Books and Videos

DVD Package

Order all three DVDs for one low price! Includes: The Five Minute Scanning Strategy^®; Disappearing Dummies; and the Shallow Water Blackout videos.

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Pool Manager's Package

Order all three videos and the Complete Swimming Pool Reference for one low price! Includes: The Five Minute Scanning Strategy^®; Disappearing Dummies; and the Shallow Water Blackout DVDs as well as the Complete Swimming Pool Reference, 2nd ed.

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The Complete Swimming Pool Reference, 2nd edition

Designed as a single, definitive reference on swimming pool safety and management, this book includes important chapters on first aid, lifeguarding, pool maintenance, as well as a unique hot tub and spa section. This comprehensive book is a valuable resource for all those who own, operate or otherwise work at swimming pools, including swimming pool managers and technicians, university and college instructors, municipal/semi-public pool operators, lifeguards, swim coaches, and private pool owners.

To purchase an e-book version, go to Sagamore Publishing

The Swimming Pool

Designed as a colorful and informative guide to building a swimming pool, this book provides practical information on financial and planning concerns from the beginning of your project all the way to completion.

You'll find checklists and advice to help you with site design, landscape considerations and even the selection of the pool type (vinyl, concrete or fiberglass). The book also discusses basic pool maintenance, general pool

Better Beaches

NEED BOOK WRITE-UP

Check out Services to find out more about our Safe Swimming Beaches seminar which offers beach managers the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of beach management by comparing industry standards against daily operations of beaches from around the world.

What customers have said about Better Beaches

"This publication is a valuable resource for every beach in America. It is the most complete publication on all aspects of beach operations available today." Walter C. Johnson, Great Lakes Regional Director, Retired, National Recreation and Park Association

"The photos and illustrations are so beautiful, it could be a coffee table book. This state-of-the-art information will result in cleaner, safer, more well-managed beaches." Don Wirth, Community Services Director, Naples, Florida

Shallow Water Blackout Video

Why is it that good swimmers drown? What causes a water loving and highly skilled individual to drown in guarded pools? How is it possible that triathletes, swim team members, lifeguards and even Navy Seals drown, particularly in traditional competitive swimming pools? The answer is easy, yet difficult to understand and comprehend.

After years of reviewing medical and scientific research, and interviewing hosts of medical experts to find the answers to the questions above, renowned author and educator, Dr. Tom Griffiths, EdD, discovered that good swimmers don't drown, but die instead of other medical causes that often do not show up at autopsy. In fact, the video just produced, reveals a myriad of medical maladies that cause sudden death int he water, rather than drowning, even when coroners mistakenly misdiagnose the death as a drowning. In fact, the vitally important information will actually educate the viewer more than some coroners have in this very specific field of medicine.

The Shallow Water Blackout video is a comprehensive 30-minute presentation divided into four categories:

1. Introduction and definitions
2. Shallow Water Blackout
3. Genetic "Drowning" triggers
4. Summary and quiz

The primary audience for the video is lifeguard trainers and supervisors, as well as managers and directors who establish pool policies and most importantly, parents.The secondary audience are lifeguards.When lifeguards view this video, it should be shown to them in separate segments; they should not view the entire video at once because there is just too much new information presented. Although this cutting-edge information is presented in simple terms and should be easily understood, thirty minutes of viewing entirely new subject matter may be overwhelming for many teenage lifeguards.

We recommend viewing video in three separate sessions: first, the Introduction and the Shallow Water Blackout section should be watched. During another classroom session, the Introduction should be once again viewed with the Genetic “Drowning” Trigger segment. Finally, during the third session, the summary and quiz should be viewed.

Particularly, for teenagers and younger adults, this is perhaps the best educational approach to this new and dynamic video.

The entire video captures many real-time “drowning” scenarios and sudden deaths on video. Because these dramatic rescues and resuscitations are real and not “staged,” the lifeguards do not always respond as professionally in front of the hidden camera as they should. Instead the video shows "real life" responses to emergency situations.But viewers should not shoot the messenger. The dramatic and real footage clearly illustrates just how quickly these catastrophies arise and how many cannot be prevented.

