By Dr. Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul

Understanding the ocean and knowing how to react when conditions change are vital to having an enjoyable and safe summer.

Every year we lose people to drownings that could have been prevented with a basic understanding of water safety. It’s always sad to see it happen. A family comes to the shore to enjoy a day at the beach and someone gets into trouble because they don’t appreciate the risks of the water and don’t know what to do when they start to have a problem. They panic and make the problem worse. Or they come down after work and swim when or where there are no lifeguards on duty.

What makes these situations even sadder is that they are so preventable.

That’s why we have co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to require school districts to incorporate instruction on water safety into the health education curriculum for students in grades K through 12 as part of the district’s implementation of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Comprehensive Health and Physical Education.

The instruction would include information on the nature and danger of rip tides; water conditions and beach safety practices, particularly for student populations that do not reside near beach communities; hand signs for swimmers to show they are in distress, and the sightline limitations of lifeguards and others monitoring swimmers from the beach.

We fear this summer could be worse as warmer than usual ocean temperatures draw more people into the water and coastal towns struggle to find enough lifeguards to protect them.

The problem of recruiting lifeguards has been growing in recent years. Last year, some towns closed beaches to swimming because they couldn’t find enough lifeguards to hire. Early reports from beach towns this year indicate the problem is getting worse.

It’s not just a problem in shore towns. The lifeguard shortage is impacting lakes, rivers, and swimming pools around the state.   

We also have introduced legislation to establish a lifeguard recruitment campaign in the Department of Health and appropriate $1 million to recruit lifeguards. Under the bill, the Department of Health is to develop a public campaign to encourage lifeguard recruitment. The public campaign would be broad and utilize social media platforms, indoor and outdoor signs on public transportation platforms and other state property, radio and television commercials, and other electronic and print media to encourage individuals to become lifeguards. The bill also would require pamphlets on lifeguarding be distributed at appropriate sites, such as health clubs, schools, sports facilities and, of course, at the beach.

When people get in trouble in unguarded waters, it is usually local police and volunteer first responders that get the call for help. So, it’s gratifying to report that our bill to give a gross income tax credit to active members of volunteer emergency service organizations for use of personal vehicles in performing active duty. The Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee passed the bill this week. The legislation is part of a package of bills we have introduced along with our LD11 legislative partner, Senator Vin Gopal, to increase recruitment of volunteer first responders.

We urge everyone to focus on safety when going in the water this summer. Try to learn what you don’t know about water safety. The US Lifesaving Association offers detailed water safety tips at www.usla.org/page/safety-tips.

Have fun and stay safe.