“Ocean Minded Community.”
This is a phrase that we’re trying to instill into our Kauai lexicon, along with “Please swim near a lifeguard,” and, the most time-honored one of all: “When in doubt, don’t go out.” But what does OMC actually mean?
There are a couple of recent examples I’m pleased to describe: One has to do with PMRF. In the last month their firefighters have been responded to two critical ocean situations. The first happened about a month ago, the second about a week ago. Here is how PMRF Fire Chief Ron Akiyama described the incidents:
“We received a call from the Waimea fire station asking for assistance and to see if we could launch our jet ski for swimmers in distress at Polihale.” (My comment: Much shorter response time than Waimea firefighters and paramedics). “We launched one of our skis with our rescue sled and two rescuers. I drove down to Polihale through our gate to the last known location of the victims and served as their spotter.
“The victims had been able to swim around the rip and were safely on the beach by the time we got there.”
(My comment again: To add another dimension to this OMC story: The two swimmers who had been pulled out by a rip current and were in imminent danger of drowning were stabilized and then brought to shore by a Samaritan who grabbed a public rescue tube and went out to save them).
The second incident took place at Majors Bay, a popular area for those who have passes to get on the base. Here is Chief Akiyama’s account:
“The stand-up paddler (SUP), from our understanding, was a first-time user. He set out around 1650hrs and a surfer in the parking lot had taken notice of him going out and his lack of experience on using the SUP. He decided to keep his eye on him while he attempted to go out. The winds that day out at Majors Bay were about 25-30 mph and blowing you offshore. After about 15 mins, the bystander decided that he should call Dispatch Center because the SUP was getting further out. By the time the PMRF Fire Department got on scene, the SUP was not visible with the naked eye. Even while using binoculars the SUP was hard to see. We launched our jet ski and started doing a grid search pattern trying to locate the SUP, because by this time the paddler had laid down on his board, making it hard for the rescue crew to locate him. At around 1730 they located him about 1 to 1 1/2 miles out from Majors Bay. The rescue crew towed him into shore without incident and checked him out and with no medical conditions noted he was released.”
Wow. Thank you, chief, and thank you PMRF for being part of our community in this very special way.
Another OMC example has to do with Grove Farm putting up warning signs at the Shipwrecks cliff-jump site. This came in response to them becoming aware, as landowners, that in the last five years 18 people have suffered critical injuries making this jump. (This data comes from the Wilcox Medical Center trauma registry. The most common injury is a broken back, but there have been others including ruptured spleens, ruptured lungs, broken arms and others).
Whether or not people are heeding these signs is beyond our control, but we’re quite confident that the signs will deter at least some people. Fingers crossed now on seeing a reduction in the number of these injuries, but one way or the other … . Thank you, Grove Farm.
So, these are a couple of recent examples of what an Ocean Minded Community is, with partners from all sectors of our island working together on our ocean safety problem.
In addition, of course, there are all our long-standing supporters and partnerships. I started to write some of you down before I realized that (1) If I acknowledged all of you this piece would read like a telephone book and (2) If I acknowledged some of you I would be hurtful to those of you I didn’t acknowledge.
Bottom line: You all have allowed the Kauai Lifeguard Association to make donations to the county Ocean Safety Bureau totaling over $850,000 in the last six years! You have helped our lifeguards be as special as they deserve to be and you have saved lives.
On a bit of a troubled note, I do have to comment that this hasn’t been a kind winter and spring, statistically speaking, to Kauai swimmers and to our water safety advocates and professionals.
The not-so Pacific Ocean is there, the hidden waterfalls are there, and the people are there. However, I long ago learned to not stress too much about our “numbers” count even though each number is a human life and a shattered family.
I learned this because a few years ago we had a year with “only” three drownings. I thought “Hey! We’re making a dent with all our efforts.”
But the next year we suffered 17 drownings and we were right back to our average of 10 drownings/year. I do take some statistical solace from the fact that our “numbers” haven’t doubled, even as our beach-going population has doubled (by lifeguards’ counts) in the last five years. And also, some solace from the fact that our “double drownings” have been reduced drastically in the years since our public rescue tube program came into existence. (I knock on wood as I write these last two sentences). I also get a huge reward when I get to meet people and families who have been saved because of our efforts.
In summary, an Ocean Minded Community is you and me, maybe finding a moment to tell someone to be careful and to please swim near a lifeguard, maybe making a rescue, maybe volunteering to maintain our public rescue tube stations, maybe helping us with publicity messages, maybe financially supporting our more formal programs and our lifeguards. Whichever and whoever of these you are, mahalo.
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Monty Downs, M.D., is president of the Kauai Lifeguard Association.
