After completing a successful underwater archeology project in the Dominican Republic (see blog) I headed to North Carolina with Megan Cook to visit Divers Alert Network (DAN). DAN has been operating for the last 30 years and is the diving industry’s largest association dedicated to Scuba diving safety. As you can see we Scholars travel light!
Based in North Carolina, DAN USA have been generously sponsoring the Scholarship for many years and it was here that we would complete our Divers Emergency Management Provider Program (DEMP) and learn more about the priorities of DAN. North Carolina was also a place where I received some of my typical ‘American’ food tutelage but more on that later.
Divers Alert Network has a three pronged mission:
- Medical support for:
- questions about health and fitness to dive; and
- assistance with dive emergencies
- Research about dive accidents, fitness for diving, and related issues; and
- Education on diving first aid and safety (courtesy of Patty Seery)
Megan and I were interested in gaining knowledge about all of these different priority areas and so we spent a bit of time with each. Patty Seery was kind enough to loan us her sweet Miada during our stay, allowing us a little independence. Unfortunately I was not the best help with driving (as I’m used to driving on the ‘correct side’ of the road hehe) and so Megan Cook who must be at least 183 cm tall had to do her best to curl herself into the drivers seat….
We firstly visited the Medical Department where we learned all about DAN’s emergency assistance and medical information services. Staffed by medically trained diving professionals, the team at DAN provides medical information, referrals and evacuation assistance to divers all around the world through their Emergency Hotline, DAN Medical Information Line and Question and Answer page. Note that DAN does not have a call center to take phone calls so if you call the Emergency line by accident at 3:00 am , one of these guys at DAN is getting out of bed!
Taking a break to watch a Meteor Shower!
A tour of the Research Arm of DAN involved a visit to Dr Neal Pollock, a research director at DAN and a Research Associate in the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology at Duke University Medical Center. Dr Pollock gave us an introduction to the Extreme Diving Study which uses trans-thoracic echocardiography (or cardiac ultrasound) to detect nitrogen bubbles that pass through the heart. Technical divers are monitored with a portable echocardiogram unit after a dive to see whether the heart is pumping any nitrogen bubbles. With the help of Dr Pollock, Megan and I watched for bubbles and classified what we saw into categories of increasing severity (based on the number of bubbles and their location). Bubble bubble toil and trouble….
Bubbles are on the left side of the heart were of particular concern, because these can go into the body and lodge somewhere, causing decompression sickness. If you want to learn more about the research that DAN is currently involved with see: http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/research/studies/ and this article in Alert Diver Online: http://www.alertdiver.com/DAN_Research
Dr. Matías Nochetto, DAN medical coordinator for Latin America, gave Megan and I an in detail account of the plight of Harvesting Divers in Honduras, Mexico and Brazil. As a result of repeatedly long and intensive dives, harvesting divers experience a higher-than-average rate of decompression illness (DCI), which in many cases leave divers permanently injured. DAN is taking an active role in educating and assisting harvesting divers. Learn more here: http://www.alertdiver.com/Isla_Natividad_Divers_Better_Organized_but_Still_Diving_Dangerously, http://www.alertdiver.com/400, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wolffjosh/my-village-my-lobster-a-documentary-film-project
We also visited Maureen Halsema and and Brian Harper at Alert Diver Magazine, the largest Dive Magazine in the world and helped provide cover feedback for the up and coming issue. This magazine has a distribution of 150 000 people and it was fascinating hearing about the design and content.
The rest of our trip was filled with learning about the Education Arm of DAN and completing our DEMP instructor course. One of DAN’s key missions is to educate the diving public and medical profession about appropriate care for divers injured in diving accidents. As new instructors in training we were excited to learn from the best, education extraordinaire Patty Seery who patiently took us through the modules of Basic Life Support, Emergency Oxygen, Neurological Assessment, and First Aid for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries. We had a great time playing with Jim our manikin. In fact I think Jim liked the attention because he kept having more incidents and more incidents…
At this point I feel it is fundamental to emphasise how truly great everyone at DAN was to Megan and I during our stay. Every detail was planned out for us including which department would take us for lunch and where we would have dinner. I also got to try food like Hamburgers with Mac and Cheese, Buffalo Chicken wings in three different flavours, and Cheer Wine. Mmm calories!
Dan and Betty Orr kindly hosted us for our last couple of days and it didn’t take us long to work out that Dan and Betty are pretty big Christmas fans. Yay for Muppet Christmas Carol and eating Christmas candies.
Thanks to everyone at Dan for providing such a great experience – we miss you.
