Helicopter rescue aboard the Vision - California

[billt4sf]

Some one (NOT ME) posted this on a Bay Area dive site and I copy it here.


I returned from a great trip aboard the Vision to the Channel
Islands. This was a Vaqueros Del Mar organized trip that gathered an
assortment of members from other Bay Area SCUBA clubs (me from
Alacosta Divers, some from Aqua Tutus) and one unaffiliated diver from LA.

Another diver and I had carpooled down to Santa Barbara with a diver
(call him AC) in AC's truck last week.

On Monday, I had chatted with AC in the afternoon and he had
completed two dives in the morning, but was tired and did not feel
like diving more that day. He was alert at the time. Before dinner
on Monday, AC complained of a headache.

He lay down next to a table in the galley resting before dinner, but
could not be roused for the meal. He was semi-conscious at first
with shallow breathing, but was soon unconscious.

Crew and a diver who as a Nurse Practicioner (NP) pulled off his
shirt, strapped on an oxygen mask, laid him on the galley table and
adhered the Automated External Defibulator pads to him. The AED went
through its routines preparing to defib the diver; "Do not touch the
patient" "No shock advised" "You can touch the patient", "analyzing"
"clear airway."

AC was breathing and had a heartbeat, so no defib was initiated. The
machine cycled through its mechanized mantra for over an hour and a
half while the Captain alerted the Coast Guard via marine radio.
There was no cell service; we were several hours distant from the
mainland from where we motored.

One of the crew cooks, assigned specifically to this task, stood by
with a large yellow note pad taking down observations.

The crew handled the emergency situation exceptionally well, yielding
the lead role to the NP who was a diver and member of the trip. They
were well trained and professional.

Called by the Captain, another Peace Aquatics boat, the Conception,
was nearby and sent a skiff owned by a research team diving from
their boat to deliver several fresh tanks of oxygen.

The unconscious diver opened his eyes once or twice during the ordeal
and did squeeze the NPs hand, but AC did not look conscious at all to
me even when this unfocused eyes were open. He was eerily
unresponsive throughout.

After consultation with the Captain, the Coast Guard deployed a
helicopter for a Medevac.

We cleared half the dive deck of gear to make a landing area for the
aerial transport basket, and we were given instructions to gather all
the diver's gear for airlift. This request initiated a mad
scramble. Several of us protested that the helicopter EMTs did not
need all of AC's stuff, only essentials and a dive computer. The
helicopter was not going to haul 200 pounds of additional crap;
essential items (wallet, prescriptions and dive log or computer) may
be left behind in the confusion.

The other passenger in the carpool, call her J, and I began a search
for AC's car keys. J found AC's back pack with his wallet in his
bunk, and someone found a bag with prescription drugs. Someone else
looking on the dive deck located AC's dive computer and these,
including computer, backpack, and drugs, all went away with
AC. Except for emergency contact info, the Coast Guard EMT was not
interested in anything else when he arrived.

We could not find the keys to AC's car in his bunk or backpack until
a crew member checking an adjacent unoccupied bunk found AC's dive
coat clearly marked by his initials, keys in pocket. Yet another
reason to mark your gear..

The loud chop of the approaching copter triggered a minor seizure in
the diver, which seemed to me not a seizure at all but an autonomic
reaction to the abrupt noise, as if his body was startled by a sound
unfiltered by higher cortical intervention.

The door to the dive deck was slid shut to avoid the propeller wash
just before the helicopter arrived.

The basket and one EMT was lowered onto the deck, the helicopter
moved off and hovered. AC's body settled down when the noise subsided.

The door to the deck slid open. Sill unresponsive, AC was
transferred from the table to a Medevac basket board and carefully
cinched down, head secured by solid foam pincers. The cook handed
her notes to the Coat Guard EMT.

AC was carried out to the dive deck and strapped into the basket
and was hoisted into the copter to be carried off to LA.

The night dive was called off, without complaint from the divers,
and we finished up the tour as planned the next day.

In port, a Coast Guard EMT picked up the rental tank AC had been
diving to check the air and took the rest of AC's dive rig. J and I
loaded the remainder of AC's gear into his truck and we drove back to
his house where our cars were parked.

From what little I know, AC's crisis was not dive related. He was
not placed into a decompression chamber. He did not have
decompression sickness. Unfortunately he remains in a coma. I am
not going into greater medical detail.

Though the event was unfortunate and upsetting, I am impressed with
the professionalism of the Vision crew and with the concern,
compassion and aid provided by the divers who intervened to help AC,
especially with the NP who had an asthmatic crisis earlier in the
day, was on oxygen earlier, but who recovered enough to muster and
lead the intervention for AC.

My best wishes go out to the injured diver and family.

 

[Epic Diving]

Thanks for sharing. It's great to hear of dive operations with professional and knowledgeable crew and and the proper emergency medical equipment.

 

[catone]

Hope AC will recover fully, interesting that he was not thought to need a chamber ride. I guess they found something along the lines of a stroke, maybe intracerebral bleed or who knows what, that made it clear it was not dive related.
Great response from everybody involved.

 

[Lee Coller]

I was up in the Channel Islands last week on my own boat and heard the marine radio communications of this incident. The CG consulted with a dive physician during this incident and treated it as a dive accident and were transporting the patient to the UCLA chamber. The captain relayed vital signs and summary dive profiles (max depths and times - he didn't have the SI) to the CG.

 

[Joe Underwater]

Hope AC will recover fully, interesting that he was not thought to need a chamber ride. I guess they found something along the lines of a stroke, maybe intracerebral bleed or who knows what, that made it clear it was not dive related.
Great response from everybody involved.

I am not sure if it's universal, but at the chamber I worked at we would never put a patient in the chamber unless they were stable and responsive.