PO‘IPU — “Everyone needs to be a lifeguard,” said Gina Kaulukukui, director of Life’s Bridges Friday at the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort and Spa. “A lot of our visitors are uninformed or misinformed. By providing the correct information, we have
PO‘IPU — “Everyone needs to be a lifeguard,” said Gina Kaulukukui, director of Life’s Bridges Friday at the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort and Spa. “A lot of our visitors are uninformed or misinformed. By providing the correct information, we have the opportunity to save a life.”
The leading cause of accidental death of visitors in Hawai‘i — and other parts of the world — is drowning, according to information compiled by the Water Awareness Visitor Education Project.
Pat Durkin of the WAVE project noted in a Friday presentation to representatives of the visitor industry that Kaua‘i has the highest drowning rate of the major islands, with 10 drownings already occurring this year. Of the 10 victims, eight were visitors. He reinforced those numbers with a slide showing a 10-year average of drowning victims, which indicated visitors accounted for 71 percent of drownings.
“We’ve simply got to find more and more ways to get the information out to the public,” said Paul Arrigo, past president of the Rotary Club of Kapa‘a. “If we save even one life by increasing awareness of the dangers of our waters, the effort will have been worth it.”
The WAVE Project is an effort to reduce these tragedies by providing quality beach safety information to visitors.
The WAVE Project, through the efforts of Linda Ruby, director of Safety and Security at the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort and Spa, hosted two presentations for representatives of the visitor industry, including concierge staff, who make contact with visitors, and other personnel that work with visitors.
Following the presentations at the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i, the WAVE Project will be hosting presentations at the St. Regis Hotel on April 4, and a third presentation at the Aston Kaua‘i Beach Resort on April 11, both starting at 10 a.m.
“These (visitors) are good people,” said Dickie Chang of Wala‘au Productions, producer of an ocean safety video, which will begin airing at the baggage claim areas at Lihu‘e Airport. “Just like the Hawaiian braddahs who don’t have any information about snow, a lot of the visitors come to the Islands with no information on the potential dangers in the ocean. This is a serious issue.”
The four-minute video touches on key ocean safety points, including the use of the rescue tubes and encouraging people to swim at lifeguarded beaches.
Through the efforts of the Rotary Club of Kapa‘a, the video will be shown on 55-inch high definition light-emitting diode displays at the baggage claim areas and run continuously, said Ron Margolis of the Rotary Club of Kapa‘a.
A blessing is scheduled for April 10 starting at 10 a.m. for the project, which received sponsorships from the Rotary Club of Kapa‘a Foundation, DuPont Pioneer and KLA with support from the Lihu‘e Airport.
The video, subtitled in Japanese, includes the latest water safety information. It touches upon the use of the rescue tubes, a project of the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay, the availability of websites such as www.kauaiexplorer.com to check on water conditions, and an iPhone app, Kaua‘i Beach Guide, which provides real-time beach conditions.
The “even one life” theme permeated the WAVE presentation as 40-plus attendees were engrossed in the information being presented and having relevant questions posed to presenters Durkin, Dr. Monty Downs and Chang.
“This video is really a huge attempt at what we have to do better, to get people more aware of the problem and educate people on what to be aware of at the beaches,” Downs said. “I’m not giving up by any means. Now, more than ever, we must figure out ways to do better with water safety.”
Adding to the arsenal of new tools for water safety, Durkin said two beach safety displays are en route and should be installed at Kalapaki Beach within a month. These beach-specific displays join the first one, which was installed through the KLA in partnership with the Marriott’s Waihai Beach Club ,in December, 2012.
“Although these signs are not a substitute for lifeguards, they provide a lot of helpful information for visitors to the beach,” Downs said. “Eventually, through the partnership with landowners and other resorts, we would like to see these types of safety displays at all the popular beach spots.”
Downs, who works at Wilcox Memorial Hospital Emergency Room, often hears the radio in the ER with advance information from ambulances heading toward the hospital with potential drowning victims.
“I’ve hung my hat too much on statistics,” Downs said. “We’d all love to see the statistics come down. But at the end of the day, it’s really about any one person we can save.”
