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Diamond Head and other
surf areas need lifeguards

Why can't we protect our surfers in the place where surfing was born? There are no lifeguards at Diamond Head and other surf spots on Oahu. I looked at Diamond Head, where our friend Carl drowned a couple of weeks ago, and found that it is virtually impossible to save a drowning victim there. No lifeguards, rocky shore, difficult extrication, surfers don't have phones, no line of sight from the road for ambulance personnel to see where the victim is and poor cellular phone coverage in that area all contribute to the challenges of saving a surfer.

Even if someone called 911, they'll call when it is too late. We need trained personnel to do the job.

We in Hawaii are fortunate to have some of the best lifeguards in the world. Most are trained as emergency medical technicians and ride on ambulances regularly to keep their skills honed. We have excellent emergency medical services personnel in Waikiki and Honolulu Fire Department support with rescue just a phone call away.

All these resources and training mean nothing if we can't save a life. Brain damage occurs in just six minutes. By the time an untrained rescuer realizes there is a problem, the victim is extricated, rescue attempts are initiated by untrained personnel, someone at the top calls 911, the victim is located and paramedics who are trained in advanced life support reach the victim, it's just too late.

Lifeguards see things and anticipate things that the rest of us just aren't trained to perceive. It's a specialty and a niche that can only be filled by these water professionals. They've got the skills.

I suggest that we install cameras at the Coast Guard lighthouse and have trained lifeguards to monitor them and deploy a jetski response team to rescue the drowning victim. The lifeguards watching the monitors can even be lifeguards on light duty; they still know what to do and can direct rescuers to where they are needed.

We have the technology available, we have the right people and we have the motivation. The lifeguards just need the resources to complement the great job that they are doing already.

The Coast Guard, Homeland Security, Bill Gates, the U.S. Navy -- someone should be able to provide the funding for such a life-saving tool.

There has to be a way to address this challenge of protecting our people. Ignoring the problem is not a solution. Just imagine watching a drowning victim hurried off the beach and into an ambulance, and knowing that so much time has passed that this victim will probably not survive. Now imagine it's your child. Everyone is someone's child.

Driving a drowning victim's car back home must be one of the saddest drives ever. Enough already -- let's meet the challenge.

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