Lifeguards off duty for the season, but the water is still warm.....

 Labor Day is now in your rear view mirror, and our thoughts and plans begin to shift from intensive park operations to thoughts of  Fall, with project planning, training, fall events, and maybe even a vacation.  However our waters remain warm often until mid-October, so folks continue to enjoy our beaches.







 Are you ready to monitor our beaches that are now devoid of guards, but still have swimmers?  Have you had basic water rescue training?  Have you read over your beach plan lately, it addresses more than lifeguard duties? Do you have your basic emergency action plan written down?

Emergency Action Plan

1)Know the possible emergencies that can occur in your area.

2)Identify Rescue Equipment available and know its location.
(Know how to use your rescue equipment - practice!)

3)Make sure your emergency contact list is up to date.


Recognizing an Emergency

An emergency can happen to anyone in, on or around the water at any time.  Recognizing that a person is having trouble in the water may help save that person's life.

Deciding to Act

Never enter the water to help a victim unless your are trained to do so.  Swimming into deep water to bring a victim to shore or to the side of a pool requires special training, a high degree of skill, fitness, and rescue equipment. 

If the appropriate safety equipment is not available and there is a chance that you cannot safely help a person in trouble, call for help immediately.

Hope you enjoyed the video refresher on how to use a throw bag.  Remember practice makes perfect with this equipment, if you carry one of these in your vehicle practice using it - before an emergency happens.

Reach - Use a reach pole, paddle, long stick, towel, belt etc. to reach out the the victim

Throw - Throw Ring, life jacket, throw bag, beach cooler, beach chair - basically anything that floats can be thrown towards the victim.

Row - Wearing a life jacket row out to the victim in a boat, kayak, canoe etc.

Don't Go! - Unless you are trained as a lifeguard - do not swim to the victim - instead Go for Help!

Calling for Help

Activating the next level of EMS - call 911!

Remember your Emergency Medical Responder Training

Some serious conditions that require a call to 911:

• Any drowning or non-fatal submersion (near-drowning) situation
• Injury to the head, neck, or back
• Difficulty breathing
• Persistent chest or abdominal pain or pressure
• Unconscious
• Severe bleeding, vomiting blood
• Seizure, severe headache or slurred speech
• Possible Broken Bones
• Multiple Injuries

 This should have been a refresher to those of you who have had the Red Cross Basic Water Rescue Training.  We offer this training each spring ( depending on pool availability), and will also do this training for you in the early part of the summer at your park if you make a request.   The class is approximately 4 hours in length.

 At this point, I bet you are missing your trained lifeguards!  Each year the Maryland Park Service hosts a lifeguard competition, where our guards from across the State compete for their respective parks.  This year's life guard competition was held at Sandy Point State Park!  Thanks go out to Cineva Kline, and Allison Woodfield and the Sandy Point Staff for a very successful competition.

Top Three Finishing Teams

 

Sandy Point- 45 pts 

Gunpowder- 41 pts

Assateague- 22 pts

 

Life guarding takes a high degree of fitness, solid training, skill, and practice, during the competitions our guards get to show case some of those talents - I hope you enjoy the photos below from this year's competition.  Plan to send a team and join us in 2014 as Rocky Gap hosts the Annual Lifeguard competition on August 5, 2014.