Korean Job Discussion Forums

[emetib]

We took all of our rugrats to an aquapark for their fieldtrip today. Of course it was crowded with other children. I was already uncomfortable bringing so many small children, who didn't know how to swim, to a place where people were most likely not going to watch them well. I'm monitoring a group of our 4-5 year olds when the lifeguard's whistle blows and I see him carrying a lifeless body from one of the other pools. Another teacher was with my group, so I dashed off to assist (sorry, not much faith in medical support training here). Instead of working on the child, the lifeguard was asking around for whose child she was. The girl was unconscious, cyanotic, not breathing, and I couldn't get much of a pulse. I start working on her (begin CPR measures etc.), and the lifeguard just keeps shaking her asking her in Korean if she was ok, trying to shake her awake. Obviously that wasn't going to happen. Finally, he snaps into it and starts counting...without doing anything. I'm just doing compressions etc. and she finally regains consciousness. Then they want to sit her up immediately. I have to shove them off to roll her to her side to help her expel any excess water. When the girl opened her eyes, I realized she was one of my school's students. I later found out one of the teachers let a group of four of them in a pool unsupervised for a few minutes. When the school called the aquatic center they said the girl didn't need CPR. Then when the mother called and spoke with the lifeguard, he said he performed CPR by himself.
Seriously, I love this country, but how on earth are they training these people? Are they just having them memorize test answers and then sending them out?
The student's mother is mad at our school, and I can't blame her. I'd be furious. I'm pretty upset, too. I never wanted to have to do that for one of my students. Today was completely unnecessary, and happened due to negligence.

[Fallacy]

Impressive. Horrifying situation, but you saved a life, and that is heroic. Well done.

[Smithington]

Wow! What a story. Thank goodness you were there. You might well have saved that child's life.

Let's hope you get your contract renewed.

[denverdeath]

[mandoo]

Thank God you were there. That is awful that lifeguard didn't know what he/she was doing. I'm sorry you didn't get credit- you certainly deserve it. It doesn't surprise me that the center claimed she didn't need cpr- they didn't want to take any responsibility and possibly could've been sued. That lifeguard should lose his/her job and is probably trying to save it by lying. Good on you. I reallly hope someone does something nice for you at your school- you deserve it, but if they choose to ignore it and pretend it never happened, that wouldn't surprise me. I've learned to lower my expectations.

[radcon]

You are lucky that they didn't some how blame you for this child almost drowning.

[emetib]

Apparently at the water park I was either a-invisible b-not associated with my school or c- camouflaged by having mastered blending into the homogenous society. I don't know how they could've missed the only foreigner in the place doing chest compressions on a child...

We're trying to just move on from all of this, with the child being up and walking it's all "ok" now. The mentality now is "forget" about it. My kids who watched her almost drown were still a little shaken up about it all today. I had to explain everything to them and talk about what happened. I knew no one else would...

No, I wasn't blamed for it. It obviously wasn't my fault, and they know the reason things resolved in a positive manner were because I acted. I'm lucky to finally be working with close friends/family (or I wouldn't be at this type of school).
However, were I at another type of school, I'd be applying a ton of cynicism as I've experienced many levels of hogwan/employer hell during my stay in Korea...

[Fallacy]

[Captain Corea]

Good on ya, OP. Ya did right, by all accounts.

It's a shame that others didn't - especially those that SHOULD have.

[hellofaniceguy]

Good job!
That..and I use the term loosely...that lifeguard should have "manned up"
and told the truth that he/she did nothing!
What a coward! Worthless.
And the others who were around should be speaking up also!

[Smithington]

Sadly, nothing will be learned from this. Not better supervision of students, training for life guards, teaching children how to swim, taking accountability for minors in your care, assigning blame where it is actually due, or the development of a basic safety culture. Unfortunately, whatever the OP talked to his students about will soon be lost because the message is not reinforced by Korean society at large. His message is fighting an uphill battle against a wave of indifference to what he is saying. Even his school has adopted a "forget about it" approach to the near death of a student.

[radcon]

You are truly a hero OP. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to take a bunch of kids that young to a water park is a complete idiot. I shudder to think what would have happened to you if your CPR efforts failed and the kid died.