Scott Vander Dussen

I love the USA 🇺🇸

[Scott Vander Dussen @VanderDussenS]

This is the original video. I shot it, I own it, and I am the creator of record. It is not open for reposting without permission.

Here is the part that has not made it into any of the coverage. That boy was moments from not coming back. A few seconds, a few degrees, a few yards of distance, and this is a very different story with a very different ending. And if it had ended that way, the lifeguard who went in after him would have been left to carry it largely on his own.

A firefighter, a police officer, or a paramedic who works a call that ends in a death has access to counseling, peer support, and critical incident debriefing. That exists because we decided as a country that the people we send toward the worst moments of other people's lives should not have to process those moments alone. Open water lifeguards, in most places, have none of that, because they are not categorized as first responders. Same water, same outcomes, same weight afterward, different classification on paper.

That is what H.Res. 1188 is about. It would formally recognize open water lifeguards as first responders and emergency response providers. It is sitting in committee right now. If you watched this video and felt something, that is the thing worth doing something about.

And in the meantime: watch your kids every second they are in the water, and swim near a lifeguard.

To the guards at Seabright and everywhere else, thank you. Nearly all of what you do never ends up on camera.

Video: Scott Vander Dussen / Instagram @santacruznow