Beach umbrella danger not realized as woman in Ocean City injured

[freemexy]

A 46-year-old Pennsylvanian woman is in stable condition at Peninsula Regional Medical Center after a beach umbrella pole pierced her left shoulder area Sunday in Ocean City, Maryland.Straight Umbrella

Butch Arbin, captain of the Ocean City Beach Patrol, said he spoke with the woman Monday morning and she's doing well. The woman said she is thankful and blessed that her injury was not more severe, he said.Incidents like this one are rare, Arbin said. Ocean City might see one a year."One is still too many, but you've got to understand, on any given day there are thousands upon thousands of umbrellas on the beach," Arbin said.

On Sunday, the National Weather Service recorded wind gusts as high as 17 mph at 2:53 p.m. The beach patrol reported the umbrella call a short time later, at 3:11 p.m. The unattended rental umbrella was blown down the beach near 54th Street.

Responding surf rescue technicians tended to the injuries that were not life-threatening, Arbin said. Firefighters had to cut part of the pole until an ambulance transported her to the landing zone at Jolly Roger Amusement Park, where a medevac took her to PRMC in Salisbury, Arbin said.This patient was the first the hospital had seen in at least 10 years to be injured by a beach umbrella, said Sarah Arnett, PRMC director of emergency and trauma services. She added that the hospital's emergency room more often sees patients injured by surf, vehicles or falling.
When tending to injuries involving impaled objects, Arnett said it’s important to keep the object in place until the patient is in the operating room. Once there and the object is be removed, bleeding can be controlled and infections can be prevented, she said.

Throughout the summer, thousands of umbrellas cover the beach in Ocean City — whether brought by a beachgoer or rented from various companies. Arbin said, if left unsecured or unattended, beach umbrellas can be lifted from the sand by strong winds, potentially endangering nearby beachgoers.

Only about eight people on his 200-person beach patrol had witnessed a similar situation, he said. Even the veteran guards were taken aback.