RESEARCH, EDUCATION & MEDICINE
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D A N WA S T H E R E F O R M E
42
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FALL 2013
B y M e g h a n K . M a c C o l l u m
Just Another Day
at the Office
W
hat started as just another routine
day at my favorite Florida Keys dive
site ended with a five-hour hyperbaric-
chamber ride at Mariners Hospital
in Tavernier, Fla. As a recreational
diver for 15 years and a dive professional for three, I’ve
been through all the required training, I’ve read and reread
the manuals, I read Alert Diver and several other dive
publications, and I do my best to learn from others’
mistakes. I consider myself a conservative and prudent
diving instructor, but I still wound up in the chamber after
two relatively shallow dives.
That day my job was to guide eight certified divers on two
easy reef dives. Knowing that the group consisted of novice
divers, I gave an extensive briefing on the way out to the reef
and another quick one to reiterate the safety protocols just
before we were ready to splash. I instructed the divers to do
weight checks while holding onto the tagline, as there was a
moderate current running on the surface. If they were prop-
erly weighted, they were to descend into a sandy bowl under
STEPHEN FRINK
