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Spinal injuries on Delaware beaches are triple the number recorded last year, hospital officials say.
Other surf injuries, such as cuts, dislocations and broken bones, are more than double last year’s tallies, a Beebe Medical Center spokeswoman said.
At least one injury was serious, leaving a swimmer paralyzed, a local doctor said. As a result of the increased injuries, local beach patrols are considering new safety measures for next summer.
Swimmers who have been slammed by waves into the stone- and shell-littered surf break area have reported numerous cuts, scrapes and broken bones this summer.
Less numerous are swimmers reporting bruised or fractured spinal vertebrae, but such injuries are of far more concern to resort area beach patrols and health-care providers.
Beebe Medical Center Director of Public Relations Sharon Harmon said the total number of spinal injuries treated at the hospital as of Aug. 22 is 11, compared with just three spinal injuries last year.
Harmon said the hospital treated 238 other surf injuries, compared to 103 such injuries last summer.
A monthly breakdown of injuries shows that the vast majority of them – 223 cuts, scrapes and bone injuries and nine spinal injuries - occurred in July and August, after completion of the massive beach replenishment projects at both Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach. The projects greatly widened and raised the beaches, covering most jetties in Rehoboth Beach. And both projects resulted in sharp drops where the beach meets the ocean.
It is in that drop-off area that waves crash. And it is in that surf break zone that many people stand, waiting for a wave they can jump over or body surf. If they catch the wave, they are often pushed headfirst into the stone-littered shelf, where some have dislocated shoulders or fractured vertebrae. If they miss the wave, people are often slammed straight into the steep shore, where they get cut or scraped or break a bone on stones and broken shells.
Dr. Eric Gallagher, who has spent seven years working in Beebe Medical Center’s emergency department, said he believes most of the spinal injuries this year occurred south of the newly replenished beaches, in the area of the Delaware Seashore State Park beaches around Indian River Inlet and in north Bethany Beach.
Gallagher said most of the spinal injuries were minor, requiring only a short time to heal. But he said he was told that one victim suffered a serious injury that left him paralyzed, with no ability to move his arms or legs.
“That was probably the man who was airlifted off Indian Beach in July,” said Dewey Beach Patrol Capt. Todd Fritchman. “I heard he was in real bad shape.”
Because the name of the injured person was not available, the Cape Gazette could not confirm where the accident took place.
Fritchman said his lifeguards recognized in June that the surf break was the worst they’d seen.
“We definitely began telling visitors there should be no swimming in the surf-break zone,” Fritchman said. “We can’t reach everybody on the beach, but we have tried to advise people who look like first-timers at the beach. Over the winter, we will form a better plan for next summer in case the beach doesn’t flatten out this winter.”
Rehoboth Beach Patrol Capt. Kent Buckson said his guards are already eyeing ways to protect swimmers next summer.
“We can’t do anything about the beach or the waves,” Buckson said. “But we can make signs for every beach access point in Rehoboth and have them up for next summer.”
Buckson said that he, too, hopes the beach will flatten this winter and remove the hazard people have faced this summer.
“This was all uncharted water for us this year,” Buckson said. “We didn’t have time to guard the beach, respond to injuries and make signs this year, but we will during the winter.”
Buckson said there are some good positives from the beach projects. The jetties are mostly covered and not producing rip currents, he said. And the beachfront is very straight, giving guards a clear view of the water and other lifeguard stands.
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