I thought I'd chip in as it's been a while since I posted anything - but it's a good topic of conversation. I worked as an instructor and guide between 2005 - 2014 and have had to deal with a few emergencies. The first was not long after my rescue course and I was a DMT, assisting on a PADI Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) - an "intro dive" - and the instructor really screwed up. We were supposed to train in a shallow bay but he let us drift too far from the beach and we got caught in a slight current at the surface and suddenly the instructor is trying to conduct a descent for a complete novice in 9m of water.
The customer was quite obese (sorry if that term offends but I mean it in the medical sense) and wearing a lot of lead - and probably way too much. I am sure it was 16kg (which is like 35lbs) and although I was new at the time, looking back with my professional judgement I would say that he was maybe 4kg (8.8lbs) overweighted. He suddenly started screaming that he was having chest pains and he started to remove his BCD - but not his weights. I know this sounds like an advertisement for a course but - my recent rescue training kicked in. There really was a sudden moment of clarity when I thought - the instructor (I didn't know him well) - was useless, we are drifting in a moderate current and this big fella is trying to remove his BCD, but not 16kg of weight, in 9 metres of water with maybe 5 metres /15 feet of good viz.
I ditched his weight belt, took the guy in the modified swimmers' carry - where you place their feet on your shoulders and push the diver along - and pedalled as hard as my little legs would carry us back to the dive boat. Every now and then I took my reg out and tried to shout instructions to the boat (full of DMTs) to get oxygen and whatnot, figuring that it would save time to waste a second in the water to save 30 seconds back on the boat, which is probably about the time it took them to notice us, and also the time I spent finning against the current until a boat from a different dive centre - that was much closer by - saw us and picked us up. The guy may well have had a heart attack, but after 20 minutes back on boat he seemed fine. If he'd sunk in 9m water wearing that much lead? Probably not so fine.
The instructor, by the way, never worked for our dive centre again.
Now - I know that makes me sound just like the most awesome DMT ever (heheh!
) - but it's also objectively true. I had just participated in an excellent rescue course, Once I got my brain in gear everything came quite naturally. Its difficult to know how people will respond in an emergency but it was the first time it happened to me. I've seen other people panic - I've had some crazy moments. I also know for 100% sure that other recently trained rescue divers will get on the ball and help out. I've seen it happen. I had to deal with a life-threatening irukanji sting once, and I told our rescue divers and DMTs what to do to assist with the treatment and the evacuation and some of them went "ooohpoop" and stood back, but some of them got stuck in and started making phone calls, and explaining to others why we have to abort, and sounding an underwater alert (three bangs metal on metal) and it was great. It was all a bit Hollywood but it worked, and we got the irukanji sting guy to hospital within the hour, which given our location in Thailand was pretty damn good actually!
The DSD thing happened to me early in my career, and it's something I have always referred back to as an instructor. The last time I had to deal with a real emergency was five years ago in Egypt and a Stonefish sting (also regularly fatal) and my colleagues and I - seasoned professionals by now - went back to the same training - ABCD, or ABCABs or whatever it is now - Airway (yup, he's still screaming), Breathing (Yup, screaming), and so on - and the whole medical interview about last meal and prescription medication and allergies. He was allergic to aspirin - we told the doctors - they gave him something else, because bleeding in your stomach will not help if you are fighting a stonefish sting.
So I don't really care what some people say about Rescue courses, I say: just do them. Do your Rescue training, whatever form it takes, and from whatever (approved) agency is most convenient. Even if you start off knowing nothing, you will know a whole lot more in a few days. There is some merit in the argument that having a bit of experience before commencing Rescue training will help - but it really does vary substantially from person to person, so it's difficult to use a precise figure.
Apologies for blabbing on - but it's become a personal philosophy based on experience, and I encourage all divers to undertake some form of first aid and rescue diver training. also to use the modified swimmer's carry if you need to get a person back to the boat quickly and you are also not Michael Phelps, and never, every tickle the stonefish.
Safe Diving,
C.