•Lifeguard training pays •Make everyone happy •Kapa‘a grad honored •‘Card check’ bill is bad Lifeguard training pays I was amused by the recent headline in The Garden Island saying “Lifeguards rescue visitor at Hanalei Bay.” So what’s the big deal?
•Lifeguard training pays
•Make everyone happy
•Kapa‘a grad honored
•‘Card check’ bill is bad
Lifeguard training pays
I was amused by the recent headline in The Garden Island saying “Lifeguards rescue visitor at Hanalei Bay.”
So what’s the big deal? Isn’t this what lifeguards are paid to do?
Well, here’s the big deal: This save demonstrated the perfect coming together of all the resources that many people — from mayors to county council members to fire chiefs to lifeguard trainers — have been working hard to gather and put into place.
The key to the story is that the save happened over a half mile from the lifeguard tower. Successfully carrying out the rescue involved: a.) superb binocular-assisted vigilance by our lifeguards, b.) immediate availability of fast rescue equipment (in this case an equipped ATV, sometimes a Jet Ski or a lights-and-sirens truck), and c.) excellent rescue and first-responder/CPR skills by the lifeguard, Mr. Piko. An always happy addition to this scenario is our surfers who themselves keep such a watchful and helpful eye on our waters.
A lot of work and money has been put into the idea that our lifeguards must try to expand from simply covering the beach right in front of Kaua‘i’s 10 lifeguard towers to covering the rest of Kaua‘i as well. To bring this about, our lifeguards have been supplied with expensive radios that incorporate them into the 911 system.
Their fast-response equipment has been steadily improved and increased, and their training has increasingly emphasized that they expand their vigilance to anywhere their binoculars can see and to wherever 911 needs them. Too often the challenges are still too great to overcome, given that there are only four to six minutes to work with in order to successfully resuscitate a face-down victim.
But a glorious case like this makes the effort and expense all worthwhile — a man who was face down and virtually lifeless is walking around, a nearly destroyed family is happily looking towards their future together.
Well done Mr. Piko and well done Kaua‘i! And keep it up, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. It isn’t easy but it sure can be rewarding.
I feel our next big hurdle is to get our beach-front hotels more involved in Kaua‘i’s program — e.g. working with our lifeguard trainers for regularly scheduled (maybe biannual) walk-through scenarios; figuring out how to have their staff provide some form of coverage on their beach; and lowering their threshold for calling 911, thereby increasing the chance for a fast-enough response. There’s sometimes a fear that hotel guests will feel “freaked out” if a team of rescue professionals is suddenly in their midst. On the contrary, my conversations indicate that they feel very reassured to see that Kaua‘i’s professionals are there for them.
Dr. Monty Downs, Wilcox Memorial Hospital ER
Make everyone happy
According to folks, da “Humma” that caught on fire April 18 on a North Shore beach was driving where da mo‘o (lizard) lived in a cave and was turned into stone by Pele, cause he been fool around with her sista. Moral of da story: no make funny kine on sacred ground and in Hawai‘i everyplace is sacred.
Respect the ‘aina (land). It is illegal to drive on beaches in Hawai‘i. Did they get a citation for illegally driving on the beach? If not, why not?
No throw your opala (trash) on the beach, eh! Cause when you get to the pearly gates Saint Peter going tell you, “What! You been tro your opala on da beach! No can come inside and play da harp. We going send you back and reincarnate you as one cigarette butt just so you know how it feels to be discarded and treated with no aloha.”
Aloha ke akua, aloha each adda and aloha eryting all da time, aloha in da beginning, aloha in da middle, aloha in da end. Be happy and make everyone around you happy.
Kawika Moke, Kekaha
Kapa‘a grad honored
Our daughter, Monica Slingerland, was formally acknowledged for her academic achievements at San Jose State University at San Jose, Calif., where she is majoring in Nutritional Science.
She is a 2000 Kapa‘a High School graduate who attended Kaua‘i Community College, University of Hawai‘i at Hilo and is now an undergraduate student at San Jose State.
She was recognized as a Dean’s scholar, an undergraduate student who has earned a 3.65 or higher grade point average at SJSU in at least two contiguous semesters of the three semesters prior to the Honors Convocation.
A letter sent to us from Charles C. Bullock, Dean of the College of Applied Sciences and Arts at San Jose University, stated “Monica is one of the few select students to receive this high honor this year.”
On April 24, the 47th Annual Honors Convocation was held at San Jose State University Event Center to formally recognize undergraduate students who have earned this distinguished academic achievement.
Joan Slingerland, Kapa‘a
‘Card check’ bill is bad
No worker should be forced to make their vote public.
The proposed “card check” bill pending in the Legislature will enable union organizers to replace the secret ballot process with an inferior system. If this bill passes, organizers will approach workers one at a time and ask them to sign the card saying they want to have a union in their workplace.
What if the employee says no? Are we to believe that the organizers will say, “Thank you, we respect your opinion, we’ll be on our way.”
Or do we think that maybe it will be “Why not? Your co-workers are supporting this. I really think you should sign the card. Why don’t you sign it right now? I’ll have your pro-union co-worker call you later at home. You don’t want to stand in the way of your co-workers do you? You know this will pass anyway and some people might remember that you didn’t support this.”
Thank goodness our local representatives have seen this bill for what it is and have not supported it.
Steve Lupkes, Kekaha
