DCS on the Oriskany?

[wgw04024]

Ran across this on FB and didn't see it here yet.

Diver’s death sparks renewed concerns in Northwest Florida’s diving community.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Simple rule for those who dive in the Florida panhandle. Don't get bent ... because those who run the hyperbaric chambers in that part of the state will watch you die before they'll offer you the treatment needed to save your life ... your life just ain't worth the money.

Alert Diver | Why Are Fewer Chambers Available for Emergencies?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Kevrumbo]

Your model for a viable solution is here:
How the Chamber is Funded > USC Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

For starters, try asking for help or advice from these councils of the Florida Dept of Health, in setting up a non-profit Diver's only Recompression Chamber, or at least coordinating a rotating coverage network of private chamber operators on 24/7 emergency stand-by:

http://www.floridahealth.gov/provide...ils/index.html
http://www.floridahealth.gov/provide...counties13.pdf

 

[kelemvor]

Maybe local operators in the area should start teaching IWR classes and treat that part of the world like a remote site.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Or a third-world country ... although many third-world countries have hyperbaric facilities available to divers ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[bamafan]

Maybe local operators in the area should start teaching IWR classes and treat that part of the world like a remote site.

I doubt any dive op would do this. The liability would be a major issue the way I see it. Taking a diver who is not an/dp certified and putting them on high oxygen mixes for an extended period of time in open water? I did this to myself in Truk because I had pretty severe sholder pain and headache after diving the Oite Destroyer. I sure didn't tell any of the guys on the Odyssey as they probably wouldn't have let me in the water. After about 3 hours in the water I felt like a million bucks.

 

[Kevrumbo]

I doubt any dive op would do this. The liability would be a major issue the way I see it. Taking a diver who is not an/dp certified and putting them on high oxygen mixes for an extended period of time in open water? I did this to myself in Truk because I had pretty severe sholder pain and headache after diving the Oite Destroyer. I sure didn't tell any of the guys on the Odyssey as they probably wouldn't have let me in the water. After about 3 hours in the water I felt like a million bucks.

I did IWR at the end of the Truk Stop pier for pain only left shoulder DCS type I, after a dive on the Aikoku Maru. There were many CCR divers doing extreme profiles there at that time and I didn't want to tie-up the Recompression Chamber for a relative "simple" pain only DCS type I, just in case a Rebreather dive casualty came in with a more acute serious signs & symptoms of DCI/AGE.

The IWR profile was the modified Australian method taught by UTD: Choose either 30, 60 or 90min of elective O2 breathing at 9m depth (10min O2:with 5min Air Break); and then a very slow 0.1m/min ascent to surface (same breathing 10min O2:with 5min Air Break). Went with 60 minutes O2 time at 9m (Air Breaks do not count or accrue credit into the O2 time at 9m; on the slow 0.1m/min ascent you have to hold at whatever particular depth you're at during the 5min Air Break). The entire IWR took over 230 minutes. . . On a pain scale of 1 to 10, it was a constant 8 with impulses of "10+"; after IWR it was a 2, resolved overnight with ibuprofen and a only a dull musculoskeletal ache in my shoulder the next morning.

[Off Topic: Did you make it to both forward & aft sections and torpedo launcher in between, and did you go through the engine room of Oite Destroyer? My total run time was over three-and-half hours, with one hour BT at 60m depth; OC with double AL80's, a stage AL80 and AL80's of Eanx50 & O2 to extend out my Oxygen stop profile at 6m.]

 

[DogDiver]

The media community should all get together and petition to ban all wreck diving and dinomite all the wrecks so this doesn't kill innocent divers again.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

As an FYI, do NOT call DAN and expect them to handle the evacuation! I can't stress this enough. We had a very bad incident with DAN and the outcome was permanent paralysis - which was presumably caused by delays.

If you can, you need to active the EMS system, then call DAN (or have someone else do it simultaneously). Do not call DAN and expect them to notify the coast guard (for example). Do not try to delegate activation of the EMS system to DAN.

 

[Kevrumbo]

As an FYI, do NOT call DAN and expect them to handle the evacuation! I can't stress this enough. We had a very bad incident with DAN and the outcome was permanent paralysis - which was presumably caused by delays.

If you can, you need to active the EMS system, then call DAN (or have someone else do it simultaneously). Do not call DAN and expect them to notify the coast guard (for example). Do not try to delegate activation of the EMS system to DAN.

Tough call DD . . . Ideally, I would suggest being transported initially to a regional Trauma Center out there, or at least an ER Dept of a small community hospital -and actively monitor the ER Physicians' consult with DAN. You will need at the very least the DAN Hyperbaric Specialist Physician's signed order or witnessed verbal recommendation by phone to seek evacuation to the closest accepting Recompression Chamber.