Creating realistic casualties for training has always been the goal of manikin manufacturer Ruth Lee Ltd – so when a lifeguard in Canada (who happens to be part of the ALG Safety family!) approached them to design a manikin which would allow her to set up complete start-to-finish rescues, without switching between an unrealistic half-torso and volunteers, they rose to the challenge!
Ruth Lee worked with the Royal Life Saving Society UK to create a manikin that would allow trainers to simulate a full rescue; from deep water recovery and towing to extrication from the pool, including rescue boards. After several prototypes, the Pool Rescue Manikin was developed.
The manikin was launched at the RLSS UK IQL conference and then flew down to the World Conference on Drowning Prevention in Durban, South Africa. Since then, it has been adopted by countries and lifeguards all over the world who want to improve the skills and confidence of their lifeguards.
As the original idea for the manikin came from within the ALG Safety family, we are pleased it has been so widely adopted across Canada and recently, we received a great review of the Pool Rescue Manikin from Mr Claude Latulippe, Aquatic Specialist at Université Laval in Quebec
Claude Latulippe said;
“Since my beginnings in the world of rescue teaching, I “dream” of a dummy like this one …Indeed, the dummy Ruth simulates perfectly the morphology of a child unconscious at the bottom of the water. Don’t be fooled, it is heavier than it looks!
Its advantages are numerous, in addition to its realistic appearance with the legs and arms of good manoeuvrability, as well as his head (and his face) rather realistic. The heavy and dense, yet flexible body weight is well distributed, which makes it possible to practice several essential rescue manoeuvres for victims in the aquatic environment (recovery, going out, boarding, etc.).
In our opinion, the Ruth dummy is a revolution in the field of rescue!”
