but happy and laughing now.” Because he had the proper
training and was prepared in advance, an event that could
have devastated his family was being laughed about.
Just a few months prior to the incident, Dave had attended
a DAN Basic Life Support: CPR and First Aid course
combined with a DAN Emergency Oxygen for Scuba Diving
Injuries course that I was instructing at USC. These courses
are provided annually for our scientific diving students. Dave
had attended to renew his certifications and keep his status
current for the scientific diving program.
I occasionally hear complaints from colleagues and
students about having to attend renewal courses for CPR or
first-aid training. I always ask when they last practiced the
skills taught in the program, and the typical response is “the
last time I took the course.”
I hope we, as divers, would not undertake a dive that
required us to use skills we hadn’t practiced in a couple of
years. Most of us would plan at least one skill-refresher dive
in advance to make sure we could safely handle the dive. The
same applies to our emergency-preparedness skills — they get
rusty if we don’t use them.
For an instructor teaching basic life support courses, one
of the most rewarding things that can occur is having a
former student tell you about saving a life. It’s only happened
to me twice in 35 years of teaching CPR. The first was in the
late 1970s: A student who had taken my course just a month
prior visited our office visibly shaking and on the verge of
tears. He told us that his two-week-old son had gone into
cardiac arrest, and he had been able to revive him with CPR.
That moment will stay with me forever. Dave’s story had a
similarly chilling impact.
Many students who take CPR and first-aid courses are
doing so to fulfill a requirement, often for their job or another
activity that requires the certification. At the start of all of my
classes I ask my students when they think they might use the
skills they are about to learn. I get a lot of different answers;
most are based on their frame of reference for taking the class.
For the dive-oriented courses, they often serve their fellow
divers. I make sure they understand at the start of the class
that the most likely group to benefit from their skills is their
own family.
I’m in the process of setting up a DAN Instructor course for
Dave and some others. He already has a great story to tell his
future students about the value of keeping their skills up to date.
When’s the last time you practiced your emergency
skills?
AD
|
55
What does your profile pic
say about you?
Waterproof housings for Canon, Nikon,
Olympus, Panasonic and Sony cameras.
Designed and manufactured in the USA.
Find an Authorized Dealer at ikelite.com.
Your camera... anywhere there’s water.
AlertDiver1/4pg_Layout 1 9/18/13 3:03 PM Page 1
• Includes all meals, beverages and transfers
• Free Nitrox
• Tech diving available
• Nine spacious suites
1-800-757-5396
the way to see
TRUK LAGOON
