ricki
10-19-2010, 09:57 AM
"Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning
The new captain jumped from the c0ckpit, 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."
"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."
Please read the complete article at:
http://blueiguanacharters.blogspot.com/2010/10/drowning-doesnt-look-like-drowning.html?spref=fb
The new captain jumped from the c0ckpit, 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."
"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."
Please read the complete article at:
http://blueiguanacharters.blogspot.com/2010/10/drowning-doesnt-look-like-drowning.html?spref=fb