Family Demands Answers from DPR as Lifeguard Lies in Hospital

UPDATED: Dec. 19, 6:45 a.m. EST 

More than a week after suffering a medical emergency and falling into the pool at the Roosevelt Aquatic Center, Jazmin Jefferson is in a coma and on life support at Howard University Hospital with what D.C. officials recently described in a report as an anoxic brain injury.

Jefferson’s condition is so severe that hospital personnel recently stalled plans to transfer her to BridgePoint Hospital Capitol Hill. On Dec. 15, the D.C. Office of Risk Management awarded Jefferson medical and wage-loss benefits for her brain injury, but not the undiagnosed condition that triggered her fall into the pool.

Jefferson, a fifth-generation Washingtonian and alumna of School Without Walls in Northwest, was in her third year of employment as a D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) lifeguard. 

Since starting, she worked at Roosevelt Aquatic Center, connected to Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School. She also had stints at the Wilson Aquatic Center, Takoma Aquatic Center, Jelleff Pool, and Hearst Pool. Since the incident, DPR leadership visited the Jefferson family at the Northwest hospital twice, Julius Jefferson, Jazzmin’s father, told The Informer.

Mr. Jefferson said his daughter, 21,  showed a passion for improving work conditions while working as a DPR lifeguard. Those conditions, he said, include what he described as DPR’s penchant for opening indoor and outdoor pools without at least three on-duty lifeguards present. 

As his daughter lays in the hospital, Mr. Jefferson continues to question whether DPR had enough lifeguards in the pool area on the evening of Nov. 29 when she fell out of her lifeguard chair and into the pool. In his call for an investigation, Mr. Jefferson also cited questions about the whereabouts of other lifeguards in the nearly 10 minutes his daughter was in the pool by herself. 

“This shows that we’re not being kept safe on the streets… and the employees who work for the District government can’t be kept safe at their jobs,” Mr. Jefferson said. “Every employee should have an expectation that they will return home safely and this was not the case. It’s systemic within our District government.” 

Lifeguard Shortages and Contingency Plans

This summer, as patrons frequented DPR aquatic centers and pools, DPR officials endeavored to keep them safe and the water clean. Amid staff shortages, that meant lifeguards sometimes filling in for their colleagues at other DPR sites. It also meant that some DPR sites operated pools with fewer than the number of lifeguards required.

Depending on the size of the pool, DPR aquatic centers and pools need at least three or four lifeguards on site. As two lifeguards sit atop their chairs, watching patrons from opposite sides of the pool, at least one other lifeguard, known as a pool operator, is checking pH levels and walking between the pool and pump room when needed. 

The pool operator’s job, a DPR lifeguard told The Informer, happens in one-hour intervals. 

The lifeguard, who requested anonymity, currently serves as a DPR pool manager. Their responsibilities include practicing responses to scenarios with lifeguards, ensuring that lifeguards properly sit in their seats, and consulting upper management at their DPR site during staffing shortages. 

The lifeguard said running a pool effectively can be difficult with two lifeguards, neither of whom can take a break while watching the pool and maintaining the pool’s chemical balance. Only time they could take a break, the lifeguard added, was if upper management came down during their lunch hour to relieve them of their duties.  .  

They went on to add that, with only two lifeguards on duty, only one lifeguard can sit up on the chair at a time. During those occasions, lifeguards close off certain parts of the pool. If they are unable to do so, they run the risk of having blind spots caused by the glare of the sun and structural blockages, the lifeguard said. 

“We could do our job but we wouldn’t do it as well as we would when we have a full staff,” the lifeguard said. “You’re not able to watch the [whole] pool. You have to check the sides. You might be in the pump room when an incident happens. With a full staff, lifeguards would be on deck during an incident and you would be fine.” 

According to an MPD public incident report, a person by the name of Camila Rezende Salgado recovered Jazmin Jefferson from the pool at Roosevelt Aquatic Center on the evening of Nov. 29. Salgado, designated as “Reporting Party-1,” immediately began performing CPR before D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services transported Jazmin Jefferson to the hospital. 

The report didn’t specify whether Salgado was a DPR employee on duty that evening. The Informer couldn’t reach Salgado at her residence nor did she respond to a written request  for comment. 

This incident counts among at least three taking place at DPR pools this year. In early March, a patron at Takoma Park Recreation Pool was pronounced dead after another patron reported her “floating on her back and bearing off to the left,”to DPR staff, according to an MPD public incident report. 

In July, a man and woman were hospitalized after being found unconscious at the bottom of the deep end of the pool at Theodore Hagans Cultural Center in Northeast. 

A Former Employee’s Words Fall on Deaf Ears

DPR didn’t respond to The Informer’s inquiry about the number of lifeguards on duty at the time of Jazmin Jefferson’s medical emergency, the title of the person who performed CPR on her, and where they were coming from when they rescued her from the pool. 

The Informer also unsuccessfully attempted to secure footage from the night of Nov. 29 from DPR. The agency didn’t answer questions about Jazmin Jefferson’s current employment status. 

DPR Director Thennie Freeman did, however, issue a statement about staffing and standard operating procedures, telling The Informer that DPR certifies lifeguards through the Jeff Ellis & Associates International Lifeguard Training program and maintains records related to “accidents, illness, and injury, etc., whether employee or private.” 

“DPR employs over 100 pool-based personnel and staffing varies based on several factors such as pool size, operating hours, and programming,” Freeman said. “Roosevelt is staffed with a minimum of three pool operators to maintain pool chemistry and rescue duties.” 

Former DPR employee Mercedes Maynard-Randall challenged that assertion, telling The Informer that DPR doesn’t maintain fidelity to its staffing policy. She said her frustration with the environment compelled her and at least seven other DPR lifeguards to resign earlier this year.  

Maynard-Randall worked with Jazmin Jefferson, who she described as a competent and well-trained lifeguard, at the Wilson Aquatic Center in 2022. She told The Informer that, during that time, Jefferson was in the middle of a 13-month contract with DPR that would solidify her full-time employment status. 

As Maynard-Randall recalled, she and Jefferson experienced firsthand staffing shortages. Maynard-Randall said that, sometime earlier this year, she refused to open the facility, with as many as 50 patrons at the door, until a third lifeguard was on site. By that time, she made several attempts to raise concerns about lifeguard training and low staffing to DPR aquatics directors and operations managers at her pools, she said to no avail. 

From 2017 to 2022, Maynard-Randall served as a manager at the Turkey Thicket Aquatic Center. She said she embraced the position as an opportunity to ensure that colleagues and upper management adhered to staffing protocols. 

In recent years, she encouraged colleagues to revisit elements of the Jeff Ellis & Associates International Lifeguard Training program to ensure that lifeguards could recognize when someone is drowning. 

Even with her rank, Maynard-Randall said her concerns continued to fall on deaf ears, due to her colleagues’ insistence that she fall in line. She went on to describe DPR as an institution where rapport with management, and not experience or professionalism, determined whether employees rose in rank throughout the agency. 

Her decision to resign in July, she said, stemmed from the lack of upward mobility and a reputation she garnered among management.  

“This is an unfortunate event that could have been avoided,” Maynard-Randall said. “The things leading up to it are things I…told my supervisors, which was pretty much the director of aquatics and operations manager. I told them about making sure pools have a sufficient number of staff members, making sure people are trained and attentive to their training, and doing more hands-on training.”