The Star: November 17, 2016

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Thursday November 17 2016 21
News
Lifesavers prepare for duty
• By Bridget Rutherford
ABOUT 100 surf lifesavers
will be out in force on Saturday
for the first day of the summer
patrol season.
Volunteers will be at Taylors
Mistake, Sumner, South
Brighton, New Brighton,
North Beach and Waimairi,
as well as Spencer Park and
Waikuku.
Surf Life Saving New Zealand
Christchurch lifesaving manager
Henry Lawson said being
the first day of the season, most
club members would be at the
different beaches.
“We’re pretty excited to get
started.”
Mr Lawson said already, there
had been 40 new lifeguards who
had passed their exams to patrol
this summer, with 40 more
sitting exams this month and
next.
He said all up last year there
were 70 new volunteers across
the city.
“We’re definitely on track for
growth.”
On average there would be
about six volunteers per patrol,
he said.
Across the eight patrolled
beaches last summer, there were
90 incidents that surf lifesavers
and volunteers were called to,
he said.
There were 42 rescues, 50 first
aids and six searches.
For the months leading up
until this weekend, volunteers
had been training with their
clubs and sitting refreshment
courses to get them ready for
patrol season.
“It’s a very busy off season.”
Following Monday morning’s
7.5 magnitude earthquake,
Mr Lawson said as far as he
was aware there had been no
damage to lifesaving equipment.
He said Taylors Mistake Surf
Life Saving Club was already
operating out of Portacoms, due
to damage from the Valentine’s
Day earthquake, while Sumner
had new premises which stood
up well.
North Beach did not sustain
damage, while New Brighton
READY: Caitlin
Ruddle,
school’s
education
co-ordinator,
Southern
Region and
Henry Lawson
lifesaving and
education
manager for
Christchurch.
PHOTO:
GEOFF
SLOAN
is due to get new clubrooms, he
said.
South Brighton Surf Life Saving
Club was to get an engineering
assessment this week before
it would reopen, he said.
Beach Education courses
were also due to start this week,
which taught school children
about being safe at the beach
and in the water.
The patrol season will run
until March 13.
Honey trial
to cure
cold sores
IF YOU have a cold sore, don’t
rush to the pharmacy just yet.
Free treatment is available as
part of a massive study, which
will test whether honey might be
able to treat the sores.
The study, involving 950 people,
is one of the largest undertaken in
New Zealand.
It is being co-ordinated
through pharmacies, with 10 taking
part in Christchurch.
It is being led by Medical Research
Institute investigator Alex
Semprini, who has already run a
smaller pilot trial comparing the
results of treating cold sores with
kanuka honey, against treatment
with the most common pharmaceutical
cream, aciclovir.
People taking part in the trial
will either be given aciclovir or
kanuka honey to treat their cold
sore, and then document the
results in a daily diary.
The treatment is provided
free for people taking part, and
they will also be given $25 as a
reimbursement for their time.
For more information or to
apply to take part in the trial,
contact Dr Semprini at coldsore@
mrinz.ac.nz