Last year, thirteen-year-old Brianna Hood, along with her dad and niece, was at Lindell Beach in Long Beach, NY.

Brianna went into the water on her own and a rip current pulled her out and down.

Many of us make a difference in the lives of others: Our military, Cops, firefighters, health care workers, teachers, child development workers, therapists, and interventionists, from drug abuse to physical abuse. But also the supporting cogs that help the wheels of service work.

In this time of Thanksgiving, let me focus on our often taken-for-granted heroes—lifeguards.

My visit to our Long Beach lifeguards’ headquarters on Labor Day was a learning experience.

Most of our Long Beach lifeguards, after this day, go back to college or work, usually as teachers.

Often, we laymen might think of being lifeguards as easy work.

But to keep us safe, lifeguards have to keep themselves trained, fit, disciplined, and diligent.

Many lifeguards continue a heritage of guarding lives.

Like DJ Valosevich, finishing his thirty-first summer. His dad was a lifeguard for the Town of Hempstead.

DJ, a Jericho High School teacher, told me how life impacted him. He said, “I grew up on the beach and watched those who are more knowledgeable about the water, protect those who are less so.”

DJ and his wife, Lynn, also a lifeguard, are the directors of the Long Beach Junior Lifeguard program

When I asked DJ about saves, he said, “We keep people out of trouble. So if you don’t have many saves, that means you had a great day of work.” 

Lifesaving, I learned, is primarily prevention.

Vinny Leis is teacher at Baldwin High School and a Long Beach lifeguard for twenty-nine years.

Vinny said, “When you come to work and you consider it fun, it’s never work. That’s why I’ve been here for so long. Maybe someday I’ll have kids and my kids will be here.”

Scott Kemins has been a Long Beach lifeguard for 43 years. He’s also been a Long Beach volunteer firefighter for 25 years. 

But wait, he’s also the Long Beach Building Commissioner. 

Scott said, “I’ve been the Building Commissioner for Long Beach for 22 years. I work Monday through Friday at City Hall and Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays here.”

But, he didn’t say anything about patrolling our streets while moving to and from those jobs. So I must ask, where is his dedication?

Standing by their emergency quad were medical responders, Jaclyn Pianese and Katherine Reinhard.

Jaclyn is a Medical Technician for Long Beach. She said, “This is my fourth summer, and I absolutely love it.”

She said, “I’m also an Ed Tech (Education Technologist), and I recently graduated from nursing school, but this has been a blessing and a joy to come to work.”

Jaclyn repeated the mantra of former Long Beach Lifeguard Chief, Paul Gillespie: “Everybody who comes to the beach goes home from the beach.”

She said she lives by it and others do too.

Lifeguard Lt. Ed Segurej told me it’s an often-repeated message used at turnouts.

Former Chief Paul Gillespie was a Long Beach lifeguard for 53 years. During his 15 years as Chief, not one life was lost while lifeguards were on duty. His story was featured in the

Long Beach Herald.

Paul retired in 2022. His son, Paul Jr., is currently a Long Beach Lifeguard.

I spoke with John Skudin, a lifeguard for fifty years.

John rose from rookie in 1964 to Chief for four and a half years. Now he’s back as Beach Supervisor.

The Skudins are a dedicated family to Long Beach surfing. John is the uncle of Cliff and Will Skudin, who run the Long Beach, Skudin Surf Camp.

John said prevention is the key, but if you have to go in for a save, you have to be in good physical condition.

Most years, John participates in the National Lifeguard Championships. The lifeguard ironman competition is his specialty—at age sixty-seven.

John told me:

• Lifeguards can take breaks from the mound but not from the beach.
• Lifeguards may listen to iPhone music, but must keep the volume low.
• If a rescue is in progress, lifeguards will close their umbrella to signal to other lifeguards and headquarters. They notify headquarters how many torps (lifeguards with their torpedoes) are in the water.
• Lifeguards ensure that all other swimmers exit the water to prevent simultaneous rescues.
• Lifeguard Medical responds. Ambulance too, if needed.
• A new moon means there will be an extra high and low tide, meaning greater water movement and stronger currents.
• Seabeds shift daily. When incoming waves go over a sandbar and recede over a hole, the water smooths out. Rip currents are detected by this action.

Our jetties are another danger; signs reflect a civil fine of $500. But fate’s fine—could be a death penalty:

Lifeguards keep people safe again and again.

And when lifeguards go off duty, police keep swimmers out of the water and off the jetties. But sometimes a life is lost when this is disregarded.

I saw a gung-ho spirit of teamwork and dedication in these photos, taken over many years, that I share with you.

A team that often mixes esprit de corps with esprit delight.

And it shows in their tude:

Recent estimates of our beach attendance are over a quarter million per year. ( In 2025, 217,000 passes were issued; family passes count as one pass.)

Lifeguard staff number roughly 100 to 120 on a given weekend.

It has been decades since there was a drowning on our Long Beach shore while lifeguards were on duty.

Since 2016—when lifeguards were not on duty—there have been four drownings, one missing swimmer, and several more near drownings.

That is making a difference, again and again.

If not for lifeguards and other responders, what loved one might be missing from our Thanksgiving table? We’d have just memories writ large by an empty chair.

Yes, Brianna Hood innocently stepped off an underwater shelf and was pulled out and down.

But through the teamwork of lifeguards Sean Sarmuksnis, Alex Ramirez, and Paulina Alfasi, her life was spared.

Saved, perhaps to make a difference herself someday

This Thanksgiving, Brianna will fill a chair at the Hood family’s table.

Both of Brianna’s parents are servers too, her mom since 1996, as a police dispatcher for the MTA PD and the Long Beach PD.

And we can salute her dad, who is a retired Army Major with thirty years of service, including the Iraq War.

This Thanksgiving, look at your own loved ones seated around the table. Savor their presence, and be grateful for life’s guardian angels. They save lives again and again.

Be well,
Leebythesea