It’s the season finale
Last hurrah for our surf lifesavers this weekend
THE Gold Coast’s volunteer lifesavers will this long weekend raise the red and yellow flags for the last time as the patrol season ends.
Between the September school holidays and start of May, volunteer lifesavers saved more than 600 lives and performed 40,000 preventative actions.
SLSQ lifesaving services co-ordinator Gold Coast Nathan Fife said the season had been a busy time for lifesavers with more than one million visitors flocking to Gold Coast beaches.
“The people who come to our beaches come from all over the world and our lifeguard service is always out making sure everyone is safe and swimming between the flags,” Mr Fife said.
“It may sound a bit boring to the locals on the Gold Coast, but that is our push. You need to be swimming between those red and yellow flags.”
Even though they won’t be patrolling in the off season there will be no rest for volunteer lifesavers as they continue to train and prepare for any situation.
“When they are not on patrol our lifesavers are highly regarded as professionals in first aid who are always willing to give up their time to help others,” Mr Fife said.
“We had a case not long ago with one of our lifesavers who did a resuscitation on a gentleman while training.”
Volunteer lifesaver Enrique Vanderhoeven was training a group for the Cooly Classic swim when his first aid knowledge was required to help a man suffering heart failure.
Mr Vanderhoeven said he performed CPR before shocking the man three times with a defibrillator to get him into stable condition.
“Just because we are not on the beach does not mean we have lost our knowledge,’’ Mr Vanderhoeven said.
“That man is now recovering at home from a triple bypass surgery, so it was a very good outcome.”