OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.COM
JULY 26, 2019
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
LIFESTYLE
GREEK FESTIVAL
Annual Ocean City event to feature assortment of food, music and vendors this weekend – Page 26
FREE
Brutal heat claims a life in Worcester State health dept. confirms temperature-related death
MORGAN PILZ/OCEAN CITY TODAY
SIGNED ON The Fenwick Inn and OC 360 sign at 138th Street rests on two parked cars Tuesday after collapsing during the heavy storm and strong winds that battered the area overnight. No injuries were reported. On the upside, the storm was caused by the clash created when a cool front pushed its way east and ended the heat wave of last week.
Worker video calls for great service Chamber, HMRA believe employees will help push OC above its competitors By Greg Ellison Staff Writer (July 26, 2019) Training staff to be friendly and conversant about Ocean City’s pleasures and services is the intent of a video being developed by the Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce and the Ocean City HotelMotel-Restaurant Association. HMRA Executive Director Susan Jones said the concept is to produce a welcome video that resort businesses can use with new employees to help them generate a culture of kindness. “Over the last year, we’ve talked
about how we make Ocean City different than other destinations because we are competing globally,” she said. “Obviously, service in one way that people can comSusan Jones pete.” Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Melanie Pursel said this spring the organizations worked on a handful of management-level customer service training sessions. “How to impower your frontline staff with customer service skills and decision making,” she said. While enlightening leadership is critical, Pursel said the experience
helped this latest effort to relate the need for stellar customer service directly to employees. “We thought it would be a good idea to put together a video Melanie Pursel that each employer could incorporate into their onboarding or training that was universal across the entire city,” she said. “It’s about customer service and making [staff] feel how they’re a part of making this city run.” Jones said the pair realized the proposed platform would provide an ideal means to present a unified message for new hires at numerous resort See WORKER Page 70
By Rachel Ravina Staff Writer (July 26, 2019) A Worcester County woman suffered a “heat-related death,” Maryland Health Department officials confirmed last Thursday. The woman was not identified, and state officials would say only that she was between the ages of 45 and 64 years old. Fur- Travis Brown ther, beyond acknowledging that heat was a factor, officials said the other circumstances leading up to her death were unknown. What is an accepted fact, however, is that the temperatures and the end of last week were brutal. Temperatures skyrocketed during a heat wave See LAST Page 70
Charges filed after attack on lifeguards By Greg Ellison Staff Writer (July 26, 2019) After a bystander video captured a young woman assaulting an Ocean City lifeguard earlier this month, the two Beach Patrol members she allegedly attacked while being escorted off the beach filed charges on Saturday. Police arrived on the beach by 13th Street shortly after JenSee WOMAN Page 71