Rescue or ???

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And sometimes they come back, which is why one should always try to perform CPR until trained medical personnel have arrived.

One of my colleagues had a rather massive heart attack some years ago. He was kept "alive" by CPR until the EMT crew showed up and is now back to work after a triple (or quadruple, I'm not sure) bypass operation.

I completely agree. CPR and an AED is the best we can do, so we absolutely should make every effort. I was just trying to point out that all too often CPR is not enough and if it isn’t enough one shouldn’t beat themselves up about it. If you’ve done all you can and the outcome isn’t what you hoped then be glad that you did all that you can instead of beating yourself up for not having done enough.
 
If you’ve done all you can and the outcome isn’t what you hoped then be glad that you did all that you can instead of beating yourself up for not having done enough.
This.

I've been put through a few first aid training sessions, and what they almost always stress is:
If you don't do anything, the victim will probably die.
If you do something, the victim may survive.

Doing nothing is worse than doing something.
 
This.

I've been put through a few first aid training sessions, and what they almost always stress is:
If you don't do anything, the victim wiil probably die.
If you do something, the victim may survive.

Doing nothing is worse than doing something.


Absolutely, and no responder will ever tell you not to try, nor will they not try. You just need to, for your own mental well being, understand before you make the first compression, that the person is likely already gone.

Mental health for dispatch and street responders is something that has been ignored for decades, but some of us in the middle of our careers are starting to push the point on talking about. Learning to come to terms with the idea you did 100% everything you could do, but they didnt live, is one of the hardest parts to swallow.

There are several 911 calls I can recount to you verbatim. They will be with me the rest of my life. All I can do is live with the fact I did my best.
 
All I can do is live with the fact I did my best.
Which should be a good thing to live with, but I guess it usually isn't so.

I've been lucky. I've only been in one situation where I had to provide first aid. That guy didn't make it, and I really don't want another experience like that. No matter that we probably did everything right.

I have a ton of respect for those who choose a job which puts them in this kind of situations regularly. I'm very much not sure that I could've had a job like that.
 
Sometimes what looks terrible and a worst case scenario may not be. I was part of a training dive (NASDS Dive Coordinators) into Scripps Canyon (deep dive). My buddy and I were up and waiting for the rest of the class to surface when one of the divers rocketed up, seems like halfway out of the water, bright red blood pouring out of his nose. We all thought &(&(*, embolism. We immediately started signaling for the lifeguards and the instructor and one other started towing the victim to shore while the rest of us came along behind and kept signaling. This was in the days BEFORE in water resuscitation. Finally, a different lifeguard stand noticed us (not the closest one) and the real rescue started. They get the victim to shore, into an ambulance with the instructor and head full speed to the closest chamber. Fortunately, in that case, it turned out to be ruptured sinuses and not an embolism. It was soon after that some of us started wondering if there might be a way to perform in water resuscitation for long water rescues.
 
I completely disagree. I'm a diver with disabilities. I'm half way through my rescue course (theory, confined, two open water dives done) with RAID, and have found it to be okay, not physically challenging even for me. Note that it's with RAID, which is supposed to be more rigorous than PADI.

I put off this course for years because people gave me advice like yours. They told me it was impossible for me to even attempt the course. Well, I'm doing alright over here. It's a course like any course. Good instructors can come up with different ways to teach different students, adapting to their needs and strengths.

Also, having good instructors for actual in person class is important. Practicing the skills with their inputs is important. There are many things you won't be able to easily learn from a book. I've been trained in EFR plenty, and still found the course helpful to go through scuba related scenarios

who is better to rescue someone, a person with disabilities? Or no one in the viscinity or scared divers watching it happen? Of course if you can dive then you can rescue. Disability or no disability. I cant believe people would tell you not to take the course or that you could not help a situation.

great job not listening to naysayers
 
And I obviously disagree also. It make no difference who or what you are... A 100 yard tow of someone to get to shore is not a walk in the park all the while trying to give CPR and other aid as needed. Instructors can adapt a class to anyone to allow a pass, It does not mean you are functional in the event of a real emergency. This is not a stab at you and neither was my prior comment a personal stab at you. It was a general comment. If I had to rank all the courses I have taken,, the hardest most physical demanding one was rescue. I learned that I never ever want to be in a situation where an adrenaline charged diver in panic gets a hold of me by surprise. Theory is one thing reality is another. Another very real difference is that rescue and recovery is not the same thing. Recovery is a piece of cake. From what I have seen many times in classes where I have colunteered to be the victim hte open water skills are very limited when it comes to a fighting victim and most drills are recovery based and not actual rescue based. Even OOA's in class are extreemly tame compared to what happens in the real thing. You mentioned that youare a disabled diver. That means nothing to me, Its too general statement. I will say that if you dont have full function of all limbs it is very difficult to expect to do any kind of rescue. Its hard enough to do CPR with one hand or arm on shore let alone doing it while towing someone. With one leg it has to be really tough to propel your self while towing some one and getting the to shore in time to save them. Again my comment had nothing to do with the disabled. Anyone that has don CPR in the old days when it was 5 heart and 1 lung knows how hard that is even in a class room using a recessa anne training aid. I stand by my opinion that rescue is a highly physically demanding class. Also for those that have concerns of legal liability, get teh books and self learn. its the skills that are important not the card.

all humans have the capability for superhuman power. If a disabled diver without a limb is your only rescue then you will be glad if they attempt to save your life. If a person wants to risk their life to save yours that is their human right to try to save you. Now that being said having a disabled diver taking rescue will make them a better diver in multiple ways even without physically dragging your possibly overweight body to shore......

come on man....I mean wow
 
all humans have the capability for superhuman power. If a disabled diver without a limb is your only rescue then you will be glad if they attempt to save your life. If a person wants to risk their life to save yours that is their human right to try to save you. Now that being said having a disabled diver taking rescue will make them a better diver in multiple ways even without physically dragging your possibly overweight body to shore......

come on man....I mean wow
Really you think a one armed or one leg person can successfully do a rescue? Loose a fin sometime as see how well you do in the water. I have no problem with anyone taking a class. but reality has to set in sometime to say your disability counters the effort possibly to the point of being useless depending on the limitation. This is a reality and not a PC matter.
And before you ask i will tell you. I would not refuse to dive with a disabled diver depending on the dive. I also would,,,, not with out question, expect them to be able to render any meaningful emergency assistance if needed. The most likely situation would be for them to be part of a 3some on the dive. Call it what you want, but that is the way it is.
 
One example of a rescue is to drop the weights of someone struggling on the surface & put air in their BC. It's not necessarily a ascent from 100 ft. and a 400m tow.
 
Really you think a one armed or one leg person can successfully do a rescue? Loose a fin sometime as see how well you do in the water. I have no problem with anyone taking a class. but reality has to set in sometime to say your disability counters the effort possibly to the point of being useless depending on the limitation.

That is a pretty wide brush you are painting. I suggest taking stock of the type of people you see on the dive boat, there are a lot of people with two legs or two arms that have issues lifting a simple AL80 or struggle against a mild current. Many of those people even have rescue cards.
 

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