Life Saving Today
Surf lifesaving in Australia is well-developed as both a voluntary lifesaver service and as a competitive sport. There are 305 surf lifesaving clubs in Australia that collectively patrol over 400 beaches. In the 2003-2004 season there were 24,968 active members (those who are rostered to patrol regularly), of which approximately 40% are women. In the 2003-2004 patrol season, lifesavers performed 9,044 rescues, provided emergency care to 26,739 patients, and undertook 171,965 preventive actions.
Surf Life Savers provide important surf rescue services on beaches in Australia on weekends and public holidays throughout the patrol season on a volunteer basis. In New South Wales the season coincides with the beginning of the September school holidays and finishes on ANZAC Day. They also provide year-round on-call volunteer rescue services in most areas known as Support Services.
Life savers are distinguished in Australia from paid lifeguards which are generally employed by the relevant Local Government authority and patrol the beach throughout the year. Lifeguards also patrol lakes, pools, and other aquatic venues. Support Services also operate to augment the patrols on the beach by providing surveillance away from the flag areas and emergency back-up when required.
Read more about this topic: Surf Lifesaving
Famous quotes containing the words life, saving and/or today:
“One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is, I think, to have a happy childhood.”
—Agatha Christie (1890–1976)
“We black women must forgive black men for not protecting us against slavery, racism, white men, our confusion, their doubts. And black men must forgive black women for our own sometimes dubious choices, divided loyalties, and lack of belief in their possibilities. Only when our sons and our daughters know that forgiveness is real, existent, and that those who love them practice it, can they form bonds as men and women that really can save and change our community.”
—Marita Golden, educator, author. Saving Our Sons, p. 188, Doubleday (1995)
“In 1600 the specialization of games and pastimes did not extend beyond infancy; after the age of three or four it decreased and disappeared. From then on the child played the same games as the adult, either with other children or with adults. . . . Conversely, adults used to play games which today only children play.”
—Philippe Ariés (20th century)