Diving and Hyperbarics

3rd Congress Of The World Union Of Wound Healing Societies

2007-11-08T11:53:00.000+00:00

The 3^rd Congress of the World Union of Wound Healing Societies will be hosted by the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine and Departments of Medicine and Public Health Sciences from June 4 - 8, 2008.
With a theme of Wound Care Efficacy, Effectiveness & Efficiency. Some key areas include:

The evidence base criteria and research
Provider education and outcomes
Patient quality of life and pain
Government and health care systems
Local wound bed preparation and infection
Specific wound types and their diagnosis and treatment (eg. pressure, leg and foot ulcers).

For more information go to the World Union of Wound Healing Societies webpage.

DAN Offers New DVD

2007-11-08T11:43:00.000+00:00

Many divers may not know that someone can get decompression illness even while following safe diving rules. To better educate divers, DAN has created a new DVD about DCI and what to do if you suspect a diver has it.

Joel Dovenbarger, Vice President of DAN Medical Services, said the best way for all divers to learn comes from the experiences of other divers. “This new DVD from DAN will help divers recognize the signs and symptoms of a variety of dive-related issues and be better prepared to respond appropriately,” Dovenbarger said.

Dive centers or dive clubs can request the free DVD from DAN. It features a 40-minute presentation by Marty McCafferty, DAN Medical Informational Specialist. Use the DVD as part of your dive training programs, at yoiur next dive club meeting or at dive gatherings.

The DVD emphasizes that the symptoms of DCI are similar to other medical conditions, such as a heart attack or upset stomach, so only a physician is qualified to make a diagnosis. The diver has three responsibilities:

to recognize the signs and symptoms
to provide standard care within their levels of training, and
to help transfer the injured diver to a higher level of care.

Denial is the most common reason for delay in seeking assistance. Injured divers usually call DAN because their symptoms will not go away. Amazingly almost 15 percent of injured divers continue to dive after initial DCI symptoms are recognized.

DAN wants to educate divers in recognizing DCI and seeking immediate medical evaluation, which improves and shortens the treatment and reduces the chances of long-term problems. The risk of DCI increases as divers dive deeper, stay down longer, ascend faster, or shorten their surface intervals.

To order contact DAN Membership Services.

Three divers Airlifted

2007-11-03T16:39:00.000+00:00

Three divers have been airlifted to hospital in Dorset with suspected decompression sickness.
They were rescued by the coastguard helicopter from Swanage at 1130 GMT.
Two of the divers were showing definite symptoms of the bends and the third was taken to hospital as a precaution.

BHA 2007 Annual Meeting Starts In Oban

2007-10-29T08:33:00.000+00:00

The 2007 annual meeting of the British Hyperbaric Association starts today in Oban, on the west coast of Scotland with the pre meeting diving taking place.
The meeting starts proper on the 1st November and finishes on the 4th November with the BHA AGM.

Cayman Brac To Get Recompression Chamber

2007-10-26T11:20:00.000+01:00

Diving related illnesses in Cayman Brac will soon be quicker and easier to treat when a recompression chamber should become operational on the island.
The recompression chamber was brought onto Cayman Brac by Cayman Hyperbaric Services in November 2006. It has however taken until now for the company to build a facility to house the chamber and prepare it for commissioning.
Cayman Hyperbaric Services has had an extension built onto the east end of the Faith Hospital in Cayman Brac to house the hyperbaric unit.
The chamber is a two–lock multi–place chamber, a smaller version of the one operating at the George Town Hospital on Grand Cayman. That chamber is also run by Cayman Hyperbaric Services.
It is hoped that patients can be taken there by 1 January.

Diver Airlifted To Hospital

2007-10-20T16:12:00.000+01:00

A 22-year-old man who had been diving in St Abbs Harbour, north of Eyemouth had to be taken by RAF helicopter to the hyperbaric medical facility in Aberdeen when showed signs of decompression sickness.

U-boat Diver's Body Recovered

2007-10-04T11:00:00.000+01:00

The body of Michael Hanrahan, a 45 year old father of four children from Dublin, who died at the site of a sunken German U-boat U-778 has been recovered.
Mr Hanrahan died during a dive on the U-boat which is 16 miles off Malin Head, County Donegal.
The dive team was filming the U-boat while assessing the chances of recovering it.
The boat is lying in about 70 metres of water.
The U-boat, which did not see any war action, sank while being towed from Scotland to Londonderry to be scrapped.
Derry City Council plans to raise U-778 and house it in a museum.

