Chambers recompressing diver's database

[Kelly Jessop]

You can't really compare SoCal with northern Florida. The population density is way higher in SoCal, you have much more people live and dive there and I bet the demand for deco treatments is way higher too.

I mean, how many people come to Fl for cave diving every year and how many cave divers live in the area? Combined a couple of thousand? If that.

I agree. I don't do any cave diving in LA, and it is nice they have a handle on their chamber situation,but I am concerned about cave divers with DCS, and available resources to get recompressed. Mexico is fairly shallow, and I don't hear about DCS incidences there among cave divers,but ironically I stand a better chance of getting help there than north Florida.

[FW]

You divers all there in Florida keep on making excuses why you can't do and having no courage for what you should do. . .


$107,855 -Thank You!

You remind of a couple of old "sister" motorcycle magazines. One was Cycle News East, the other was Cycle News West. There was a sign in the office of Cycle News East that said: "We don't care how they do it in California".

[Jax]

Say what you will about "how they do it in California" - they do Rescue / First Aid right!

I've trained with the USC Catalina Chamber. They have a kick-ass 5-day Emergency Response Diver course that is challenging and comprehensive. Food and lodging is included with the course, for around $825. October. https://dornsife.usc.edu/hyperbaric/erd/

They train the LAPD divers in this course.

You can also get free training (w/food and lodging) for the chamber by volunteering . . . seven? I don't remember. days per year.

Some show up and "do their week". Others show up in conjunction with a "heavy traffic" holiday or such Or just do a day once a week each month. Pretty cool.

[lv2dive]

I thought the original point of this thread was to figure out which chambers are open for Divers - specifically CAVE Divers - since that is the general context of this forum - but maybe I mistook Kelly's intent.

In my opinion, all of the off topic posts related to what divers are/are not/could be doing in N FL is distracting from the original intent of the thread (as I understood it). This includes the the plethora of posts related to the Catalina chamber.

I think the original thread intent is an important one for some of us, and the points are getting lost in the extra conversation... Is it possible to break out the extraneous conversation into another thread, mods? Just a thought.

This is something I have harped on for the last few years, and having an accurate list of chambers that will recompress divers is critical (if not life saving). As much as I am a fan of DAN, they may not be as update to date as we'd like.

I will start with what is known,but needs verification.
Shands in Gainesville- has not shown a tendency to recompress divers,even when showing up during "business hours"
Tallahassee- recently heard of their not recompressing divers. Unsure if this is short term or long term
Valdosta, GA- has recompressed divers
Albany,GA- has the facilities and has not shown a tendency to turn away divers.
Tampa- DCS fatality at Ginnie I understand was sent there,but which hospital???


What needs to be added
Panama City
Jacksonville
Pensacola
Orlando


Where else?

[Kevrumbo]

You can't really compare SoCal with northern Florida. The population density is way higher in SoCal, you have much more people live and dive there and I bet the demand for deco treatments is way higher too.

I mean, how many people come to Fl for cave diving every year and how many cave divers live in the area? Combined a couple of thousand? If that.

Cases from 1995 thru 2000
Of 154 Divers Brought to the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber:

76 (49%) Recompressed:
43 (57%) of which were DCS related
33 (43%) of which were Air Embolism related

78 (51%) Not Recompressed:
23 (29%) Rule Out AGE
23 (29%) Rule Out DCS
19 (24%) Near Drowning
9 (12%) Drowning
4 (5%) AGE/DCS Refused Treatment Against Medical Advice

19 (12%) Full Arrest --Fatalities

Not as many cases as you think for such a "high density" area as SoCal.


So other than the initial outlay to put a multiplace chamber onsite locally, y'all out there should not have as much expense with overhead, setting-up a non-profit, mostly volunteer crew and sustaining the operation with donations & yearly charity drives.


Otherwise, if your incidence of DCS is so low out there that y'all feel the current "system" (i.e. "DAN Recompression Chamber Roulette") covers all emergent conditions adequately. . . well then good luck!

[cavedivingwoman]

What about NEDU in Panama City (Navy Experimental Diving Unit)? Or would they not treat civilian divers?

[Kelly Jessop]

What about NEDU in Panama City (Navy Experimental Diving Unit)? Or would they not treat civilian divers?

I understand they don't want civilians, but will take someone in a life or death situation. I don't think they are on DAN's list,but I know if there was a local accident, and Bay Co chamber was offline, they would take you. (or at least used to)

[armstrong]

I understand they don't want civilians, but will take someone in a life or death situation. I don't think they are on DAN's list,but I know if there was a local accident, and Bay Co chamber was offline, they would take you. (or at least used to)

Correct, NEDU *might* take a civilian if the timing was just right and they had time, space and personnel on hand. Same thing with NAMRI in Pensacola. Speaking of Pensacola, Baptist Hospital has a mono place chamber, nothing multi place. They were treating divers for a while, but haven't been for quite some time. There was a really nice multi place facility here, but it has been closed for at least 10 years now. There's an unrelated business in the building, and I have no idea if the chamber is still there or, if it is, if it is functional.

[Kevrumbo]

Correct, NEDU *might* take a civilian if the timing was just right and they had time, space and personnel on hand. Same thing with NAMRI in Pensacola. Speaking of Pensacola, Baptist Hospital has a mono place chamber, nothing multi place. They were treating divers for a while, but haven't been for quite some time. There was a really nice multi place facility here, but it has been closed for at least 10 years now. There's an unrelated business in the building, and I have no idea if the chamber is still there or, if it is, if it is functional.

This is probably why Pensacola Baptist Hospital is reluctant to treat dive accident/casualty victims:
https://www.levinlaw.com/news/jury-t...or-game-chance

[armstrong]

This is probably why Pensacola Baptist Hospital is reluctant to treat dive accident/casualty victims:
https://www.levinlaw.com/news/jury-t...or-game-chance

Probably not, actually. This case is ancient history, and the incident took place long before Baptist had a chamber on hand. Baptist installed a chamber about 10 years ago when they sank the Oriskany, this incident took place in 1988.