DEATH BY DROWNING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 11, 28 January 1937, Page 3

DEATH BY DROWNING

Artificial Respiration THE CORRECT PROCEDURE

(Supplied by the Sf. John Ambulance Brigade.) Recently there have been several narrow escapes and one fatality on Hawke's Bay beaches and it may be opportune"to give some rules for .thetreatment of a typical drowning case. When a person js drowned, the lungs and air passages are filled with water and this prevents the oxygen of the air from aerating the blood and the patient actually becomes unconscioiis or dies .from suffocation, not from any ill effects of the water itself, •" It has: Oeen argued ^liat, water bedng one. third oxygen? why should anyone sufier from waAt of oxygen when air is. only one-sixth' oxygen; The explanation is this : Whereas air has the oxygOn as a gas for all. terrestrial life, water contains it in an even greater proportion for all marine life .and all under-water animals and fish have special gills to extraet it from their element. Thus if man or animal be immersed for a time in water, he will die. Remove a fish from its water and the same occurs and for the same reason. Bothi have oxygen but not in a form to sustain them. Death from drowning is a fairly rapid process. From 3 to 5 minntes immersion is sometimes fatal and after lrom 10 to 20 minutes it is usually hopeless to atteinpt a revival. When a rescue is made, the patient is carried face downvyard- -ovxt of - the breakers and up tlie beach, preferably to hot dry sand, and placed still face downward, the head lowest, on the ground. The arni is bent and' placed under the face to keep the mouth and nose clear of the sand. Tlie rescuer aees that the mouth is fclear and the tongue iree first of all. Then he grasps tfie legs and lifts the body so that only tlre head and chest remain on the ground. He does this only once as time is a vital faetor 'and this initial act drives out a. lot of water in a manuer that would *take several valuable minutes to achieve any other way. Then the rescuer kneels eithej beside the . patient, or astride of the buttocks, if the person is small euougli to do this comfortabJy. He spreads both h'ands over the sides ancl back -of the patient' s ehest, tlieu letting his weight rest on them, he tirmly . and. slowly compresses the chest to driye out the water, in exactly the same way as you would empty a bulb syringe. Then he relaxes tlie pressure oja his hands and air enters the lungs. ' 1 On repeatiug tlie pressure tnore water :s expellod ; and 011 relaxjng again ( lifegiving oXygen starts cireulating the air passages again. This aiternate process at the rate of 12 to 15 to the minute must be kept up as long as ther is a hope of recovery or until defiuite, unmistakable signs of • death appcar. Artificial respiration ruust always be. contini/d without infcermission for at Ieast half an hour and lpnger. unless a doetor says it is hopeless. It is easy 1 ... apply artificial respiration, but it is most, fatiguing work and relays are essential if it is to be carried out eSiciently. I11 the meantime those who ai'e just finished or waiting their turn should prepare hot coffee and warm blankets and bottles to keep the patient wai'm. Otliers should massage the limbs gently upwards to pr omoto tlie cii*culation.