Slate: Drowning doesn't look like drowning

[chrpai]

It is interesting how this keeps getting reprinted over the years. It's still good information. I added it to the Rescue Diver course after I read it a few years ago.

It gets reprinted year after year for the same reason people take refreshers on first aid, cpr and rescue.

 

[islanddream]

When I was young, a friend was visiting at our cabin and she was in about 6 feet of water and it looked like she was splashing and having fun. An older boy recognized the sign that she was drowning and jumped in and saved her. She survived. He almost didn't. When he dove in he hit his head on a rock and tore about a 8" gash in his forehead. He ended up in the hospital having many stitches. He was a hero.

 

[Lee Taylor]

I read the article and it is right on target.
I know, because I drowned when I was 10 years old.
In my case, it was not painful like most people think.
I just blacked out. Much like going to sleep.
Someone spotted me on the bottom and dove in and pulled me up and out of the pool..
I woke up coughing up water with a crowd looking on

 

[boulderjohn]

Putting this into a scuba perspective....

Some friends of mine were diving the Spiegel Grove in Key Largo several years ago. They had completed their dives and were tearing down their equipment when one of the staff members on their boat started shouting frantically at another boat. He had seen that one of their divers returning to that boat was in trouble, displaying precisely the signs described in the article. The staff on the other boat was apparently oblivious, probably because they did not see anyone thrashing around and calling for help. Getting no response from them, the staff member of their boat starting calling directly to the struggling diver, who for some reason was not filling his BCD but was struggling along the the surface with ineffective swimming strokes, head and mouth sometimes dipping below water level. When the man finally slipped under water completely, the staff member dived into the water and swam to the spot. He caught up with the rapidly sinking diver at about 20 feet and brought him to the surface. They got him to the boat and began CPR. He revived.

I never heard how the other boat responded when their diver was returned to them for transport to the hospital.

 

[uncfnp]

Putting this into a scuba perspective....

Some friends of mine were diving the Spiegel Grove in Key Largo several years ago. They had completed their dives and were tearing down their equipment when one of the staff members on their boat started shouting frantically at another boat. He had seen that one of their divers returning to that boat was in trouble, displaying precisely the signs described in the article. The staff on the other boat was apparently oblivious, probably because they did not see anyone thrashing around and calling for help. Getting no response from them, the staff member of their boat starting calling directly to the struggling diver, who for some reason was not filling his BCD but was struggling along the the surface with ineffective swimming strokes, head and mouth sometimes dipping below water level. When the man finally slipped under water completely, the staff member dived into the water and swam to the spot. He caught up with the rapidly sinking diver at about 20 feet and brought him to the surface. They got him to the boat and began CPR. He revived.

I never heard how the other boat responded when their diver was returned to them for transport to the hospital.

Could explain how some of those "missing divers" at the end of the dive go missing.

 

[finnks]

I remember reading that before but thanks for posting it. I really needed the refresher. Saved a friend once and outside of him mouthing a very very weak, "help me," he presented just like the person in the article. I also have an 8 and a 10 yo and have a pool. My advice is to teach and I mean really teach then to get on their back if anything goes wrong. I has already paid off when I think the girls were 6 and 4. Little one slipped into the pool just as the wife was walking to the door to get something. She got on her back and older sister got the long pool sweeper and assisted in pulling her to the side. When I got home from work and heard the story my heart did some extra beats...thinking V-fib. Damn that was too close but very happy that they used what they were taught. Even today I make them do the get onto your back drills. On your back you can breathe, your face is out of the water, you can yell, almost no effort is needed to stay afloat and you still can wave your arms. No other way gives you these options.

This depends on the child. I had to cheat to pass the boyscout merit badge - sank to the bottom any time I stopped swimming. Laying on your back doesn't help at all if you are on the bottom... OTOH as a 3 year old I could bounce in up to about five or six foot water with no problem. Jump to surface, take as big a breath as you can - repeat ad infinitum. Adjust how you teach your kids to what works for them.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

Not really sure what you are getting at. I never expected anyone to come up with "laying on your back on the bottom." I can't even begain to address that situation.

 

[mizzie]

Thank you for posting this, I'm going to share that on Facebook as soon as I get home. VERY good to know, especially going into summer.

 

[finnks]

Not really sure what you are getting at. I never expected anyone to come up with "laying on your back on the bottom." I can't even begin to address that situation.

Prior post suggested teaching children to lay on their backs - which assumes they float. My point was that if you sink it doesn't help to lay on your back - no one approach works for all situations. When water proofing your kids, teach them Technics which work for them in situations likely to occur in your life. Kids vary. Locations vary - swift water is different from a pool, a murky pond or the ocean.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

Prior post suggested teaching children to lay on their backs - which assumes they float. My point was that if you sink it doesn't help to lay on your back - no one approach works for all situations. When water proofing your kids, teach them Technics which work for them in situations likely to occur in your life. Kids vary. Locations vary - swift water is different from a pool, a murky pond or the ocean.

OK, I see what you are getting at and I agree. It is, for me as well as almost every one I know, that floating on your back is the easist way. This is coming from someone who has almost no buoyancy. I still see your point. Let's all have a safe summer.