Important Caution. Please Read This!
Use the information on this site AT YOUR OWN RISK, and read the disclaimer.
|
A man performs CPR in a class from the Ozarks Red Cross. Note that his elbows are straight, not bent like they are on TV. This allows for more force as you lean over the victim.
by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.
Although I’ve never had to perform CPR on a drowning victim, I’ve done it on others. And I can tell you, it’s a little more complicated and messy than what you what you see on TV. There, the victims almost always make it. Just a little light chest pressing, maybe a push or two on the stomach, then, when all hope seems lost, the person suddenly spits out a gob of water, and that’s that.
In real life, for one thing, you’ve really got to press hard on the chest—much harder than any live actor is going to stand for. For another, it’s not only water that comes up. About eighty percent of near-drowning victims vomit at some point during the resuscitation. Bet you’re not going to see that on the next version of Baywatch.
[... continue reading]
by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.
I worked as a lifeguard when I was a teen. Great job, usually. The Fourth of July was always an exception—so crowded. There was no way to keep up with everyone in the water.
I basically hoped (prayed) that if someone started drowning, a person close by would shout, really loudly, above all the other shouting. Because, contrary to popular belief, a drowning victim usually doesn’t throw up their hands and shout, “Help, I’m drowning!” Usually they don’t shout anything. They’re doing all they can to stay afloat and gasp for breath. Sure, they may be splashing like crazy. But everyone was splashing like crazy.
Then there are those who just silently go under.
[... continue reading]
by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.
Real case. A doctor falls through an ice hole while cross-country skiing. They find her body many yards away. It’s been under the ice for over an hour. She is resuscitated. After the ICU, she spends many months in rehab, but in a year she’s back to practicing medicine.
A snowmobile accident submerges a man in icy water for an hour. He lives, with no apparent brain damage.
It’s rare, but it happens. In normal circumstances the brain can’t go without new oxygen for over six minutes without developing significant damage. How can some people survive an hour of total submersion–seemingly drowned in cold water?
Part of the answer is that the rapid cooling can trigger the mammalian dive reflex.
[... continue reading]
by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.
In my post “How to Survive If You Fall Into Cold Water,” I wrote about what to do if you fall through the ice. My second-born, Beth Nelson—a paramedic in Alaska—sent me this YouTube video after she read that post. She used to teach EMTs and said she’d show this to her students.
Please have everyone in your family read my post and watch this video. Doing both may seal the techniques better in your memory. You could use many of them for any fall in cold water, such as a tumble out of a boat. Every state in the union has had cold-water drownings.
The video, from Discovery Channel Canada, is very entertaining. I mean, anyone who’d purposely get in ice-cold water ….
Meet Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht, also known as Dr. Popsicle.
by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.
A few days ago, in a nearby town, a man in his forties drowned. Apparently he was chasing his dog, and they fell through the ice. He got the dog out but not himself. Horrible And, although I don’t know any details, it makes me think of the many deaths like this that are preventable.
Of course there’s the obvious: Don’t walk on thin ice. The weather’s been pretty warm here in Colorado, and the ice on the ponds is never very thick anyway. But, according to one article I read, our firemen and rescuers spend a fair amount of time chasing people off iced ponds.
So what can you do if you or someone else takes an accidental plunge? It helps to know what happens when you fall into cold water.
[... continue reading]
|
|
