Eagle River woman dead - Whittier, Alaska

[DandyDon]

‘She was just full of life’: Longtime Eagle River teacher dies while diving in Whittier

Sara Mason was exploring Smitty’s Cove, Alaska’s most popular scuba site, when she stopped breathing, police said.

www.adn.com

A 45-year-old Eagle River woman died Sunday while scuba diving in Whittier.

Sara Mason reportedly stopped breathing while in the water at Smitty’s Cove, the Whittier Police Department said. The area is a popular winter diving location.

Officers received a call for assistance just after noon Sunday from a person who said they were scuba diving with Mason, police said.

Officers arrived four minutes later, found Mason unresponsive and administered CPR while they waited for paramedics, the statement said. Mason was declared dead an hour and 20 minutes after livesaving measures started.

An autopsy report is pending, Whittier public safety director Andre Achee said Tuesday.

 

[covediver]

bit more information on the diver and the incident

‘She was just full of life’: Longtime Eagle River teacher dies while diving in Whittier

Sara Mason was exploring Smitty’s Cove, Alaska’s most popular scuba site, when she stopped breathing, police said.

www.adn.com

 

[Mcfaste]

I am interested in what caused her to stop breathing...120 minutes of CPR is a long time.

 

[DandyDon]

I am interested in what caused her to stop breathing...120 minutes of CPR is a long time.

I do hope that her buddy was administering CPR in the four or so minutes before help arrived. Just guessing, I suppose that she lost consciousness, dropped her reg, and drowned, then her buddy saw that she was in distress without her reg. I do hope someone up there can obtain autopsy results when they become available.

 

[covediver]

Guess I will wait for the details, while 120 minutes of CPR seems like a long time, keep in mind that Whittier is a fairly isolated community accessible about an hours drive from the nearest major city, Anchorage. It is accessible only through driving through a train tunnel. In Alaska, long CPR is not so uncommon given the distances and the practice of continuing CPR until you are not able to continue, relieved by more experienced practitioners, or until it is unsafe to continue.

 

[Kari81476]

My sister lives in Eagle River and Sara had my nephew in her class this year. I will post here when my sister has more information. My husband and I are fairly new divers and my sister called me quite distraught when they got the email from the principal. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.

 

[MikeHoncho]

There is very few reasons or situations to do CPR for extended amounts of time like this. The most common is cold water drowning which I doubt this falls into. More likely than not this length of time is due to emotional connection/not medically trained to make the decision of continuing or stopping. or the inability to contact local medical control (if they were EMS) and their protocols say to continue until comms are made.

 

[Mcfaste]

There is very few reasons or situations to do CPR for extended amounts of time like this. The most common is cold water drowning which I doubt this falls into. More likely than not this length of time is due to emotional connection/not medically trained to make the decision of continuing or stopping. or the inability to contact local medical control (if they were EMS) and their protocols say to continue until comms are made.

If the EMS transport time is high like in a previous post, that would cause it also. EMTs and Advance EMTs generally can’t call it. Only Paramedics. I’ve also seen it where there would be some sort of electrical activity and CPR would continue for quite a long time. Generally asystole rhythm, CPR is ended fairly quick. With someone young and no signs of trauma, and if CPR was initiated prettt quick, I could see trying for a little longer. I hope they had a Lucas or something.

 

[Rollin Bonz]

I am interested in what caused her to stop breathing...120 minutes of CPR is a long time.

An hour and 20 minutes is 80 minutes, but your point stands.

She was living her best life. Tragic.

Condolences to those left behind, especially her sons.

 

[Vicko]

In a lot of countries you are legally obliged to continue CPR until a medical doctor tells you to stop.
It must be hell for the survivors mentally and physically, I get cramps after 2 minutes on a demo dummy.