Reading Diver Down

[kb2ehj]

Jen,

I'm not sure were you live, but if I remember right there is a hyperbaric chamber located in Syracuse, NY at Upstate Medical Center (if it is still called that).

I would call DAN and ask for a list of Doctors specialising in Dive Medicine. Your 'average' doc has no clue about the physiology of diving and might give some bad advise as a result.

For what its worth I got certified back in 1989 near Ithaca, NY.

Mark Wright
NC EMT-B / DMT-B

 

[ataman]

I have just finished reading Divers Down and personally I learnt quite a lot myself from it. I think every DM should read and analyze these scenerios in during their tranning. I was amazed by the mistakes that have been made during rescue attempts....

cheers

 

[jennasnyder1980]

Jen,

I'm not sure were you live, but if I remember right there is a hyperbaric chamber located in Syracuse, NY at Upstate Medical Center (if it is still called that).

I would call DAN and ask for a list of Doctors specialising in Dive Medicine. Your 'average' doc has no clue about the physiology of diving and might give some bad advise as a result.

For what its worth I got certified back in 1989 near Ithaca, NY.

Mark Wright
NC EMT-B / DMT-B

Mark,
I didn't know Syracuse had one. I emailed DAN last week with no response so I will call soon to ask about it. I live in Albany which is reasonably close to Syracuse. Thanks for the info.

Jen

 

[kb2ehj]

Jen,

I just sent you a PM.

 

[texdiveguy]

Good reading.

 

[Web Monkey]

Mark,
I didn't know Syracuse had one. I emailed DAN last week with no response so I will call soon to ask about it. I live in Albany which is reasonably close to Syracuse. Thanks for the info.

Jen

There are a few scattered around the state, including Syracuse and Buffalo, however you can't just show up and expect treatment. The chamber might be down for maintenance, not have staff available or be occupied.

Your best bet is to call DAN if/when you need one, and let them check and see what's available. If you have DAN insurance, they'll pay to fly you to wherever you need to go.

Terry


Terry

 

[ArtCurry]

I read Diver Down a month or so ago, and found it to be a good reminder that you can never stop respecting the Water. I thought that it was interesting that accidents happened to folks of all different levels of training and experience, but this was the common thread. I think every diver should definitely read this book, or Rodale's article every month or the some of the DAN reports periodically just for the reminder.

According to DAN there are in the neighborhood of 100 diving accidents among Americans each year. I'm guessing that there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of certified divers, so the statistics speak for them selves. I don't know any actual statistics about auto accidents, but I suspect that I should be terrified to get in my car to go to work every day. Perhaps the answer is to quit going to work, and go diving instead.

If you are looking for some more light-hearted (fun) reading about diving, check out Tom Morrisey's novels (Yucatan Deep, Deep Blue, Dark Fathom, etc.)

 

[TheRedHead]

If you are looking for some more light-hearted (fun) reading about diving, check out Tom Morrisey's novels (Yucatan Deep, Deep Blue, Dark Fathom, etc.)

That's a good suggestion. Most dives are a lot of fun and I would welcome more books about diving that didn't focus on accidents. "Sea Salt" by Stan Waterman is another good one.

 

[lowwall]

If you find accident analysis to be a useful tool, DAN-America members have free access to the "Annual Report on Decompression Illness, Diving Fatalities, and Project Dive Exploration" from the last five years. The report includes a paragraph or two on every fatality to a US or Canadian diver throughout the covered year.

https://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/report/index.asp

It looks like the 2004 version of the report is available to anyone here:
http://www.danseap.org/docs/2004DCIReport.pdf

 

[ticokitty]

I'm glad somebody brought up the book on this site. I read it a month or so ago and have been reading a lot of dive related info. I really appreciated the debriefings and explainations about the physics and equipment involved. I did not feel it was overly dramatic.

Another book that I read this year is "No Safe Harbor" which is about the dive accident with an Aggressor fleet boat in Belize. I had spent a month there and my Belizian friend I was diving with told me the story. He had heard the gossip on it and it was nice for me to get a real idea about the facts. Made me think twice about who to give my money to in the dive boat industry..I'm more a little guy spender..small panga chiquita.

It is a more dramatic account of the accident with Richmond dive club but I think the author appoached the incident with respect and since he was there I think that he shared an important story.

Pura Vida - 9 days until FGMS- go away hurricanes~!