OCEAN GROVE – Too many times over the past five years, while visiting the beach up the street from her home, Jessica Jarmer saw beachgoers do things that made her cringe.
Five years ago this summer, her 16-year-old son Sam Jarmer was serving as a lifeguard on these very same sands when he dove into a wave, not realizing that a hidden sandbar lay just beneath the surface. He was paralyzed from the neck down after fracturing the sixth cervical vertebra in his spine.
After five years of intensive rehabilitation, Sam has regained use of his upper body and is making progress with standing and walking, And Jessica, seeking to promote beach safety, thought up a creative way to warn visitors to Ocean Grove’s beachfront — especially young people — about the Shore’s perils.
Over the past two weeks a series of signs featuring QR codes have gone up along beach entrances. Scan a code with your phone, and a link appears to a short YouTube video (under one minute) addressing one of seven different topics: shore breaks (where waves crash into the sand), rip currents, heat and hydration, jettys, dunes, storms, and the meanings of the color-coded flags that indicate the ocean’s status for swimming.
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“I’ve been concerned about how people are acting in the water and at the shore break,” Jessica Jarmer said. “You can tell them anything you want, but sometimes they need to watch a video. This generation watches videos. This is meeting people where they are.”
The videos were produced by Ocean Grove’s lifeguards, including Sam’s siblings, and the signs were funded by the Ocean Grove Beach Foundation.
“Anything we can do to get the word out about safety and prevent accidents is what we want,” head lifeguard James Doyle said. “The amount of patrons who have visited our beach has quadrupled in the past three years. We see a lot of people who are visiting, and we love to have visitors, but they’re naïve about the ocean, so to have something like this is great.”
Sam Jarmer, who is 21 now, believes the brightly colored QR code signs will capture the attention of youths and young adults who are finely attuned to accessing information that way.
“I think it’s a very good idea that my mom came up with and will be helpful to people who come here for the first time — or maybe they just don’t know what can harm them on the beach,” he said. “People will scan it. It’s a lot easier than stopping to read a sign.”
‘I’m getting stronger’
Since that ill-fated summer of 2019, Sam and his mother have been very public about his recovery journey — as a way of promoting spinal-cord injury awareness and inspiring others who are dealing with paralysis.
Sam spends three days a week rehabbing at Project Walk New Jersey, a paralysis recovery center in Mount Laurel, Burlington County. He also does in-home physical therapy and a separate hand-only therapy; recently he regained full use of his right thumb, a big breakthrough.
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On Aug. 1, Project Walk acquired a “Rise & Walk” machine, a state-of-the-art neurorehabilitation station that helps a patient walk in place.
“This device has the ability to measure performance, how much assistance is required and how much less assistance you need as you go forward,” Project Walk New Jersey owner Leslie Clark said. “It monitors your progress over time.”
The machine, which includes an arm swing to allow for a more natural gait, “helps retrain the brain to remind the body (how to walk),” Clark explained.
Sam will spend up to an hour on it at a time.
“I’m getting stronger in all areas,” he said. “I’ve got more core strength now, so I can stand up straight more on my own. I’m getting more control in my legs and more strength. My movements are slowly becoming better.”
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Expanded plans on deck
Ocean Grove’s beach safety videos, narrated by a lifeguard standing near the water, are concise and easy to digest.
“When entering the water it’s always important to never dive headfirst,” the lifeguard in the shore break video says. “Diving into shore break can result in head, neck or back injuries.”
For now, the signs along Ocean Grove’s beaches are located at the entrances. Next summer, Jessica Jarmer envisions additional signs closer to the water — either on stand-alone signposts or on the backs of lifeguard stands.
“We can all make comments like, ‘Oh, everybody’s on their phone all the time’ — but everybody is on their phone,” she said. “So if they’re on their phone, can we get into their phone and get this (safety message) to them?”
She also has designs on creating a scavenger hunt, so to speak, where beachgoers who watch all seven videos can collect a souvenir bracelet from the beach office.
“Sam was doing something that was pretty benign; I’ve watched people do much crazier things,” Jessica Jarmer said. “If I can prevent one person from going through what he’s gone through, this is what I want to do.”
Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
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