River Safety and Rescue Program Attacks Silent Epidemic

Rivers are inherently dangerous, with powerful currents, cold water temperatures, fluid and ever-changing conditions, and numerous hidden hazards that, sadly, the majority of people who are drawn to them for recreation do not always recognize.

For boaters, the United States Coast Guard vigorously promotes boating safety, training and certification programs. American Whitewater carefully tracks rafting, kayaking and other paddling accidents, offering safety recommendations to help reduce deaths and injuries in the whitewater environment. Many public safety agencies support marine patrols and swiftwater rescue teams. But few agencies focus on non-boating river safety, where people are drawn to their local river to picnic, hike or play in and around the water.

Over the recent Memorial Day weekend, there were more than a dozen river drowning deaths, where victims were either attempting to swim or wade across a river, or somehow slipped and fell into the water. Viewed individually, these deaths in the Potomac River, Salt River, New River, Fish River, Great Miami River, Susquehanna River, Kern River, Sac River, Alcovy River, Delaware River, Appomattox River and Chickahominy River are tragic. But viewed collectively, there is a silent epidemic nationwide of river drownings that is not being addressed adequately by public safety agencies in terms of prevention, education, rescue and the recovery of missing victims.

RIVER SAFETY AND RESCUE PROGRAM

Glenn Otto Park in Troutdale, OR, is beautiful and inviting, and it offers one of the few locations along the Sandy River with a pebble beach and easy access to the water. The river is wide and appears to be slow-flowing, with little white water. In fact, the glacier-fed river is deceptive, with powerful and potentially dangerous currents and very cold water.

After 13 people drowned at Glenn Otto Park over a five-year period in the late 1990s, American Medical Response (AMR), a private medical transportation company, joined with local officials to create a pioneering, on-site river rescue program. In 2002, after three people drowned in less than a month near High Rocks Park along the Clackamas River, the AMR River Safety and Rescue Program was expanded to include High Rocks as well.

According to AMR River Safety and Rescue Program Specialist Taneka Burwell-Means, who oversees the program, "Initially, we developed a swiftwater rescue technician course for our EMTs and paramedics who were posted at the Sandy River. But after the first year, we realized that we needed a way to prevent incidents to begin with. We felt we could take the best parts of the swiftwater rescue and lifeguard disciplines and adapt them to our needs. So we looked for people with good backgrounds in lifeguarding and river-running and cross-trained them in both disciplines."

Burwell-Means explains that it took two years to develop a program that the United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) would certify. "USLA has minimum requirements that we needed to meet, and we also added additional standards that dealt with swiftwater rescue," she says. "Once we were reviewed and certified, we were awarded an advanced agency certification, because we had paramedics on our team and personnel with scuba backgrounds."

AMR hires eight full-time and 12 part-time river rescue technicians to cover Glenn Otto and High Rocks from Memorial Day through September. "The river rescue program is a seasonal program for AMR," Burwell-Means notes. "But at the end of the season, AMR can usually use the EMTs and paramedics through the winter, as well."

Even with an active life jacket loaner program, and careful interaction with the public to educate them about the hazards of cold water shock and swimming and playing in swift water, AMR river rescue technicians have performed 71 serious river rescues since the inception of the program and actively assisted another 679 people who got into trouble. A "rescue" is distinguished from an "assist" when the victim requires transport to the hospital.

Randy Lauer, EMT-P, general manager of AMR Oregon, notes that the AMR River Safety and Rescue Program is the only program of its kind that is sponsored by a private EMS provider and supported by strong community partnerships. "Funding is always an issue," Lauer says. "But in the 11 years since the AMR River Safety and Rescue Program began, the drowning death toll at Glenn Otto and High Rocks has been reduced to zero."

In recognition of its pioneering river rescue program, AMR was recently presented with the 2010 Higgins & Langley Program Development Award in Swiftwater Rescue at the National Association for Search and Rescue conference in Tunica, MS.

For more information, visit https://www.ci.troutdale.or.us/police/riversafety.htm.

Nancy J. Rigg is a writer and documentary filmmaker who specializes in public safety issues and education.