Identifying a skilled rescue diver?

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I had a client when I was still a divemaster that entered the first stage of hypothermia.
I asked him several time prior that if he was cold (it was our second dive in 18° water and he was wearing a 5mm complete suit without gloves or hood) and he always answered no, but at some point, when I asked him his air, his hands were starting to shake, even if he was trying to hide it.

I decided immediatly to end the dive. He was against it (I may have been swearing in my reg at this point) so I took him by the arm and swam with him to the anchor (super close, luckily).
When we were doing the safety stop, he was totally disoriented and shaking badly.
He sucked his air like mad (passing from 70 bar to 30 in less than 6 minutes) and I had to put my octo in his mouth, because he refused to take it by himself.
I didn't let go of his arm for the entire time until he was safely on the boat.

After a debriefing, he told me that he was ashamed to be so cold and didn't want to screw the dive (we were watching 5 big stingrays) even if he was my only customer this day and that when I grabbed him by the arm he was not understanding much and was thinking slowly.

The next day, I insisted more with the next client about wearing a hood and taking off the top of the wetsuit in between dives to heat with the sun and to dry a little.
I told them that hypothermia was dangerous and 18° was not that hot, and my boss made a face and got me a super nice lecture at the end of the day because I was scaring the clients.

But between telling someone that coldness is super important to know and not telling that, I know exactly how my briefing work now. Hypothermia IS dangerous.

Anyway, that's my scary story, the guy was fine after getting dry and enjoying the sun.
And I felt terribly guilty for not seeing that he was cold way before that.
 
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I was a lifeguard at 16-25
Advanced swimming instructor
Beach lifeguard 18-25
Held a HSE first aid at work for 15 years
And am a padi rescue diver.

I have the same theory and knowledge as all the other padi rescue divers and who knows how I will react but from past experiance I will be fine you can be the most skilled person in the world and be an rescue instructor but could freeze or you could be someone with who passed yesterday and steps up to the mark.
 
I don't think you could draw many conclusions from a casual or short meeting. There's no obvious fast answer as to who will panic, who will keep a clear head, who will remember their training or know how to take command and delegate effectively, even if someone seems obviously ex-military or some other likely background.

Is this a trick question? Are you looking to hire rescue divers? Or just figure out who will be a good safety backup as a boat buddy?

Sometimes you need to look for clues outside the box. (Seen "Sherlock" ?) HR asked me what they should advertise for and look for in a new hire one time. I said, find me someone who irons their socks. Huh? Yeah, the job skills didn't matter, we could teach pretty much all of those. But someone who was compulsive about details, who was meticulous about everything they did...that was something you couldn't teach, and that was the hire skill we needed more than any other. And the guy they found was indeed, a bit odd. But he also was damned good about making sure the work was done right before he signed off on it.
 
I don't think you could draw many conclusions from a casual or short meeting. There's no obvious fast answer as to who will panic, who will keep a clear head.

Is this a trick question? Are you looking to hire rescue divers? Or just figure out who will be a good safety backup as a boat buddy?

Sometimes you need to look for clues outside the box. (Seen "Sherlock" ?) HR asked me what they should advertise for and look for in a new hire one time. I said, find me someone who irons their socks. Huh? Yeah, the job skills didn't matter, we could teach pretty much all of those. But someone who was compulsive about details, who was meticulous about everything they did...that was something you couldn't teach, and that was the hire skill we needed more than any other. And the guy they found was indeed, a bit odd. But he also was damned good about making sure the work was done right before he signed off on it.

Just a public service thread.

Broke this topic off another thread where the prompt and effective response of a person on the boat contributed to saving a life and reassuring the loved one involved. The discussion ran along the lines of how valuable the response was and they'd like to make dive planning decisions with having such people involved.

I am interested in clues that other's may know to share to help this process. Basic forum so we're on our best behavior.

Crisis intervention was my professional background and unfortunately have been that person described in too many situations (why I dive, and dive solo when possible) so I shared a few tips in the other thread. Didn't want to threadjack but I wanted to near more experienced perspectives on what clues there are. This thread excellently is answering this and the related discussion is enjoyable.

