Subaqua Sternal Rubs
Monday, August 9th, 2004 at 6:49 pm
So this morning I finished my Rescue Diver course.
There weren't any divers scheduled this morning, so went up to the Bays (Dragon/Flamingo Bay) in the boat with 4 snorkelers. Weather wasn't the greatest (overcast, raining at times) but I guess that's good for a rescue simulation. The owner of the dive shop came along to play the "victim." When we got to the dive site, he put on scuba gear and said he was going to check the prop, which is something I guess he often does. Should have known though. When he didn't come back a few minutes later, it was a missing diver scenario. Me and my buddy who was also taking the course figured it was now a "lost diver" scenario. Unfortunately, we also figured since there were snorkelers on the boat we would have plenty of time to set up our gear. Especially since upon our arrival to the site, our instructor proceeds to give us a class in O2 administration. Well when the diver didn't come back, we had to rush and "kit up." Took us 4 minutes… still too long according to instructor. Oh well. We descended to the bottom, and prepared to execute a circular search pattern from where the diver was last seen. My buddy acted as the anchor end of the reel, and I took the loose end of the reel and swum in a continuously expanding circle until we found the "unconscious" diver. When we reached them, I did the whole "Annie, Annie, are you ok?" shaken baby syndrome, and got no response. I was considering doing a sternal rub, since it's been a while and I need to keep up my skills.
However, it was the owner of the dive shop, and I wanted to pass the class.
I successfully brought him up to the surface at a nice controlled rate, but at the surface, I tried to inflate his BCD for bouyancy (couldn't drop weights as it was only a simulation), but the **** had disconnected and hidden his low-pressure inflator for the BCD. Had to inflate the BC manually, in addtion to trying to get rescue breaths in. There's a lot to do at once! Anyways, had to drag him back through some mild surf while doing rescue breaths every 5 seconds, removing his and my equipment all the the same time. Got the victim back on the boat, continued with CPR, and passed the scenario ![]()
After we got back to the dive shop, it was really raining hard and a thunderstorm with lightning was moving it. I went back to my apartment, and just collapsed on my bed. The rest was needed, and besides, there's not much to do in GDA when it's raining. (and it's a national holiday and everything is closed.) So after my nap, ate a little lunch, then it was over to the campus for internet.
Tommorow classes start… a full 4 hours straight to start off with from 8am-12pm. Wish me luck with getting up
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Lothar Says:



Instructions for setting alarm: 1. check that clock is working and set to accurate current time. 2. set alarm for the exact time you want to be awoken, checking for accuracy of AM and PM. 3. set alarm to wake mode 4. Make sure battery back-up is in alarm clock.–GOOD LUCK! Hope you have a good 1st day