This morning we took a walk along the beach in the picture here, and a lone surfer was enjoying mild wave action. Later in the day, around lunchtime, this beach was very crowded. As we enjoyed a lunch in a little cafe overlooking the beach, we witnessed a mild commotion as a gentleman was pulled from the water with obvious head injuries. He did not have a surf or boogie board, he was simply pounded by the waves into a rough interaction with the sand.

There were warning flags along the beach that the surf was dangerous and you should not body surf, but people were diving into waves that were easily 6-8 feet. It looked like fun. Not huge waves, but big enough to bring on the hurt.

While we were at the same cafe, we noticed the family sitting nearby that included a child, about 4 years old, with curly red hair and fair skin. And sun poisoning. He had cream on his face, his eyes were nearly swollen shut, and they had a tube of SPF50 sitting on the table. I’m not throwing stones here, I did the same thing with one of my kids, and that’s why I would have prepared differently.

So while it is a long way from time to worry about surf and intense sun for many of my North American friends, its worth noting that safety is always a consideration. Being careful out there is a 24/7 concern.

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.

When I was a kid, there was  a sticker inside the kitchen sink cabinet that had a skull and crossbones along with the local number for a poison control center. The sticker was there because that is where most people stored their cleaners. And in most cases, cleaners were either acidic or caustic, and had mysterious chemical formulations. If someone were to ingest them, you needed to know the best immediate solution, and you called that number.

So Heather at Enclaria asked me who you call in that type of emergency today, poison control or 911? After all, she specializes in helping people manage change, so as reporting systems have changed, what is the right approach?

If you live in California, call 911, because with all of their funding problems, the state is eliminating funding of poison control.

But wouldn’t you think that poison control is more prepared to help you quickly, whereas the 911 operator is more like triage?

If I knew where to find the poison control number (see the graphic above), I would call there. Then I would look for another phone to call 911 (because I still have a land line and a cell phone).

How would you approach this problem?