2008 Olympic Games In Beijing To Forbid Hyperbarics

2007-09-28T12:48:00.000+01:00

Mild hyperbaric therapy is believed to speed recovery from sports injuries, giving athletes faster recovery from workout and increases energy and mental clarity both on and off the field.
By providing more oxygen at the cellular level, healing is rapid, energy levels are high and the athlete is able to focus and perform at peak levels.
Many athletes report much less lactic acid buildup with HBO, greater endurance and less muscle fatigue.
HBO allows many to recover much more quickly from sports injuries due to swelling, dehydration and ischemia. HBO decreases swelling at the same time increasing blood flow to restricted areas. Higher concentration of oxygen in the blood at the cellular level allows healing and reparation to occur at a much faster rate.

River Ouse Search For Missing Student

2007-09-24T13:18:00.000+01:00

Police divers are searching the River Ouse in York for a student who went missing after a night out in the city.

Diver Airlifted

2007-09-23T10:10:00.000+01:00

A diver had to be winched to safety by a Royal Navy rescue helicopter from RNAS Culdrose after he got into difficulty off the Devon coast at Salcombe.
He was treated by ambulance staff who took him to Plymouth for recompression treatment.

Body of Diver Missing Since 2005 Found

2007-09-21T13:06:00.000+01:00

The body of a diver found off the Dorset coast has been formally identified as Mark James Steel. The 22-year-old diver from Daventry went missing during a diving trip to the Kyarra wreck on 22 August 2005.
His body was found this year by another diver near the wreck off Anvil Point.
His body was brought ashore by a police dive team and after more than a month was identified using DNA technology.

Arbroath Harbour Searched For Missing Man

2007-09-18T12:00:00.000+01:00

Police divers have been searching Arbroath harbour in Scotland for a man who was last seen on 12th August.
Tayside Police have been trying to find Ian Mowatt, 32, who has not been seen since 12th August.
They have called in Grampian Police's Underwater Search Team to assist with the investigation.

Hyperbaric Medicine Update

2007-09-14T18:08:00.000+01:00

The Wound Healing & Hyperbaric Medicine Centre and The Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society Midwest Chapter presents:

Hyperbaric Medicine Update

on the 12th & 13th October, 2007.
The purpose of this course is to update participants on topics of interest in the use of hyperbaric medicine for disease and injury treatment and to assist certified participants in maintaining their credentials. It is also to prepare participants for the Certified Hyperbaric Technologist(CHT) & Certified Hyperbaric RN (CHRN) exam. The participant will:

Increase knowledge of clinical applications and practice standards for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Practice.
Describe current HBO technology and principal applications
Increase awareness of current research in HBO therapy
Identify current updates in wound care.
Gain understanding of the legal issues pertaining to HBO Therapy.

To register online go to: http://www.regonline.com/Checkin.asp?EventId=150274

Campbell's Bluebird whole again

2007-09-14T17:58:00.000+01:00

Donald Campbell's legendary Bluebird is back in one piece for the first time in 40 years.
The famous boat, in which Campbell died while trying to break a speed record on Coniston Water, Cumbria, in 1967, was split in half by the crash impact.
Diver Bill Smith and his team, who salvaged Bluebird from the lake, have been restoring the craft.
Mr Smith said Thursday's successful attempt to re-join the frame's two halves was a major milestone. Bluebird was winched from the bottom of Coniston in March 2001. Since then, it has been in Mr Smith's North Tyneside workshop, where he is restoring the craft to full working order.

(From bbc.co.uk)

Breath Hold Diving Workshop Proceedings Now Available

2007-09-11T23:39:00.000+01:00

It had been 20 years since the last gathering of breath-hold experts, so Divers Alert Network and the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society joined forces in 2006 to bring together the movers and shakers in breath-hold diving. The gathering included scientists as well as practitioners of the sport. The result was a two-day workshop about the physiology, performance and health and safety of breath-hold diving. Find out how 'samba', the 'mooglies' and apnea are related, how DAN has developed a database for breath-hold diving and the diving habits of Hawaiian breath-hold divers. There's more, of course.
Breath Hold Diving Workshop Proceedings is available now from DAN.

DAN Funds A Study Into Causes Of Immersion Pulmonary Edema

2007-09-11T23:35:00.000+01:00

DAN, through its partnership with subsidiary AGI, has contributed $100,000 to fund a study of the causes of immersion pulmonary edema, a lung injury identified in water enthusiasts. Richard E. Moon, M.D., DAN senior medical consultant, will conduct the study, which is targeted for completion in late 2008.
Moon is also professor of anesthesiology and medicine at Duke University Medical Center and medical director of the DUMC’s Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology.
The study will supplement a Navy-funded study presently being conducted at Duke.