Unfortunately firing a gun in a dive shop and see who comes running isn't practical... spotting ironed socks for example would be helpful.

To be clear: I'm not hiring rescue divers. No commercial motivation for the topic.

The closest related professional interest I'd have is we're putting together the foundation of a public safety diver team but that vetting process isn't at a glance like stepping onto a boat or a dive shop and the crew is already crisis response competent, seeing how they are underwater is another topic entirely. Moving cautiously.

I have relatives who dive and some with health conditions. I have been sharing snippets of the replies on this thread. It prompted one to join the forum this morning for that matter. So now I've got to watch what I say online!!!

Cheers,
Cameron
 
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Firing a gun in a dive shop...nah. As Mark Twain said about trying to teach a pig to sing, it just tends to annoy the pig. And then there's that ringing in your ears for hours after, and someone at PADI is going to complain if you didn't take the PADI Terrestial SideArms (or Long Rifle, smallbore or high power) certification.

Sometimes you can look for situational awareness. The people who actually look at the fire extinguishers that they walk past, to see if they're in date and in service. (Spring break kids have been known to use them for fun then put them back, empty.) The people who BACK into their parking spots instead of pulling nose in. Sometimes because they know it is safer, sometimes because they've been trained to be ready to pull out in a hurry. The folks who have their money or credit cards ready at the cash register, instead of waiting for the clerk to total them up, and then first digging around for a check book and pen while anyone else just waits. Not that any of that can tell you who will pass out versus who will tie a tourniquet when it is needed, but the guy who fires a gun in a dive shop is probably NOT the one you want.(G)

I know a surgeon, a couple of docs. You'd never guess they routinely just take people apart and put them back together again. Maybe, take someone fishing and see if they squirm at putting the worm on the hook?
 
As far as individuals I think you might be able to judge which people are likely at the far ends of the curve - very likely to do a good job or poor/no job of it. But probably not perfectly, and in between is harder to judge. Besides general personality and awareness, I'd think ongoing training and experience will make a big difference. I've seen a dive emergency once on a liveaboard, once on a day boat, and watched one unfold from our balcony view of a dive op once. These were all with good ops, and in each case they reacted very quickly and like a well oiled machine. Pretty sure they each had their procedures well thought out and drilled into everyone.

Notably, the 2 incidents where I was on the boat and saw everything up close, could be seen coming. In one case the op actually offered a free refresher before the dives to the person in question, who declined - probably they should have required it. (I think the person was on a business trip, diving with co-workers one day, and I suspect did not want to look uncool or something. Ironically, they were so obviously unprepared and nervous they looked anything but cool.)
 
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Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just braver five minutes longer.
Ronald Reagan


I once read some book, translated to English the title reads "The cowards got the medal" (in some war) The point was that the brave ones died.


(Richard Fuchs, "De fega fick medalj")
 
Reviewing the book/notes and updating the emergency care component help- which I have done, but without actually practicing scenarios your effectiveness as a rescue diver is significantly diminished if a lot of time passes.

I don't think there is an effective way to determine a truly good rescue diver visually, you have to factor in intangibles that are not evident by sight. Even pre-dive clues like attentiveness might provide some indication- but on the other hand the dude who forgot his mask before jumping off the boat might be the first man/woman to spring into action and come to the rescue.
 
@northernone,

Going to start a thread on this for what people think makes a good rescue course, what they feel was missing in theirs (minus agency bashing). Too OT for this thread
 
Some of the points brought up so far might be some good indicators (good: situational awareness bad: full of them self’s)

Although I’m also with those that said it would be very hard to even come close to guess who’s going to be good when it comes to emergencies. Everyone will freeze under the right (or is it wrong) conditions.

I know I am a very clumsy and usually not very detail oriented unless it has something to do with the ocean or water in general. One day while freediving I helped two divers back to shore after a incident they had. Only reason I was close enough to hear a scream for help once they surfaced was I noticed a dive buoy cross a boat channel and decided to leave the docks I was on and go to a rock pile closer toward them for some reason.

Some people are different under/in water then when on dry land (me being one).
 
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