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How to know when someone is in trouble in the water

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Re: How to know when someone is in trouble in the water

#61

Post by muraiki »

I've seen articles like this before, and whenever I read them I think about a time on vacation when I could quite possibly have drowned. I had traveled abroad with some friends and went into relatively shallow water. However, I hadn't swam at all in many years, and I was also out of shape.

We decided to have a swimming race. About halfway through I was completely exhausted, both from being out of shape and not being a very good swimmer in the first place. At that point I stopped to rest and realized that my feet couldn't hit the bottom. I recall my mouth being above and then below water, along with panic. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I got the idea to try and backfloat, which I was able to do. After resting a bit I was able to direct myself to shallow water again.

At the time I didn't think too much of it, but when I reflect upon it I think that I was drowning. My friends were indeed not far away, and I couldn't yell or thrash my hands around. It's scary to consider that I could have died while so close to them!

Re: How to know when someone is in trouble in the water

#62

Post by malvim »

antoko wrote: post #31
clarkmoody wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had water rescue training. I read the article as well. Parent comment was addressing a drowning person victimizing the rescuer, which also seems to contradict the article.

You're right - I'm making assumptions when imagining the situations described in my head and jumping to unfair conclusions about your point. When I imagine a person in the water trying to help it seems obvious that if you're next to them in the water they will clamber on to you and do whatever they can to keep their mouth out of the water to breathe. When I image holding some object out for them to grab it seems the…

   You're right - I'm making assumptions when imagining the situations described in my head and jumping to unfair conclusions about your point.
Holy crap, it might be that recognizing mistakes this clearly happens a lot and I just haven't seen it, but I must say this is the first time I've seen it happen so clearly like this on... Well, on the internet!

Kudos for this.

Re: How to know when someone is in trouble in the water

#63

Post by diminoten »

I worked as a lifeguard in high school and had to save a kid once.

I didn't even think he was having trouble until one of the counselors yelled, "DIMINOTEN!" He was taking a swim test and looked just like all the other kids, except he wasn't going anywhere.

Being a lifeguard is a silly job. 99.999% of the time you're doing nothing but sitting in a chair, trying not to fall asleep. It's that ONE time when you need to be paying attention that's critical and matters absolutely.

Re: How to know when someone is in trouble in the water

#64

Post by gmrple »

diminoten wrote: post #63

I worked as a lifeguard in high school and had to save a kid once. I didn't even think he was having trouble until one of the counselors yelled, "DIMINOTEN!" He was taking a swim test and looked just like all the other kids, except he wasn't going anywhere. Being a lifeguard is a silly job. 99.999% of the time you're doing nothing but sitting in a chair, trying not to fall asleep. It's that ONE time when you need to…

Far too many kids don't take the job seriously, and I wouldn't call it their fault. Their employer needs to keep them well trained. Unfortunately this is not nearly as common as it should be.

Re: How to know when someone is in trouble in the water

#65

Post by hyborg787 »

From my relative who was a Boat & Water Safety person in Minnesota regarding this article:

This is a song I have been singing for years. Drowning is silent, fast, and deadly. One of the best videos I have seen on this subject is "The Reasons People Drown", produced by Dr. Pia. It is excellent, chilling, and should be watched by everyone who is responsible for or who cares about small children and non-swimmers who venture near the water.

Drowning victims are helpless, and without intervention, will be dead in one minute or less. Most drowning victims perish within 6 feet of safety, and that safety often is a person who could have rescued them if they had known what was happening within arms reach.

Re-read the description of a drowning victim and then compare it to the sight of a child at play. There are many similarities and if you are not vigilant you will never notice the differences.

If your child is near the water, you need to be near your child. And, it is not possible to adequately monitor a child in the water and read a book at the same time. Pay attention to the child only, and don't try to keep an eye on more than two at one time!

Re: How to know when someone is in trouble in the water

#66

Post by gmrple »

mistercow wrote: post #51
Mindless2112 wrote: post #22

I spent a couple of summers as a lifeguard at a college swimming pool, and I have seen this first-hand. As a lifeguard, I was well trained in how to rescue but not particularly well trained in how to recognize a drowning victim. There was a time I watched a boy bobbing up and down in the water, looking upward, mouth open, but not appearing to gasp for breath, the whole time wondering if he was in trouble. Luckily he…

>She displayed the TV-portrayed signs of drowning after jumping off the diving board with no idea how to swim. Probably due to the adrenaline rush, the rescue is a bit fuzzy, but that's where the lifeguard training kicks in. My guess is that the reason was that she was not drowning yet. She probably would have if you hadn't saved her, but in her case she had a few pre-drowning moments in which to react. The differenc…

Yes, something most people don't know about drowning is that it is typically defined as the point at which breathing is interrupted and the person is mostly motionless, usually perpendicular to the surface of the water. Sometimes before beginning to drown a person will become a distressed swimmer, which is what people think of as stereotypical drowning behavior. People in this stage often need rescuing, but they are not drowning. The trick is that while people often go from distressed to drowning, people that are drowning may never go through the distressed stage.

Re: How to know when someone is in trouble in the water

#67

Post by gmrple »

mikeryan wrote: post #20
ender7 wrote: post #6

Beware: it is very dangerous to attempt to rescue a full-grown person who is drowning. A person who is drowning has temporarily lost their mind and will happily drown their would-be rescuer in an attempt to stay above the water. Approach a drowning person from behind and hold them above the water by their armpits.

Approach a drowning person from behind and hold them above the water by their armpits Unless you're a trained lifeguard this is poor advice. As stated above you don't want to get within touching/grabbing distance of a drowning person. Get some sort of intermediary between you and them, a stick, rope, shirt, pants whatever. Something that you can drop if you are at risk. To the point below about their instincts of not…

Most lifeguards that I know are trained not to jump in after a drowning victim EVER unless they have a strong floatation device--the lifeguard tube. Supposedly most of the larger ones should be able to support 5 people. Drowning victims are so dangerous that even people who are trained can run into issues.

Re: How to know when someone is in trouble in the water

#68

Post by ars »

noja wrote: post #59
mikeryan wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Approach a drowning person from behind and hold them above the water by their armpits Unless you're a trained lifeguard this is poor advice. As stated above you don't want to get within touching/grabbing distance of a drowning person. Get some sort of intermediary between you and them, a stick, rope, shirt, pants whatever. Something that you can drop if you are at risk. To the point below about their instincts of not…

Your best bet is to knock them unconscious, them pull them safely to shore. It's safer for both of you. Edit: actually perhaps not the best idea.

Is it really such a bad idea? If you have no other option, and they are going to die, risking brain injury seems worth it.

Re: How to know when someone is in trouble in the water

#70

Post by blaabjerg »

ars wrote: post #68
noja wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your best bet is to knock them unconscious, them pull them safely to shore. It's safer for both of you. Edit: actually perhaps not the best idea.

Is it really such a bad idea? If you have no other option, and they are going to die, risking brain injury seems worth it.

Knocking someone unconscious while swimming sounds difficult. I have a hard time imagining a situation where your energy is best spent punching the drowning person rather than trying to drag them ashore.
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