With the summer sun hitting full strength, crowds continue to swarm to the beach.
To ensure that everyone has access to the sand and the surf, the California Coastal Commission funded three new Dune Buster beach wheelchairs for Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach and La Jolla Shores.
This brings the total of beach wheelchairs to seven.
Making the beach wheelchairs available to the public is part of the California Coastal Commission’s effort to improve coastal access for all Californians.
San Diego’s Beaches attract numerous vacationers and without the chairs a family with a disabled person may not be able to go to the beach.
“I am in the unique position to see the value, it makes them happy to join their family on the beach,” said lifeguard Lt. Nick Lerma. “It is a pointed picture to see somebody separated.”
Lerma said all a person has to do to borrow a chair, is leave some form of identification card at the lifeguard station, or often, one can just leave their personal wheelchair in exchange for the beach wheelchair.
Lifeguards are willing and able to assist anyone with getting in the chair and onto the beach.
Kathy Aceves the District Manager for Therapeutic Senior Services City of San Diego in Park and Recreation Department said a vacationing family said they were disappointed because they couldn’t go to the beach because one family member required a wheelchair.
Aceves was happy to report that wouldn’t stop the family from visiting the beach.
“People come back in tears,” Aceves said. “They never though they would be able to maneuver around the beach again. These chairs set San Diego apart from other beach cities.”
Aceves has heard from many visitors that now come to San Diego instead of Orange County or Los Angeles because of how easy the beach wheelchair access is. In the summer, the city also provides beach ramping across the dry sand to the packed sand, making it easier for people in wheelchairs to navigate.
“As beaches have become more popular over the years,” Lerma said, “we are trying to balance the needs of the disabled with the common heavy population.”
A manual beach wheelchair costs $2,400 and requires someone to push the chair. It has balloon-like wheels and can go into the water. Two years ago the Sandbar Grill donated two beach wheelchairs to Mission Beach.
There were also two new motorized Trak-About beach wheelchairs donated by the City’s office of Disability Services from grant money from the Coastal Commission to Mission Beach.
A person can independently navigate through the sand with these beach wheelchairs. However, they should also not get wet, since they are electric.
There are no restrictions to who can use the beach wheel chairs and they are usually available, as people typically take them out for an hour or two.
Beach wheelchairs can be checked out at the lifeguard towers at Belmont Park, Ocean Beach and La Jolla Shores between 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. every day except for Tuesday.
For more information call the Therapeutic Recreation Services department at (619) 525-8247.