If I am Bent and must drive to the .....

[Rogersea]

I currently live in an area that is seperated from the nearest Chamber by 100 Kilometers(2.5 hour drive) and a short mountain range. The mountains are only 300M's high. My question is if someone were to get bent or develop symptoms of DCS , other than the typical enroute treatment, is there any other thing I need to be concerned with enroute...

Cheers,
Roger

[Rhone Man]

My highly unscientific opinion would be: the altitude is likely to exarcebate the condition, but what choice do you really have? You can't dig a tunnel.

The risk is probably limited though. If you have already suffered bubble formation, the cork is off the bottle. Reducing the ambient atmospheric pressure from 1.0 ATA (sea level) to 0.96 ATA (300 meters) is not going to do any good, but it probably won't make things catastrophically worse either.

[supergaijin]

You're traveling from Moalboal to Cebu? Enroute... watch out for the yellow bus drivers?

You have to weigh your options but having the diver on 100% O2 and getting them to a recompression chamber is the priority. There shouldn't be the need to speed- getting there 20mins later isn't going to change much if it means risking your life to get there in the first place. 300m isn't huge elevation and is the range of the PADI tables for diving at altitude, thus driving to that altitude shouldn't have an impact on the victim, but it you do nothing....

Again contacting DAN directly is usually the best plan. Recently however, DAN has been less forthcoming with their information about chambers. They want an incident to happen first, and then they'll tell you what to do. Which has been frustrating for me in making an emergency plan.

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Hi Roger,

The title of your post is "If I am bent and must drive...". The first piece of advice I'd give you is to let somebody else drive.

The U.S. Navy Diving Manual recommends maintaining an altitude of less than 1000' if transporting a patient with a diving injury by air. 300 meters is within that recommendation so there is no reason to believe that the mild altitude change will aggravate DCI.

Enroute treatment should include high-flow O2, along with oral hydration if the patient is fully conscious. Make careful note of any symptoms or changes in condition, and ensure that you have a thorough, accurate dive history for the treating facility.

Best regards,
DDM

[Rogersea]

Thanks for the replies. I have checked the altitude of the route on my Hand Held GPS and it is never above the 300M..

1. My title was a little misleading but if I were the victim I would hopefully have someone else drive :) ....

2. I think I have just enough O2 for one vic to make it to the chamber.... Of course we do have ambulances but I think there is often an inordinate delay in arranging transportation.

3. I will look out for those damn yellow buses, they are probablly the biggest concern in transport :)

Thanks again for the replies!!!!!!!

Cheers,
Roger

[t4e]

300M high is not a mountain, is a hill :P

[Kevrumbo]

Can you get the Philippine Military/Coast Guard for helicopter transport for an acute DCS case?

[Rogersea]

I have not heard of this being done from my location and I think it is doubtful that it could be coordinated in a timely manner.

Since I am only 2.5 hours from the chamber, the length of time required to coordinate this might end up being detrimental to the victim. This however is something that I may ask when I hopefully visit the chamber next month...

Cheers,
Roger

[Thalassamania]

A chopper would take about 30 minutes to get from your location to the chamber. Is there a facility within two hours that you could make a plan with? If so, I'd recommend you do some planning with them now, prior to need.

[supergaijin]

Depending on your relationship to the other operators in the area, I would also contact them. Who knows? Maybe you could car-pool. (Off-colour joke joke lang)

[Rogersea]

Thanks again for everyones input. I have received the info I was looking for. I dont really want to turn this into a discussion on the state of EMS here in the Philippines...

But I sincerely appreciate the advice..

Cheers,
Roger

[DandyDon]

You might want to look into possible adding another O2 tank for transport.

Can you get the Philippine Military/Coast Guard for helicopter transport for an acute DCS case?
That would not help with the elevation challenge - just the time.