At Ruth Lee we are committed to making products that help people to train more effectively. For us, it is about helping trainers to create more realistic training scenarios, which closely mirror what their teams might face in real life. Improved training leads to greater skills and confidence and this is especially important for water rescues.
That’s why we created the Pool Rescue Training manikin. Using the manikin, lifeguard trainers can set up complete start-to-finish scenarios, including deep water recovery, towing and extrication from the pool, without switching between different equipment, using (less realistic) plastic half torsos, or endangering a volunteer.
Since it was launched in 2018, thousands of lifeguards around the world have been trained using the Pool Rescue manikin and, in the UK, we are proud to be Water Safety Partners with the Royal Lifesaving Society (RLSS UK) who have included the manikin within their training specifications since the pandemic.
One lifeguard trainer made the switch to the Pool Rescue manikin early on and has used it to train hundreds of lifeguards since then. Eddie Seaborne MBE MSM, is the Director of an independent first aid training company and an RLSS Trainer Assessor and is an expert when it comes to training effective lifeguards.
For the past couple of months, Eddie has been working with leading leisure providers David Lloyd at their Port Solent site, where the Pool Rescue manikin has become a valuable member of the training team.
Until recently, most of the lifeguards had only ever used a rubber brick or plastic half-torso to practise recovery from the deepest part of the pool. Young Lifeguard Josh Lovelock said,
“It’s very versatile and lifelike…. The weight and size of the manikin are also really useful when we carried out spinal injury drills using the PXB (Pool Extrication Board).”
During the training with David Lloyd, Eddie was also able to run an Emergency Response Course for non-lifeguards, who might need to enter the water to retrieve a casualty in an emergency. During this training, Eddie used the Pool Rescue Adult manikin, but also helped Ruth Lee to test our new Advanced Water Rescue Toddler, which is a high-fidelity rescue and resuscitation manikin which accurately replicated a drowned child. Eddie said,
“Undoubtedly the best childlike manikin I have had the pleasure to train with spanning some 40 years in Aquatics. One of the biggest fear factors for anyone in aquatics is finding someone at the bottom of the pool. The weight, size and features were so realistic. It certainly enhanced the training in our recent Emergency Response Course.
The Ruth Lee manikins became a valuable member of the team, a great asset for any Leisure Centre to have in their Toolbox of Visual Aids, we’ve used both Adult and Child Ruth Lee in and out of water, for Fire Safety Training, plus Manual Handing during First Aid training for Primary and Secondary Surveys, allowing 100% participation from all staff members.”
For more information about how you could transform your lifeguard training, please give us a call 01490 413 282
