Contact details for Diving Emergencies

[daz]

Seeing a number of posts recently about visits to the pot, and Matt has kindly posted some numbers I thought I would add the following number for DDRC who I believe will advise in an emergency.

01752 209999

http://www.ddrc.org/diving_emergencies.htm

I hope nobody needs to make use of it.

Kind Regards,
Darren

[Driftwood]

I heard a great story recently about a DM on their course trying to impress their instructor with the incident management skills....

When asked what number they should phone on land if a diver had DCS, they swiftly pulled out their BHA card and rhymed off the number for the Duty Diving Medical Officer at the Institute of Naval Medicine....

To which their response was "Wrong, there's one number that you need to know and dial first - that's 999. What good is it calling some bugger hundreds of miles away"


Thoughts?

[Dr Stevil]

A few bits of "must know" info for those who haven't yet done an O2 course, in case the stuff hits the fan before you get yourself trained:

yes dial 999 and don't forget that the Paramedics may not have experience of diving casualties so ensure they DO NOT give Entonox (aka gas & air) to the casualty, stop them physically if needs be as this will make the casualty worse

send the buddy with the casualty in the ambulance


if you've somehow got O2 without having been trained DO NOT ration it, suck the tank dry

DO NOT hesitate to use it if you suspect a bend

try to record details of the time O2 admin was begun and for how long (can effect commencement of recompression).

If you haven't got O2 use the highest nitrox mix that may be at hand

Please please please consider doing a proper O2 admin  course, there so much more to it than assembling the tank and O2 reg
Steve

[MATTBIN]

999 - that would be the last number I dialled, BSAC might be the first, I'm sure they know a great deal more than I do, or they know someone who does.
Matt

[Jay]

You CAN dial 999 and ask for the coastguard no matter where you are in the UK - they WILL know what to do and will act as liason between you and the paramedics.

[MATTBIN]

Didnt know that, cheers fo the info and for not bollocking my ignorance.

Matt

[Phil Ennis]

1. Lay them down.
2. 100% o2
3. 999
Then start ringing around for advice. You will have limited o2 so get the ambulance or coastguard on route to you, they will have loads. It is unlikely you will be lifted straight to a chamber. First stop will be casualty.
As quoted  by Steve, please consider doing an o2  course, you will get a lot out of it.

[Hobby]

If you're going/co-ordinating a casualty to be lifted,ALWAYS,specify a 'low flying' helicopter for a diver.Repeat this to everyone you speak to,it's often overlooked beleive it or not,and it's done the worst damage in the past.
Regards,Hobby.

[Dr Stevil]

In the case of suspected DCI You can also give small amounts of water, and I mean small,  sips at a rate of up to 1 litre per hour, BUT if your casualty has blood in their spit, assume barotrauma (burst lung) and don't give water as it will delay the inevitable surgery

We could end up listing all the info covered in the course but I'm hoping as these snippets are whetting folks appetites for the whole package
Chee-az
steve

[ian Price]

This accident flow chart is curtesy of DDRC and I think looks a good starting point, unless any one has found something up with it???

http://www.ddrc.org/docs/DDRC_Chart.pdf

Ian