chamber

[dogwatch]

There are a few there, and also one at Bay Medical Center.

http://www.divinglore.com/Genesis/US...ersFlorida.htm

I heard a while back that Bay Medical Center may not be available for treating diving injuries. This might not have been true or it might have changed by now, but i would check first.

[Shocky]

I went to Tallahassee Capitol Regional via Shands.

[the dude]

in a recent case, tallahassee and jacksonville were the two options that were given by DAN. the diver was in the little river area and needed a chamber treatment. i was surprised to find out they didn't go to shands because it wasn't staffed full time.

[Randy Thornton]

In August, I called DAN in need of a chamber and was told that Jacksonville would no longer treat diving injuries. I was told the closest chamber for diving related injuries was Tampa and Orlando. Even then, before Orlando or Tampa would accept someone to their chamber, you had to visit a local hospital first and get referred after going through a complete workup at the local ER. We even called around to the local chambers that were treating other injuries and none of them would treat divers. So much for getting quick access to a chamber in Cave Country! I was absolutely amazed! We ended up doing in water re-compression, which fortunately worked out OK. I shudder to think what the situation would have been in a more serious case!

[floridakid]

There are a few there, and also one at Bay Medical Center.

http://www.divinglore.com/Genesis/US...ersFlorida.htm

Bay Med is currently not doing emergency chamber rides for dive injuries.

[RN]

I heard a while back that Bay Medical Center may not be available for treating diving injuries. This might not have been true or it might have changed by now, but i would check first.

Bay stopped 24 hour service over 3 years ago. They will treat if the chamber is not in use for wound care and it is during normal business hours. Capital Regional in Tallahassee is the closest 24 hour chamber to all of the popular caves.

[FW]

I am beginning to think the moral here is DON"T GET BENT!

[Kelly Jessop]

I went to Tallahassee Capitol Regional via Shands.

This is what is happening typically. Shands keeps their name on the list of chambers with DAN,but your being bent has to meet their schedule of when they are in operation. Realize running a chamber is very expensive from a staff and capital expense side,so the money to be made is from wound care. If you can do a few wound care patients at one time,versus a diver who you have to bring in staff for overtime for just that one person-economics win. Shands hasn't been treating DCS cases at night,but also know of one case that got turned away to Tallahassee during a weekday afternoon. Bottom line-DAN is great,but they don't research their list,and see that some chambers are deferring people to other chambers on a regular basis. So,do your homework,and if DAN sends you somewhere make sure that you know you won't be sitting in their ER for 3 hours before they decide to send you somewhere several hours away.

[Kelly Jessop]

We ended up doing in water re-compression, which fortunately worked out OK. I shudder to think what the situation would have been in a more serious case!

That really sucks. The chamber shell game is going to reach a point that self treatment may be the option.

[Line Squirrel]

So,do your homework,and if DAN sends you somewhere make sure that you know you won't be sitting in their ER for 3 hours before they decide to send you somewhere several hours away.

First time I had to take a ride I drove myself to the local hospital in Michigan, the ER staff didn't even know what the hell I was talking about when I told them I was "bent" then I said DCS...."Decompression Sickness"?!?!, they still looked quite puzzled. Mind you, I was not in good shape, I could not hold the pen tight enough in my hand to sign the required admittance doc's. I was getting pretty annoyed by this time with their apparent lack of interest.

I handed them my DAN card and asked them to call the 800 number...NOW. They picked up the pace quite a bit after they called DAN lol. They got me on 02 right away, called for an ambulance transport and started a blood work up for AGE.

Moral of the story...the ER you drive yourself to my not see the urgency in the situation, may not have even seen a DCS patient walk through their doors. Hand them the DAN card right away and ask if they can call. Explain that DAN are the experts.