold lifeguard accountable for both their positive and negative actions. We ask a lot of lifeguards; tough hours, a repetitive task, 100% vigilance, and, on top of it all the pressure of knowing that lives are at stake if they should fail in their assigned tasks. Lifeguards are professionals, and should be respected and treated as such when they perform as professionals. Likewise, the consequences for failing to live up to the high standard set for them should be equally stringent. The best way to respect lifeguards as professionals is to pay them like professionals—not the low wages that YMCA and...
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