Summer is heating up, and so is Watchtower.

The sun, waves, and excited beach goers are starting to show up.  Lifeguards around the country are anticipating the sudden influx or activity.  One specific agency in Southern California is currently testing new software that will aim to give a boost to the operation in numerous ways. Watchtower Inc. is excited to have the city of  Huntington Beach Lifeguards lead the charge for its "version 2" platform.  During this Summer, what used to be done on pen and paper now can be accomplished with a few taps of a button on a tablet, phone, or computer.  Watchtower wants to assist Lifeguards and the time is now! We at Watchtower will be following along with the progress and continue to work hard at building a strategic and useful program.  

> It’s starting to heat up!

We love it.  Bring on the warm weather and crowds! Lifeguards got a glimpse into Summer as thousands flocked to the beach with the latest influx of good weather.  Rescues, prevents, medical aids, public contacts, and much more were reported in the thousands in Huntington beach alone before more strict regulations came out from the state of California. The Watchtower team was eager to see the flow of version 2 during a busy day.  It turned out to be extremely productive for everyone.  The HB Lifeguards were able to quickly record important data all while maintaining a high operational level and the feedback was wonderful. We at Watchtower love to learn and adapt, and were able to make changes to feedback.  Fast forward a couple of weeks and there are now new edits to version 2 that will continue to aid the professionals to do their job.  The feedback from HBLG's has been tremendous.

> “I like that it is easy to use and it is really cool to see the stats of the various days and what we've been doing at our fingertips"  -HBLG staff member

### In the last month alone, HB Lifeguards have made over:

- 15,000 Enforcements
- 4,000 Prevents
- 170 Rescues
- 20 Boat Assists

*And more!*

Watchtower has also added a unique feature that allows for the accurate recording of:

- Average time en route to call scenes
- Average time of units on scene
- Average time of call completion

> “Overall, I think it is a great system that will provide the ability for Marine Safety and Lifeguard agencies to pull up statistics and utilize those for research, specific understandings of busy areas with data to back it up. I think the fact that we will be able to have data in a single place online that can be tracked and graphed will be very beneficial.” -HBLGs

According to the latest reports, there are numerous beaches now open for recreational activity all while maintaining a safe social distance. How many times have you heard, “social distance”? Well it seems like it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.  While these measures are in place, lifeguards will continue to serve and protect.  An interesting point from the data collection stand point is measuring the amount of public education or enforcements being made to assist in protecting the community.  HB Lifeguards learned quickly that this is an important measure and can now get a good idea on how many people they are speaking to and contacting about covid-19 and the restrictions still in play.  The ability to add important information like this to their version 2 platform is integrated and detrimental to the department and the city as a whole.

Watchtower has more features we are excited about and with Summer just around the corner there is still some time to learn and improve as the beaches are about to get a whole lot more action.  So far Watchtower has enabled lifeguards to use the platform anywhere at anytime with the tap of a button, and we can't wait for more as the year progresses.

> “I have used the platform in the truck on the iPad and it makes for very accurate data for rescues, PAs, enforcements”.
>

Bring it on! We are stoked and will carry on the stoke this Summer!

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