Finally, the video strongly emphasizes the dangers of competitive and repetitive underwater swimming that includes hyperventilation. The message comes across loud and clear, ALL AQUATIC FACILITIES SHOULD MAINTAIN A BAN ON PROLONGED, COMPETITIVE AND REPETITIVE BREATH-HOLDING ACTIVITIES.

Order your video now to prevent unnecessary deaths in your pools and also lower your liability. Also, teach your guards through this video how to be better equipped to handle sudden deaths in your facilities and how to respond professionally. And remember, whenever there is a death in your pool, call it just that, a death, rather than a drowning, until proved otherwise.

Disappearing Dummies

Aquatic safety expert Dr. Tom Griffiths now explains how and why lifeguards have such great difficulty detecting bodies on the bottom of “crystal clear” swimming pools. Hundreds of hours of filming in a variety of indoor and outdoor pools were condensed into to a new 10 minute lifeguard training video that clearly illustrates and emphasizes how under even the best of water conditions manikins quickly disappear from sight as soon as the surface becomes disturbed by wind, waves or other swimmers.

This video clearly and effectively illustrates the phenomenon of Visual Body Blindness and exemplifies how difficult it is for lifeguards to detect victims once they submerge beneath the surface of the water.

This training video explains how reflective edges of the surface increases reflection and refraction causing visual distortion and actual body blindness. New scientific evidence is offered on the video not found in the lifeguard training texts. Based on this new evidence uncovering hidden bodies below the surface, the video also introduces and prioritizes bottom sweeps while scanning. This new video is a MUST SEE for all those in water safety including lifeguards, managers, supervisors and even parents. Perfect for in-service training!

Five Minute Scanning Strategy

Based on years of scientific research and studies done with thousands of lifeguards across the world, Tom Griffiths, EdD of Penn State University, has developed a systematic approach to lifeguard surveillance called the Five Minute Scanning Strategy^®.

This simple yet effective system requires lifeguards to change their posture and visual scanning pattern every five minutes. Lifeguards must count the people in their zone each time they change their posture or scanning strategy (every 5 minutes).

Physiological and psychological research has shown that after 15 minutes of performing a simple task, a person's performance on that task gets worse. The Five Minute Scanning Strategy^® was developed to help lifeguards stay alert while performing the task of watching people in the water. This strategy is based on physiological and psychological responses, and what research shows many experienced lifeguards have already been doing to stay alert.

The Five Minute Scanning Strategy^® helps lifeguards stay physically more awake by promoting a higher respiratory rate and helps them stay mentally more alert by changing the mental process every five minutes. This technique, which was designed to improve concentration and attention while reducing boredom, is now required by all 35,000 Ellis Associates lifeguards worldwide.

The Five Minute Scanning Strategy^® was recently mentioned in Athletic Business magazine as one of the innovative technologies being used to train lifeguards. Click here to read Marvin Bynum's artile "Ready for Action: Today’s aquatic safety personnel are better equipped and prepared than ever, thanks to enhanced technology and training" featured in the December 2004 edition of Athletic Business magazine.  ADD LINK TO DOCUMENT

This ten-minute video graphically illustrates the techniques that increase lifeguard alertness while reducing boredom and fatigue which, in turn, will help to save lives. Updated in 2006, the video now reminds lifeguards to scan the bottom of the pool in addition to the surface. It is the perfect addition to your lifeguarding course or to your in-service training program.

Dr. Griffith's video makes the difficult task of teaching and learning the scanning process much easier and enjoyable.The success of the Five Minute Scanning Strategy^® has even led to the development of a new line of lifeguard chairs by Dr. Griffiths in cooperation with Paragon Aquatics.

Order the Five Minute Scanning Strategy^® today, and begin training your lifeguards in this simple process designed to increase alertness, decrease boredom, and save lives.