Chamber in Subic Bay Renovation Poll

[andibk]

I have made a few posts in the past reguarding the Hyperbaric Chamber in Subic Bay Philippines. This chamber was left by the U.S. Navy back in 1991 when the military left. The chamber had been used for many years treating people for DCI and other related cases. The chamber was being used until a few years ago when the chamber was closed down. As we all know Subic Bay is one of the most popular diving spots especially for the local wreck divers and traveling tourists. There are alot of technical courses being taught in Subic also with depths into the 90 meter range. I would like to take a poll to see what the divers think if this chamber is in a prime location for operation and should be restored to operating conditions with help from the government.

andibk

 

[Xizang]

I personally think the low interest in getting that chamber up and running again has something to do with economics. It requires money to operate and maintain the chamber and sadly the only way for it to be self sustaining is if people actually get bent often enough for it to profit or at least cover operational cost.
Maybe an alternative is if dive shops in the area contribute to a fund that would get it and keep it running.

 

[andibk]

This is always a issue. I myself have logged around 500 hours of chamber treatments. A very high number of the treatments were not for DCI but for burn, crush, carbon monoxide poisoning, Gas gangrene, selected problem wounds. skin flaps or grafts, diabetic wounds. The hospitals can use the chamber also to help treat patients they have. Dive shops have to log in every time they go diving in the bay they can be charge a low fee of 50 pasos or something like that to help pay for the up keep and such. I know everybody can afford that, that is not to much to ask for. A chamber can also make money by training, running hyperbaric chamber training and operator courses. There is always a way to make things work which is better for the safety for divers.

andibk

 

[Kevrumbo]

Here is an overview of how we support the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber in Southern California.

Also, the annual fund raiser drive Chamber Day/Eve 2008, the largest single-day Scuba Charity Event in the United States.

 

[andibk]

Greatly appreciate the inpute on how you keep this chamber open. This will help us with ideals on how to get this chamber open and how to upkeep the chamber. I do not think it would cost no where as much to run the chamber in Subic. The cost of living, maintenance and such is probable 1/2 of what it is in California. The chamber is Catalina is a highly professional run chamber that has been a great success in California.
This is a very important topic and would like to hear from all of you divers out there that live in PI or dive in the Philippines. This affects the income of local dive shops, the tourism that comes into the Philippines. NOW is the time to be heard.

andibk

 

[Babydamulag]

We have looked at several alternatives in our area as well. It is real safety issue. Our group has been looking for the "other" benefits as a selling point to doctors in the area. The bottomline is that we are trying to do something in a country that can barely keep its mail system running much less invest in a high cost chamber operation. Sad but reality. We will not give up our efforts since we do not have a dedicated chamber in the Visayas.

Having said all of that.....why doesn't the PCSSD do something about this challenge? I have always wondered about the true function of their organization. We need to push them as well.

ANDIBK: Good effort, super intentions, not much backing.....we'll compare notes if you want. We want to pursue the tech diving community too.....not much good without a chamber close by for those little emergencies that might happen.

 

[stvbrit]

My sentiments exactly Andi, The Subic Bay Dive Association would be very interested in seeing the chamber back online once again. Reiterating what Axua pointed out it boils down to Economics and determining who's going to flip the bill? It takes a lot of money to keep it maintained/staffed/ and operating. If it was also used openly for other Medical Hyperbaric treatments/purposes it could be feasible. However,To my knowledge the current condition of the Subic Chamber is in need of some serious upgrades/repairs as it's the same facility that was turned over when the U.S. Navy left back in 1992.

 

[andibk]

Here is a good selling point just to the doctors why to have a hyperbaric chamber. We have three hyperbaric chamber where I live all with in a 35 kilometer range. All three of these chamber have a minimum of two patients a day and up to 6-7 patients max. We take pictures and make a record of each patient at the beginning of there treatments showing the improvement of each one. The treatments help heal the patients recover/heal alot quicker.

1. Air or Gas Embolus
2. Decompression Illness
3. Carbon monoxide Poisoning
4. Clostridal Myonercrosis (Gas Gangrene)
5. Necrutizing Fascilitis (Fourniers Gangrene and Others)
6. Crush Injury
7. Selected Problem wounds
8. Compromised Skin Flaps or Grafts
9. Refractory Osteomyelitis
10. Exceptional anaemia due to blood loss
11. Osteroradionecrosis
12. Thermal Burns and Radiation Tissue Damage
13. Diabetic wounds and Circulatory Efficiency Enhancements
14. Intra - Cranial Abcess
15. Brain Injury and other Head Traumas
16. Cerebra; [a;su
17. High altitude Sickness (Pulmonary and Cerebral Edema)

andibk

 

[andibk]

I think that just with the ideal of increasing the tourism would be good enough reason. I do not know the exact numbers of divers that travel from abroad just to dive in the Philippines but the numbers are HUGE. A small investment from the government in nothing compared to how much these tourists bring into the Philippines. Just think these people could also be taking courses on how to operate a chamber while they are here also.
With the help of local dive shop and some magazine could help promote a special day of diving just to help raise funds for the operation of the chamber. I know that here is alot of the dive centers that would help since I have already talked to quite a few of them. They understand that this will help increase safety for the divers.

andibk

 

[jkaterenchuk]

I was thinking of taking some tech training and doing some deep diving in the Subic area. It unfortunate that the chamber is not running. I will need to reevaluate the safety impact on Subic versus other SE Asia area for this kind of training. What a shame. Is anyone thinking about the potential loss in scuba tourism $'s?

John