I
t was a warm summer day on California’s Catalina
Island and the first day of diving for my class of open-
water students. The day started out the same way it
had a hundred times before, but this ordinary day was
about to change.
As an emergency medical technician (EMT) in Southern
California, I am constantly faced with rapidly changing
situations that are a part of caring for the sick and injured.
Before becoming an EMT, I was a DAN® Instructor, and it
was my DAN training that sunny day that propelled me into
my career in emergency medical services.
My assistant and I had just finished getting our eight
students geared up and ready to dive. As we approached
the entry point, we joked about how our drysuits were
becoming wetsuits thanks to our profuse sweating under the
hot California sun. The staircase leading into the water was
completely packed as we took our place in the queue; there
must have been close to 100 divers on the scene, and it wasn’t
even 9 a.m. yet.
Suddenly a frantic voice yelled out, “Call 911! Call 911!” My
initial thought was that it was a routine rescue-class scenario,
and a student had gotten a little carried away. The same
piercing voice continued, “Call 911!” I began to get the feeling
something wasn’t right. No one on the staircase moved;
everyone just stared down toward the water. I walked over to
the exit side of the stairs to see what was going on, and time
stopped. A man standing at the base of the stairs was calling
for help while trying to support a completely unconscious
diver in the shallow water. The seriousness of the situation hit
me immediately, and my DAN training kicked into high gear.
I sent my class back to our staging area, removed my gear
and proceeded down the stairs. Upon reaching the diver, I
noticed two things right away: he was cyanotic (blue) and still
wearing his weight belt. I quickly ditched his weights into the
Call 911!
50
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FALL 2012
RESEARCH, EDUCATION & MEDICINE
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S K I L L S I N A C T I O N
T E X T B y D a n n y B u r n s , E M T / P H O T O S B Y S T E P H E N F R I N K
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