Beautiful weather saw high head counts and reasonably busy days for Surf Life Saving Northern Region’s lifeguards around
the region.
Summary – Saturday 22 January 2022
Baylys Beach responded when a six-year-old girl inhaled water and was brought to the lifeguards by her parents just after 1pm. She
was drifting in and out of consciousness, vomiting and foaming from the mouth. Lifeguards quickly responded and put the
girl on oxygen. Her condition remarkably improved because of the intervention from the lifeguards and she became alert
and started talking. An emergency doctor on scene said that the patient was fine and that the ambulance and rescue
helicopter could be stood down. The lifeguards didn’t feel her condition was stable, and by time the rescue helicopter
arrived, she deteriorated and began vomiting again. The patient and her father were taken to hospital via rescue
helicopter.
Ōrewa hosted a junior surf carnival which saw their headcount soar to a peak of 2500 on the beach and 450 in the water. As
the carnival was wrapping up, lifeguards spotted a kite-surfer at the end of the beach whose kite had fallen, but who
appeared to be making no attempt to get it up again. Lifeguards launched an IRB and assisted the visibly distressed
patient into the boat, collected his kite and dropped him back to the shore.
Red Beach rescued three teenage girls who had gotten caught by the tide at a cove on the rocks. One had been washed by a wave and
had fallen on the rocks, so lifeguards treated her for grazing on the side of her hip and leg.
Statistics – Saturday 22 January 2022No. of people rescued3No. of people assisted2No. of major first-aids2No. of minor first-aids4No. of searches0No. of preventatives190No. of number involved1628No. of peak head count8949No. of hours worked1064