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Digigeek · 03:15 PM

Added Info Back - Abel Longoria.

gCaptain.com
Published: June 16th, 2010 by Mario Vittone
Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

Part 2 - 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. Th e 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: On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006)

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 n 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.

Rson · 06-30-2010, 11:13 AM

Good post and very true.

Tom · 06-30-2010, 11:13 AM

Good post. When I went through training to become a Rescue SCUBA Diver, they told us flat out that what you are really learning is to search and recover the body. Drowning happens so fast in the water that most of the time, there isn't even the opportunity to save them. You need to know the warning signs first, identify the problem or potential problem and react quickly and decisively.

L Stegall · 06-30-2010, 11:20 AM

As a pool owner, thanks for this info. Fortunately, I haven't ever been in a situation where anyone was drowning near me, but it's good to file away for future reference.

Digigeek · 03:16 PM

dmcantrell · 06-30-2010, 11:55 AM

Awesome post, do you mind if I re-post this on another forum?

Nikonfan · 12:08 PM

Great article! I used to be a lifeguard and agree with the above information. I would like to add that it only takes one tablespoon of water to drown, so even small pools can be dangerous.

Also, many drownings occur when an untrained person tries to save another struggling person. The person drowning will instinctively grab onto anyone or anything they can. They will grab the rescuers head and try to climb up. So first try to throw a flotation device or keep it between you and the person struggling if you have to jump in.

Last word of advice, alcohol and water don't mix! Stay safe and have fun!!

Tom · 06-30-2010, 12:02 PM

Yeah, getting bigger people out of the water can be difficult. When I got certified, I was in about the best shape of my life. I was 5'11 ~155lbs and was running three miles in ~17min.

For the final exam, we had to start on shore with no gear on, watch someone go under in distress to about 40 feet deep about 100 yards from shore. We had to put on our gear, swim out, go down pull up the 'victim' and swim in with them while giving rescue breathing. They have to be on the ground receiving CPR in 8 minutes from the time their head goes under.

My victim was our instructor, and he was about 5'8 265. And when he was under, he disconnected the hose of his BCD (SCUBA vest that inflates) so that when I hit the button, it wouldn't inflate automatically. So I got to the surface, gave a rescue breath, inflated my BCD, dropped both our weight belts and tried to inflate his BCD. Only the hose was disconnected and he folded it behind his arm so I couldn't get to it. I had to give him a breath, then breathe into the manual valve to inflate his BCD, then give him another breath. His BCD was filled with water, so I am choking the whole time and I am treading water for two people. I choked the whole way back to ground from the water I was inhaling.

They want to simulate what these rescues can be like. Obviously, that is a bit more complicated than a pool rescue, but in open water, things get really tricky really quickly.

Digigeek · 06-30-2010, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmcantrell

Awesome post, do you mind if I re-post this on another forum?

The first I copied from another forum, and the second is my own. You are welcome to post either anywhere else as far as I'm concerned.

Digigeek · 03:16 PM

Nikonfan · 06-30-2010, 12:27 PM

Sadly, this just happened to a coworker of mine a week ago. He was 41 and very fit. A swimmer from their boat started to struggle. He jumped in to help her and ended up drowning. She pulled him under.

Tom · 06-30-2010, 12:31 PM

Should you jump in entirely depends on the situation and the person making the decision.

The first thing to do should be to yell an alert (Man overboard!) and throw a flotation device. Next, someone needs to be assigned to be the lookout and never take their eyes off the person that is overboard.

Digigeek · 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikonfan

Sadly, this just happened to a coworker of mine a week ago. He was 41 and very fit. A swimmer from their boat started to struggle. He jumped in to help her and ended up drowning. She pulled him under.

Bye.