By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
This was an unusual summer that saw Sea Isle City’s lifeguards not only protect countless beachgoers and swimmers, but also go to great lengths to protect themselves.
While they were keeping an eye on the ocean for any swimmers in distress, they also wore masks, practiced social distancing and followed other safety protocols during a summer tourism season overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.
“It was certainly a different summer,” said Renny Steele, the chief of the Sea Isle City Beach Patrol.
Steele, 70, who is wrapping up his 50th year with the beach patrol, said that despite the challenges lifeguards faced during the COVID-19 crisis, the summer of 2020 was actually a successful one because there were no drownings in Sea Isle.
“It’s a successful summer when you don’t have a loss of life,” he said in an interview Friday.
This will be the last weekend that Sea Isle’s lifeguards will be on duty for the season. A list of protected beaches can be found at sicbp.com.
Steele is prevented from disclosing whether any of Sea Isle’s lifeguards were diagnosed with COVID-19. However, he noted that the beach patrol never had to close any beaches this summer due to any lifeguard shortages caused by coronavirus cases. Altogether, there are 96 members of the beach patrol.
As usual, Sea Isle’s lifeguards handled hundreds of “fish-outs” this summer involving the rescue of distressed swimmers, Steele said. That number is typical for each summer and usually involves only one or two lifeguards for each rescue.
The beach patrol also handled nine “flag rescues” this summer. Those types of emergencies involve multiple lifeguards rushing to the scene for larger-scale rescues. Sea Isle had seven flag rescues in 2019.
Members of the beach patrol who are trained emergency medical technicians also handle emergencies ranging from serious cuts to broken bones to heat stroke to back or neck injuries. Sea Isle’s beach patrol has 13 members who are certified EMTs.
In 2020, there were 103 medical emergencies, compared to 138 in 2019, Steele said.
Also this summer, the beach patrol was involved with 36 cases of lost children, compared to 40 in 2019. In each case, the children were found and reunited with their families, Steele said.
At the same time they were protecting the public, the lifeguards were practicing social distancing and other safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their ranks.
Among them, they were required to wear masks if two of them shared a single lifeguard stand. In some cases, one lifeguard would sit on a stand while the other would stay on the beach for social distancing, Steele explained.
On some beaches, the city placed two stands so that lifeguards each would have their own stand instead of having to share one.
Lifeguards also sterilized their stands each morning and disinfected their equipment, including their radios. They also had face coverings that they would wear if they came in close contact with the public.
Steele explained that lifeguards received their certifications for first aid and CPR this summer through online classes – instead of in-person instruction – because of the coronavirus. He expects the online instruction to continue next summer, even if the pandemic is over by then.
No matter what happens with COVID-19 next summer, lifeguards will continue to carry hand sanitizers and wipes in their medical bags as a precaution, Steele noted.
“If we do have COVID-19 next year, God forbid, we will be so much more prepared. We were pretty happy with the way things went this summer,” he said of all the safety lessons that were learned.
