Solo Diving

[FW]

If found, return to depth.

[w ripley]

There is one + to the neck ID thing, and that's if you are rescued & unconscious, diving solo or not.

I've seen that happen more than once. All of the dive gear is typically removed (cut off) and the diver is rushed to the hospital with all of his ID and dive gear left behind. When he or she arrives no one knows who he or she is, their medical history, contacts, etc.

It's been my observation that if there is information around one's neck (e.g., dog tags) it is typically left there by the team moving the diver.

[jcook]

There is one + to the neck ID thing, and that's if you are rescued & unconscious, diving solo or not.

I've seen that happen more than once. All of the dive gear is typically removed (cut off) and the diver is rushed to the hospital with all of his ID and dive gear left behind. When he or she arrives no one knows who he or she is, their medical history, contacts, etc.

It's been my observation that if there is information around one's neck (e.g., dog tags) it is typically left there by the team moving the diver.

Tattooed to my chest then? Jordon Cook - Do Not Resuscitate, allergic to peanuts and my emergency contact into (though if my wife ever divorces me I would be SOL)

[floridakid]

There is one + to the neck ID thing, and that's if you are rescued & unconscious, diving solo or not.

I've seen that happen more than once. All of the dive gear is typically removed (cut off) and the diver is rushed to the hospital with all of his ID and dive gear left behind. When he or she arrives no one knows who he or she is, their medical history, contacts, etc.

It's been my observation that if there is information around one's neck (e.g., dog tags) it is typically left there by the team moving the diver.

You really touched a nerve there. EMS providers are trained to always transport dive gear qith an injured diver. I tell our paramedics over and over again that if they run a call where any kind of diving is remotely involved, at a bare minimum to transport each and every single cylinder that the person was carrying on their dive as well as anything that they find on the person that looks like it might have some kind of electronics in it at all with the diver. But it seems like that never freaking happens because I hear about divers being transported without their gear all the time.

[w ripley]

Transporting gear with an injured diver is not always an option. I've seen rescues at sea and at Peacock, where unconscious divers were air lifted and there isn't room (or time) for gear.

At Peacock, since we're talking about cave diving here, the EM crew transported the diver to a place where the chopper could airlift to Gainesville (Sands). On that particular rescue we even gave the ground team the diver's info but it was lost somewhere between the dive site and the hospital. I was stunned, when I arrived at the hospital, that no one had any information on him. By the time I showed up he was conscious, but so disoriented that he could give precious little helpful information to the medical team.

My only point is that rescues are typcially "rush" jobs, as they should be, and anything "attached" to the diver seems to have a better chance of staying with him/her. Also, airlifts typically don't allow for someone, who knows the diver, to ride along and I can promise you that the dive gear isn't going on the bird.

All of this is just a "heads-up" for anyone who hasn't been there before: It's your life and you might consider thinking about ways to help those trying to help you.

[floridakid]

Transporting gear with an injured diver is not always an option. I've seen rescues at sea and at Peacock, where unconscious divers were air lifted and there isn't room (or time) for gear.

At Peacock, since we're talking about cave diving here, the EM crew transported the diver to a place where the chopper could airlift to Gainesville (Sands). On that particular rescue we even gave the ground team the diver's info but it was lost somewhere between the dive site and the hospital. I was stunned, when I arrived at the hospital, that no one had any information on him. By the time I showed up he was conscious, but so disoriented that he could give precious little helpful information to the medical team.

My only point is that rescues are typcially "rush" jobs, as they should be, and anything "attached" to the diver seems to have a better chance of staying with him/her. Also, airlifts typically don't allow for someone, who knows the diver, to ride along and I can promise you that the dive gear isn't going on the bird.

All of this is just a "heads-up" for anyone who hasn't been there before: It's your life and you might consider thinking about ways to help those trying to help you.

Taking all the gear is not always an option, but typically in most situations taking the cylinders and computers is very manageable, especially since there are usually plenty of people at the scene of most incident that are willing to help schlep tanks to an ambulance. It doesn't take 2 seconds to make sure that the dive computer is with the patient. The time that it takes to gather up the dive computer is well worth it so that if the patient requires a chamber ride, their dive profile is then known by the hospital staff. Unless you are doing a pretty extreme dive, there is usually enough room for cylinders on an ambulance. It is true that some helos don't have enough capacity to transport the cylinders, but some do.


Also, rescues almost never should be "rush" jobs. That is how people get hurt and very important stuff gets overlooked. Don't get me wrong. AI am a HUGE believer in minimizing the time spent on scene of an incident prior to transport, but spending minutes on scene getting information can literally save hours of delays at the hospital.

[RGU]

Or a double hose regulator! Screw the long hose.

Now your talking about real diving!

[Jay]

Why is solo cavediving something to "sweep under the carpet"?

Since some folks decided to add it as a 'cause' for accident analysis.

"He/she died because they were diving solo. Case closed."

[CaveMD]

You really touched a nerve there. EMS providers are trained to always transport dive gear qith an injured diver. I tell our paramedics over and over again that if they run a call where any kind of diving is remotely involved, at a bare minimum to transport each and every single cylinder that the person was carrying on their dive as well as anything that they find on the person that looks like it might have some kind of electronics in it at all with the diver. But it seems like that never freaking happens because I hear about divers being transported without their gear all the time.

Not every ems group has a diver working for them. I've yet to see a diver arrive at the ER with their gear.

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[floridakid]

I've yet to see a diver arrive at the ER with their gear.

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Which is what pisses me off. Almost every EMS textbook stresses the importance of transporting the diver with their gear. They shouldn't have to have a diver that works with them screaming to take the gear to know that is what they should be doing.