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Old 12 September 2012, 09:33   #1
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Drowning! What are the Signs?

I hope you guys don't mind but I've Copied this from another site and posted it here because it made an interesting read and could possibly save someones life one day.


Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning
The new captain jumped from the cockpit, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the owners who were swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!” How did this captain know, from fifty feet away, what the father couldn’t recognize from just ten? Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect.
The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching television.
If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew knows what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story.
Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life. The Instinctive Drowning Response – so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind.
To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC).
Drowning does not look like drowning – Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:
1.Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.

2.Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.

3.Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.

4.Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.

5.From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs. (Source: http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg534/On%20S ... Fall06.pdf)

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble – they are experience aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long – but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in there own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc. Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:
•Head low in the water, mouth at water level
•Head tilted back with mouth open
•Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
•Eyes closed •Hair over forehead or eyes
•Not using legs – Vertical
•Hyperventilating or gasping
•Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
•Trying to roll over on the back
•Ladder climb, rarely out of the water.

So if a crew member falls overboard and every looks O.K. – don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them: “Are you alright?” If they can answer at all – they probably are. If they return a blank stare – you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents: children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.
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Old 12 September 2012, 09:40   #2
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I hope you guys don't mind but I've Copied this from another site and posted it here because...
...you hadn't noticed that Nos posted it on here in January.

In fairness, it's a useful read.
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Old 12 September 2012, 09:40   #3
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It's in the features section Andy, Nos posted it back in January, it surprised me for sure, very informative
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Old 12 September 2012, 09:41   #4
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quick on the draw willk beat me to it.
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Old 12 September 2012, 09:42   #5
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It's in the features section Andy, Nos posted it back in January, it surprised me for sure, very informative
Is this "Repost Useful Info Day" or summat?
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Old 12 September 2012, 09:43   #6
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Doh! I missed that one! I did a search before posting it, must have put in the wrong keywords.

Even so, it shows that you can miss things in the features section which I very rarely read.
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Old 12 September 2012, 10:15   #7
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I dint see it 1st time posted ....... VERY interesting read, and the more read it the greater the chance of it making a difference to someone!!
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Old 12 September 2012, 11:22   #8
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Originally Posted by Hightower View Post
Doh! I missed that one! I did a search before posting it, must have put in the wrong keywords.

Even so, it shows that you can miss things in the features section which I very rarely read.
Thanks Andy I had managed to miss it first time around too!
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Old 12 September 2012, 11:47   #9
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and me....!
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Old 12 September 2012, 12:06   #10
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I dint see it 1st time posted ....... VERY interesting read, and the more read it the greater the chance of it making a difference to someone!!
+1


Nice repost Andy,
I missed original post aswell, maybe a good idea for admin to repost this topic on a regular basis, for new members.
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Old 12 September 2012, 12:35   #11
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maybe a good idea for admin to repost this topic on a regular basis
It is a useful post - that's why it's still here - I could just have easily have "added" it to the first posting as a "bump". But I also reckoned Nos deserved a bit of credit

IMO, it's not the job of "admin" to repost things that have been placed in the Features section - that's what the section is for - future reference. There's an article by JK on Wearing Lifejackets, more by Paul Glatzel on Rough Water boat handling and so forth. They're very useful but it's up to individuals to decide if they can be bothered to read them or not.
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Old 12 September 2012, 12:56   #12
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IMO, it's not the job of "admin" to repost things that have been placed in the Features section - that's what the section is for - future reference. There's an article by JK on Wearing Lifejackets, more by Paul Glatzel on Rough Water boat handling and so forth. They're very useful but it's up to individuals to decide if they can be bothered to read them or not.
Can I ask if the original thread went straight in to the "Features" section as most of the other stuff in there including my Solent tidal streams were in other sections before they were moved? That might account as to why so many missed an important topic.
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Old 12 September 2012, 12:59   #13
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Quote:
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Can I ask if the original thread went straight in to the "Features" section as most of the other stuff in there including my Solent tidal streams were in other sections before they were moved? That might account as to why so many missed an important topic.
Yes if I remember rightly I think it did Andy.
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Old 12 September 2012, 13:04   #14
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The Prosecution would argue M'Lud, that:

1. All posts appear when using the "New Posts" button

2. Even Kerny found it.

We rest our case.

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Old 12 September 2012, 14:53   #15
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The Prosecution would argue M'Lud, that:

1. All posts appear when using the "New Posts" button

2. Even Kerny found it.

We rest our case.

Features section! What features section?
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Old 12 September 2012, 15:01   #16
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Features section! What features section?


If I might (once again) direct the Jury's attention to Exhibit A
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Old 12 September 2012, 15:58   #17
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Features section! What features section?
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Old 12 September 2012, 19:55   #18
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Features Section! What are the Signs?

I shall have to post an article for members that don't recognise a Features Section when they see one.

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Old 12 September 2012, 19:57   #19
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I shall have to post an article for members that don't recognise a Features Section when they see one.

FFS don't post it in the features section then
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Old 12 September 2012, 20:03   #20
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FFS don't post it in the features section then
Indeed. In your case, I actually meant Post.

To your house...
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