Staying Well on the Beach, on the Plane, on the Trail

If history repeats, most U.S. vacationers will visit a beach this summer. “About 80% of U.S. summer travelers plan to go to a beach at least once during their trip,” says Cathy Keefe, a spokesperson for the Travel Industry Assn. of America, a trade group. She bases the figure on last year’s annual survey, for which the association polled more than 1,000 respondents.

As some of the travelers will discover, not all beaches are created equal. But it might soon get easier to find the beach of your dreams, thanks to a “beach certification” program just launched by the Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University in Miami. Seventeen beaches--all in Hawaii or Florida--meet the certification standards and are listed at www.drbeach.org.

The program, an outgrowth of the annual Top 10 Beaches program begun by Stephen Leatherman, the laboratory’s director, requires beaches to pass an annual 50-point evaluation of their health and environmental quality, says Carolyn Walker, the laboratory’s coordinator for research programs. Leatherman visits each beach and grades it on sand and water quality, sand color, amount of debris and other factors; data from the EPA and other organizations, such as the Surfrider Foundation (www.surfrider.org), are also used to evaluate water quality. There are about 650 public recreational beaches in the U.S., Walker says.

Beaches that pass pay an annual $500 fee to cover testing costs, and they agree to notify the lab if they are closed for any reason. They must also comply with the program’s standards. “Say a week [after certification] a dump truck overturns on the beach,” Walker says. Beach officials must agree to clean up the debris promptly.

The Web site also lists the top 10 beaches for 2001. So far, no California beaches are certified, and none made last year’s top10.

Seizures in the Sky

Heart attacks aloft get all the press. But neurological problems, including dizziness and seizures, are actually the most common medical complaints that require air-to-ground medical support, in which airline officials call for medical help, according to a Mayo Clinic researcher who presented his findings last month at the American Academy of Neurology meeting in Denver.

Dr. Joseph Sirven, an assistant professor of neurology at Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minn., and a staff neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., and his colleagues analyzed the medical air-to-ground consultations of a major airline that flies 10% of all U.S. passengers. From 1995 to 2000, 2,042 medical incidents occurred, and 592--nearly one-fifth--were for neurological symptoms. During the five-year period there were 83 diversions for neurological problems.

Dizziness and seizures were the most common reasons for diversions, Sirven says. The annual cost of emergency landings for neurological complaints, not including ground ambulance and hospital costs, is $9 million. The study results will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Neurology.

Sirven, who became interested in the topic after assisting a passenger who suffered a seizure on a flight from Phoenix to Minneapolis, says the study results were sent to the Federal Aviation Administration, along with a recommendation for major airlines to stock anti-epileptic drugs on board.

To minimize the chance of neurological problems aloft, Sirven says passengers should avoid alcohol during the flight, be well rested on departure and reduce stress as much as possible. Those who have been diagnosed with epilepsy should always carry their anti-seizure medications on board, he says. But he notes that some of the passengers in the study were not aware of their epilepsy; their first seizure occurred aloft.

Adventure Trip? Ask About Medical Care Before You Embark

If you’re planning an adventure trip, especially one that involves climbing to high altitudes, ask about the medical risks and what provisions have been made to handle medical emergencies, says a British emergency medical specialist.

In a letter published recently in the British Medical Journal, Fiona Bellis reports that she was called on twice in the past year to treat other members of a group adventure tour who had moderate to severe mountain sickness, associated with altitude. In both cases, she says, the tour leader had exceeded the recommended rate of ascent. She writes that “some companies provide their own medically trained staff, but they may rely on doctors on holiday with the group to provide help.”

Still Wary of Flying? You’re Not Alone

Many Americans are still concerned about airplane safety in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a survey released earlier this month by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. When 613 adults were surveyed in March, 69% said they were more concerned about their safety than they previously were when flying. By comparison, 37% said they were more concerned than before about going to a sporting event, and 22% were now warier about shopping malls.

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Healthy Traveler appears twice a month. The writer can be reached at kathleendoheny@earthlink.net.