I recently completed a PADI rescue diver course, and was struck by how awkward it was to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to an unconcious diver on the surface, whilst towing. Every five seconds you have to get your face over the victim's and breathe into his mouth, whilst both of you are wearing bulky buoyancy jackets, all whilst towing the victim. As the rescuer, you may have remembered to put your pocket mask in your BCD pocket, to make rescue breathing a little easier.
However, on your back is a large tank of compressed air, so I propose a simple adapter that would connect the mouthpiece of a second stage to the inlet of the face mask, so all you have to do is press the purge button briefly every five seconds. More advanced versions would deliver the burst automatically, allowing the rescuer to concentrate on towing.
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 15 2005

One of these [Jim'll break it] ? http://www.promateu...layCmn.asp?ID=PI200
I like the last bit "keep away from ears" - it's on the end of a short LP inflator hose, dammit - how far away can you get? [AbsintheWithoutLeave, Aug 18 2005]

AutoPulse http://www.zoll.com/product.aspx?id=84
"The "C" (cardio) part". Not just halfbaked anymore. [Shz, May 12 2006]

In fact, there could be two large bottles of compressed air if the rescue was not a desperate kit-dumping affair.

By adding a large pipe and pneumaticly driven impeller to the first stage, one could dispense with the towing too, and the rescuer would then just concentrate on steering the air-powered human-hulled rescue boat towards help :-)

Actually, slightly more sensibly, maybe a super-loud compressed-air whistle could be used to attract help? Normal distress whistles are good but have limited range in high winds.
-- Jim'll Break It, Mar 17 2005


Rescue diver, congratulations. The surf qualifications can be a lot of work.

It would be nice if you had full tanks to work from, but if your partner has a heart attack at the end of the dive, you're likely to be wishing for air.

Let's see.....how about a device that is powered by wave action ? [ + ]
-- normzone, Mar 17 2005


//if your partner has a heart attack// Hmm, interesting...maybe the BCD inflator could be modified to administer heart massage too.
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 17 2005


Tough course - congratulations. This would work underwater as well. (I had to learn how to administer CPR while remaining underwater.) The easiest method for accomplishing this is similar to what you have described; Put the second stage mouthpiece in the victim’s mouth and press the purge button (with them angled downwards to remove any water from their lungs). Since the victim is unconscious, you have to keep it in their mouth for them, and you don’t have enough hands to do this while trying to rescue someone during a decompression dive. Picture juggling your light, gauges, watch, and two BCDs while surfacing (slowly), towing, and administering CPR. Ideally, I’d like a third octopus cable for this, or to have the second cable branched to two secondary regulators, one with a mouthpiece, and one with this connector. Huge [+]!.
-- Shz, Mar 17 2005


[shz] The "C" (cardio) part of CPR is difficult to administer unless the victim/patient is on a hard surface, so I imagined rhythmically inflating/deflating the BCD, compressing the chest and using the BCD/wing backplate to press against, but this probably is pretty halfbaked, and you wouldn't want to accidentally activate it, particularly at depth!
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 17 2005


//difficult to administer//

Tell me about it. - You have to do it from behind, after you get the tank out of the way. I don’t think BCD compressions would be as strong and abrupt as they need to be, and it would have to push in the correct spot only, or it would force too much air out of the lungs. Also, that’s a lot of air, unless maybe it can be breathed after? Hmm.
-- Shz, Mar 17 2005



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