Congratulations to Sussex County EMS for its well-earned accreditation from the National Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (Cape Gazette, Feb. 22).
I have engaged with Sussex EMS on a number of occasions including when serving with the Rehoboth and Dewey Beach patrols and when, with the Dewey Beach Patrol’s involvement and other U.S. Lifesaving Association (USLA) certified DE beach patrols, we established the United Open Water Rescue Program, including DE State Police Aviation, U.S. Coast Guard, Sussex EMS, Dewey Police, DE volunteer amateur (ham) radio operators and other entities.
The program brought the attention of the U.S. Surgeon General and Sen. Tom Carper. Sussex EMS has always been great, being there, ready, able and willing to help others and I’m happy to see their national recognition. That kind of accreditation is not easy to get.
It’s also nice to know that Sussex EMS shares credit with other organizations dedicated to saving lives.
One year, Rehoboth Beach Patrol (RBP) Lt. Woody Marderwald and his section (with a perfect safety record of no drownings ever), including Randy Stone - recently recognized by Delaware Today Magazine as one of the state’s top teachers - received the Sussex County EMS’s Life-Saver Award for highly coordinated rescue efforts saving a man’s life under extreme circumstances.
Sussex EMS is a model for the rest of the country and should be proud of its recognition gained through hard work, courage and humanitarian goals.
The issue of accreditation, however, raises the question of why the RBP, the state’s oldest and largest beach patrol, remains unable to earn USLA certification when even tiny beach patrols in Delaware (e.g., North Shores, North Bethany) have been able to do so.
Certification means accountability to high standards; no certification means accountability to nothing.
In turn, the RBP’s once-vaunted safety record has suffered while places like Dewey, Bethany and Sea Colony (all USLA certified) have maintained perfect records of no drownings ever on a guarded beach.
USLA training also produces certified first responders who can come to any kind of accident regardless of location and be capable of saving lives; the payoff to society is huge.
Those and other USLA-certified patrols aren’t afraid to work and they work to higher standards than anything which goes into “winning competitions.”
Saving lives isn’t a game/competition; it is life or death, pure and simple.
That the city tolerates this aberration does not make Rehoboth look good. It’s a rich place, and far poorer towns’ beach patrols have been able to earn USLA certification.
Excuses have been made again and again, but excuses don’t take the place of highly developed standards. They create a safety black hole.
Dr. Peter I. Hartsock
co-founder, Rehoboth Beach Patrol Alumni Association
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