Drishti Marine, Goa’s appointed lifeguard agency has rolled out new kits for its 400-member strong force and is changing the spoken nomenclature to ‘lifesavers’.
A departure from its bright red uniforms of the past, the new kit features a navy blue dry-fit t-shirt over a full sleeve white dry-fit UV-protect rashguard, worn with red shorts.
Ravi Shankar, Head of Operations at Drishti Marine said, “With our entire team trained and ready under new global lifesaving guidelines for Covid-19, we felt it was the right time to make a fresh departure.“
Talking about the choice of colour for the uniform, Shankar said, “Blue was an obvious choice for us, its a marine colour, of the ocean and the sky. For India, it is a primordial colour in our clothing history. Also in the context of today when the world is under such trying times we felt like a protective force in a recreational context, this has a calming effect and symbolises stability, reliability and wisdom – qualities which resonate with what Goa’s lifesavers stand for.”
Goa Tourism’s trademark ‘Goa’ logo is inscribed as a crest on the top right of the tee-shirt while Drishti’s logo is printed on the sleeve and shorts. The new kits have ‘Lifesavers’ inscribed on the back of the tee-shirts.
Drishti’s lifesavers not only rescue people from the sea but have also been first responders for any emergency and medical situations like cardiac arrest or a minor injury that arise onshore. They are also trained to correctly rescue and return to water any stranded beached marine life along the shore.
“We realized that we needed to reinforce to people what the boys really do, which is, save lives. Often people tend to see the lads as someone who stops them from enjoying the water. When in fact it is to the contrary,” said Shankar.
Drishti Marine has undergone extensive training in the new global lifesaving guidelines in times of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Explaining the news rules, Shankar said, “The new CPR protocol has changed. Globally, hands-only CPR is recommended which includes compression of the chest, but no rescue breaths. In more advanced cases too, it’s a direct shift from the regular mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the use of a Bag Valve Mask (BVM) which is a self – inflating resuscitation device. This can reduce infections or diseases being transmitted in the process between victim and rescuer”.
With Goa having completely opened up for tourism and beachgoers making a bee-line for the shores, Goa’s beaches have witnessed a swell in visitors.
