Tents on beach provide critical skin cancer protection
I have a new granddaughter. Her other grandparents have a home in North Myrtle and she will be spending lots of beautiful days there. The banning of tents is a medical and financial nightmare.
My husband is a practicing dermatologist and now sees new melanomas weekly. When he began his practice over 30 years ago, it was one every few months. Tents are simply better protection than umbrellas, especially for children. If too little beach is the problem, line the tents up next to the dune line, one row, so emergency vehicles can pass. (how many incidents of blocked safety vehicles have actually occurred?)
If the tents are not taken down at night, dump them. Allow beaches that have more beach area to have tents and let families know where they are. Find out which officials came up with this policy and dump them. Use your sunscreen liberally and often and bring back the tents. My granddaughter deserves this protection.
Judy Pruitt, Isle of Palms
This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Tents on beach provide critical skin cancer protection."