It is well known that injury deaths are prevented with the timely arrival of competent emergency pre-hospital medical services at any accident scene. Timely emergency pre-hospital care to accident victims at the accident scene and subsequent transportation to the health facility may reduce the probability of injury severity and deaths. Trauma experts consider the first 60 minutes (termed the “golden hour”) after the injury occurred as the most important period to save lives. The risk of death or severe injury is believed to increase after this period.
If and when kitesurfing or surfing in Portugal, you must be familiar with how safety is guaranteed on the beaches along the coast which is 1 794 km.
Supposing a rider has an accident, there are three possible phases: 1) rescue 2) first aid and trauma care 3) care in a hospital.
Let’s understand how you can better prepare and be conscious of what may happen.
The activities of Lifeguards or “nadador-salvador“ are organized by the Instituto de Socorros a Náufragos (ISN).
There are 31 lifeguards stations in Portugal, equipped with 15 cabin boats, 38 semi-rigid boats and various sea rescue boats and jet skis but Portugal boasts 223 accessible beaches. That is 14% of accessible beaches with lifeguard stations and those do not operate all-year around: many stations have presence during the high-season only. If you are a kitesurfer who is looking for winter winds or a surfer looking for big winter waves, chances are the few lifeguard stations will be closed.
The key point to be aware that you may need to do self-rescue or to rescue someone.
This important aspect means that you must be trained in self-rescue and rescue. Indeed if you are not on a spot where there are no trained lifeguards, you must be able to:
Therefore it is very highly recommended that you have your self-rescue and rescue skills dialed in.
Do not hesitate to train; watching Youtube videos or listening to someone is not sufficient!
Most riders when going through a kite school briefly go into self-rescue and rarely go through first aid.
If you ride in Portugal especially on the difficult spots, you must have experience or training in self-rescue, you can never do too much revisions and exercises. For example is very easy to mess up rolling up your lines in strong winds and big waves with current, such exercises must be automatic, there is no room for panic, stress or error in such conditions. Another example is you can forget how hard it is to use a kite as a sail if not deflated.
Also you must be ready to let your gear go, too often times accidents occur because of the insistence to try and spare the gear at the cost of our own life. This must be drilled into the brain as a reflex.
All of these things depend on what type of kitesurfing you do. If you are wave kitesurfing you need to be prepared with other risks such as those involved with using leashes. For more information see the page on wave surfing.
Assisting and rescuing a fellow kitesurfer is very important, it is difficult, and also requires experience. Be open to help others as you may need others to help you at times as well.
Finally, always check where are the presence of lifeguards when you pick a destination, that can help you to prepare accordingly. For example if you are riding in Fonte da Telha or Guincho in summer, you will have lifeguards, but if you are riding in winter, you won’t. Or if you are riding in Cova do Vapor you won’t have any lifeguards.
It is important to know that currently the firemen “bombeiros” are in charge of about 90% of all the pre-hospitalization emergencies, the rest being ensured by ambulances of INEM (Instituto Nacional de Emergência Médica).
The firemen are all volunteers of the LBP (Liga dos Bombeiros Portugueses). The activities of the LBP is largely financed by INEM which pays between 10 and 15 million euros per annum to the LBP for its first aid services.
Both the LBP and INEM cooperate in order to ensure pre-hospitalization emergency medical services.
The key point to be aware of is that all INEM ambulances and all firemen vehicles will have trained personnel but the emergency care vehicles will have only 2 persons in charge. That may be a significant difference compared to other European countries or your country.
This first important aspect means that you must be ready to help the firemen or the paramedics which will intervene. Indeed if you are not on a spot where there are trained lifeguards, you must be able to:
The second important aspect is that the locations of the firemen and INEM are not necessarily close to the beaches, when called upon they may take 20 minutes to get there, and then maybe an additional 10 minutes to get to where you are on the beach. That’s already a potential solid 30 minutes.
Therefore it is very highly recommended that you be trained in first aid. That will ensure the first 60 minutes after an accident are not wasted.
Naturally to optimize time you must know that as all countries in Europe, the emergency services are reachable by phone at 112 and you must call them ASAP if necessary.
Therefore it is highly recommended that you have a phone on you at all times, even if going out on the water. One of the best waterproof cases you can get for your phone is an Aquapac.
Also, you may consider having a CPR pocket mask with a manual pump as that is somehow mandatory now with COVID-19. It is probably a good idea to have one in your car. You may actually want to have a first aid kit in your car as well. And always have a set of car keys on you at all times, especially if you have the first aid kit in the car: there are also waterproof protections for electronic car keys.
If you are equipped and trained with defibrillators, that may be a very good thing as well. But in Portugal, you must be certified to use one.
Finally, always check where are the locations of the nearest "bombeiros" station when you pick a destination, that can help you to prepare accordingly.
There are around 200 public and private hospitals in Portugal. The quality of care in Portuguese hospitals is good by international standards, and Portugal was rated 12th in the world in terms of healthcare quality in a study by the World Health Organization.
In an emergency, foreigners will be admitted in a Portuguese hospital, however, once established they will typically need to show some form of health insurance to cover costs. Foreigners who are official residents in Portugal will be covered by the Portuguese healthcare system called Servico Nacional de Saude (SNS), while visitors will need to have private health insurance.
The SNS healthcare system in Portugal is residence-based and can be accessed by all official residents, including foreign residents, paid for by social insurance contributions of employees.
Those without any form of health insurance will be able to get emergency medical treatment if needed, but will have to pay hospital costs once their condition has stabilized.
Always have your insurance document, whether it is the SNS health card, the European Health Insurance Card or a Private Health insurance card. You can also keep it in your waterproof case along with your phone.
In conclusion, always scout your spot, check the presence of lifeguards and nearest firemen station and hospital. Know your skills and always assess the conditions before going out. Don’t ride alone. Be properly equipped, a helmet and an impact vest or even better a floating life vest are not luxuries. Always have a phone with you and better take your Health Insurance Card as well. You may have some self-rescue, rescue and first aid knowledge or training, yet refresh your self-rescue, rescue and first aid knowledge and skills regularly and train, train, train. Help others if you can.
Always prepare yourself and enjoy your rides!