Time to head to the Beach!

Welcome 
Guest Blogger - Ranger Cineva Kline

Greetings- My name is Ranger Cineva Kline and I am the Southeastern Regional Trainer.  Two decades ago I began my career with the Maryland Park Service as seasonal lifeguard at Assateague State Park.  Today I am fortunate to have the opportunity to contribute to statewide operations by leading a variety of professional development courses for our classified, seasonal, and volunteer staff.  During the months of May and June, the Training Division along with several dedicated instructors led a variety of emergency response trainings from Mock searches, First Aid and CPR courses, to Basic Water Rescue and Waterfront Lifeguard classes. 

It’s July and summer is now in full swing as millions of visitors flock to our Maryland State Parks.  From Deep Creek Lake to the Atlantic Ocean we have a variety of waterfront facilities, each unique in the dangers they pose to our visitors and the challenges they create for our park staff to ensure public safety.  Maryland’s lakes, rivers, bays, and ocean can be a wonderful recreational resource; however we need to educate our visitors of both the joys and the hazards of the aquatic environment.  Perhaps the most popular water safety story in the media these days is about Secondary Drowning.  Although this phenomenon may be new to the media, it has been studied by physicians for decades. As public service professionals, we need to educate our visitors that any water rescues involving the aspiration or inhalation of water, regardless of how innocent it may appear, should require immediate care and follow-up with medical professionals.

Secondary Drowning most often occurs after a successful water rescue when a victim, who at first appears to be perfectly fine, shows subtle yet significant symptoms 1-24 hours after the incident. These symptoms can include persistent coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain, lethargy, fever and unusual mood change. If not treated, complications may develop because water in the lungs could progress to pulmonary edema hypoxia/anoxia, respiratory and cardiac arrest, and death. All "near drowning" victims, even those not requiring resuscitation, should be sent to hospital for observation and tests immediately following the water aspiration incident. 

Lifeguards serve our communities in an effort to reduce the number of accidents at our beaches. But they cannot do it alone.  Each Maryland Park Service employee plays an integral role in their facility’s Aquatic Safety Team.  Any one of us could be alerted to or recognize an emergency situation that occurs in our park.   Office staff may be responsible for calling 9-1-1 and/or documenting times on a Code S form in the event of a possible drowning.  Maintenance staff, Naturalists, Concession employees, and/or Park volunteers may be called to assist in a missing persons search.  Rangers may be called to provide incident command or emergency medical care.  Contact Station attendants might be asked to help direct an ambulance to the scene of an emergency.  Many of you have had the opportunity to complete the American Red Cross Basic Water Rescue Course which provides hands-on training for prevention, preparation, response, and assistance in aquatic emergencies.

Prevention strategies implemented by the Maryland Park Service include communication, safety checks, and surveillance.  The communication of public safety information is achieved in many ways via signs, brochures, bulletin boards, announcements, social media, and most importantly through your personal contact with visitors.  Safety checks are regularly completed by Rangers, Maintenance staff, and Lifeguards but any park employee, volunteer and/or visitor can report a potential hazard or dangerous behavior.  Surveillance of our waters is maintained by lifeguards in only a small percentage of Maryland State Parks.  Rangers may perform specific waterfront patrols but any employee working in and around the water should be alert to the potential of an aquatic emergency. 

Basic Water Rescue Training at Point Lookout

Basic Water Rescue Training at Point Lookout

The best thing you can do to prepare for an emergency is to learn your facility’s emergency action plan (EAP).  Twelve parks across the State have seasonal lifeguards who work Memorial Day through Labor Day; these parks have an EAP titled “Aquatic Recreation Management Plan.”  The remaining parks, with no lifeguards on staff, have an EAP titled “Waterfront Management Plan.”  Each of these EAP’s detail your facility’s layout, potential hazards, location of rescue equipment, and the exact procedure to follow when responding to and assisting in various types of emergencies. 

Have you reviewed your park’s EAP this year?  Do you have access to a printed copy of your park’s EAP for quick reference?  Do you know what to do if a boat capsizes at your waterfront?  Do you know what actions you should take if it begins to thunder while you are leading a fishing program?  Have you checked your State vehicle to see if there is a throw-rope bag available?  If you answered “No” to any of these questions it is imperative that you ask your supervisor to provide you with a copy of your park’s Aquatic Recreation Management or Waterfront Management Plan.  It is essential that every Maryland Park Service employee know and follow their park’s specific EAP.

Another important component of prevention strategies involves the health of Maryland’s waterways.  The Natural Resources Defense Council recently named Assateague State Park and Point Lookout State Park among 35 “superstar” beaches across the country that met the group's standard for meeting federal safe-swimming guidelines in at least 98 percent of water samples taken since 2009.  The report ranked Maryland fourth out of thirty states for clean beach water in 2013 (http://www.nrdc.org/water/oceans/ttw/beach-superstars.asp).  If you have ever wondered whether the water is safe to swim in now you can be sure!  Sign up to receive email or text message alerts from the Maryland Healthy Beaches Notification System http://www.marylandhealthybeaches.com in case the local Health Department posts an advisory or closure at your park or one your favorite beaches. 

As the summer progresses my hope is to highlight the various aquatic operations in Maryland State Parks with contributions from each of the Beach Rangers and their lifeguard staffs. I’ve also set a goal to take a dip in every designated swimming area that Maryland State Park offers.  To date, I have gone for a swim at Point Lookout (Potomac River), Greenbrier (Greenbrier Lake), Rocky Gap (Lake Habeeb), and Assateague (Atlantic Ocean).  I encourage you all to share your own observations, experiences, and questions about your Park’s waterfront or aquatic operation in the comments section below. Stay tuned to see where I end up next and check out our next blog which will feature Southern Region beaches at Point Lookout and Sandy Point State Parks.  With a true national spirit of courage, integrity, sacrifice, liberty and independence, I wish you all a safe and happy 4th of July.

 “Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.” Albert Camus