AS OUR TAG PROMISES, all the equipment featured in these pages has been truly tried and tested. For obvious reasons, we can tell you that the following product has not been put to the real test - thank goodness - but we wanted to bring it to your further attention, as it was featured in our new product pages some years ago.
Diving in all its different forms is a great pastime but we should never forget that we do it in an inhospitable environment.
Should the unspeakable happen, you'll find that regular training practice and the right equipment will bring a better outcome.
Even if you are not successful, you'll at least comfort yourself in the knowledge that you did everything possible for the casualty.
Some of us have been unlucky enough to have been there. A non-responsive diver, someone you might have known personally, is pulled from the water, and all you can do is try to keep his or her body in good condition until such time as professional medical help can take over.
It's essential to keep the victim's blood circulating and ventilated to prevent organ damage. I was lucky enough to be able to enhance my ventilations with the help of a big cylinder of oxygen that was available on the boat, but that might not always be the case.
The normal therapeutic O2 set will last a lot less time, and the boat ride to shore, where help awaits, might take an hour or far more.
You can't give up hope. You carry on regardless, even if the oxygen runs out.
IT HAS BEEN CLAIMED THAT in around half of all diving accidents worldwide the casualty did not receive oxygen at the scene. Under British Health & Safety Executive rules, all UK dive schools must carry an oxygen therapy set, so this indicates that many of these accidents occur under different auspices.
We might be familiar with the idea that anyone suspected of a deco incident can breathe off an enriched air supply via a standard demand valve, but Martin Kerley and Chris Wood thought about this, and concluded that there must be a way to make use of the nitrox that is so commonly available when treating a non-responsive casualty.
They came up with the RescuEAN set, as a back-up to the 100% oxygen that should always be carried on the boat or at the scene. I emphasise that it is a back-up,
not a substitute.
WITH A LITTLE PRACTICE, the set can be used to supply a constant flow of oxygen-enriched air via pocket mask and low-pressure hose from a BC or drysuit feed at either 15 or 25 litres/minute.
Expired air usually contains around 16% O2, so even adding nitrox 32 will enhance this concentration. If you have any technical divers on board with higher percentage mixes available, so be it.
The kit comes with the RescuEAN control pod, which has a direct-feed hose connection that allows you to plug in the hose to a BC or drysuit.
There is an easily adjusted flow-rate control, and an outgoing nipple to which you attach either a constant-flow mask or the standard oral/nasal mask with the surgical tubing provided, whichever is appropriate.
I've carried one with me loose in my dive bag since it was introduced. I am pleased to confirm that the tough ABS plastic and marine-grade 316 stainless-steel looks as good as new, despite the salty conditions to which it has been subjected. A quick blow-through of gas showed it still to be clean and in working condition.
Several training agencies including SDI/TDI and PADI have introduced training specialities addressing the use of RescuEAN. It costs around £90, go to www.rescuean.com
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