Woman Rescued From Plymouth Hoe

2007-09-11T23:31:00.000+01:00

Divers were called in today to rescue a woman in Plymouth after she managed to trap her feet between rocks.
The woman, had been swimming off the Hoe in Plymouth when the accident happened.
She managed to get her feet stuck and struggled to free them as the tide started to rise around her.
The water was up to her neck before divers managed to free her feet before they took her ashore.
Brixham Coastguard received a number of 999 calls alerting them to the woman who had been spotted in the sea off Grand Parade.
Together with the Plymouth RNLI inshore lifeboat and a team from a local dive boat the rescue services managed to free the woman and take her to safety.
Although she was cold she was not hurt.

BSAC Online Store Expands

2007-09-11T23:18:00.000+01:00

The BSAC Shop has recently launched a number of new products including Element Storage Bags, Odour Proof Barrier Bags and a Dry Phone & GPS Holder.
Other items include three new books; Scapa Flow Dive Guide, Deep in the Blue and Oceans, a visual factfinder book as well as a limited supply of the book Fort Bovisand.
The 2008 Belfield Tide Plotter is now also available for anyone wanting to do a bit of advanced planning for next years trips.

More information is available from the BSAC website.

Patient Video Goes Online

2007-09-11T23:05:00.000+01:00

Plymouth based Diving Diseases Research Centre (DDRC) has released a number of short videos on the popular internet video sharing site 'YouTube'. The videos form part of a new DVD that will be made available to patients undergoing hyperbaric oxygen therapy at the centre.
To view the videos online go to the YouTube site and search for UKHYPERBARICS.

Incidents in Wales

2007-09-11T20:18:00.000+01:00

In separate incidents in Wales over the weekend a diver off Bardsey Island, Gwynedd, was pulled unconscious from the water and airlifted to hospital while two scuba divers were rescued after being in the sea for more than nine hours off the Pembrokeshire coast.
In the second incident Milford Haven Coastguard received a call from the dive vessel 'Annie' at 15:04 stating two of its three divers were missing. Both divers are wearing dry suits and had surface marker buoys.
They were found when a helicopter from Ireland joined the search and located the divers at around 22:15. After the divers had been winched to safety they were taken to Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest.

Dorset Diver Airlifted

2007-09-05T20:10:00.000+01:00

A 33-year-old diver was airlifted to Poole Hyperbaric Centre for medical treatment following a rapid ascent off Grove Point in Dorset, after the dive boat 'Fathom and Blues' made an May Day emergency broadcast.

Silt Problem on Scylla

2007-09-05T16:00:00.000+01:00

Police who have been investigating the deaths of two divers who died earlier this year on HMS Syclla the artificial wreck sunk off Cornwall are looking in to whether silt dumped in the area affected conditions.
David White, 42, and Kay Moss, 43, from Gloucestershire, died while diving the wreck in Whitsand Bay in August.
Investigations are under way to find out if material dredged from the River Tamar and dumped nearby the wreck site explains large silt deposits at the site. Det Con Derek Farrow, who is leading the investigation, said: "It is certainly the case that the Scylla has got a lot of silt on it in the short space of time that it has been down. "It's a line of inquiry that we are looking at".
Environmental campaigners have argued that waste from the site two miles off Rame Head is not dispersing out to sea, as intended but is instead polluting inshore waters.

Dorset Incidents

2007-09-03T15:00:00.000+01:00

A diver was air lifted from the boat Outrage near Lulworth Cove, on Saturday afternoon after he showed symptoms of decompression sickness.
The Portland Coastguard helicopter flew the casualty to Poole where an ambulance transported him to the Poole decompression chamber.
In a separate incident on Sunday a 65 year old man from London who was diving from the boat Smoothound off Swanage was taken to hospital, where he was declared dead.
Police said the post-mortem examination was being carried out by a pathologist who specialised in diving deaths but the incident is not being treated as suspicious.

Dive To Discover Lake's History

2007-05-29T19:07:00.000+01:00

Archaeologists will dive into the lake at a stately home in Wiltshire, to find out what the valley looked like before the garden was created.
Henry Hoare flooded the valley and dammed medieval fishponds at Stourhead as part of his design for the landscape garden in the 18th Century.
The team from the Nautical Archaeology Society wants to find out what plant life was there before its creation. They will also search for any structures that have been flooded. The focus of the work is on the location of the Chinese Bridge to find out where exactly it stood and whether any of it remains. They will also be looking at the bay in front of the Temple of Flora to find out how much of the water cascade built by Henry Flitcroft still exists underwater and the location of Neptune's statue which was originally positioned in a rocky arch in front of the temple.
From bbc.co.uk

Seal Rescued From Dungeness Power Station

2007-05-27T08:56:00.000+01:00

Divers from British Divers Marine Life Rescue free a grey seal from a water cooling pool at Dungeness nuclear power station.
The volunteers built a floating pontoon to stop the seal from drowning before winching it out. It is believed the 250kg seal, swam into the tank through an inlet pipe.