Tag Archive
Is there a disconnect between DAN’s Mission/Vision Statements and the content of Alert Diver magazine?
The new quarterly Alert Diver, published by Stephen Frink and company, unarguably is a handsome magazine that makes its prior incarnation appear a bit of an ugly stepsister. Then again, it now appears to have a lot more money to play with. But, is it straying from DAN’s stated raison d'être? The DAN Mission/Vision Statements can be read in full here, but I’ll highlight the most relevant content below (bold script mine): [View the issue online here, or perhaps first go here and choose the digital edition in upper right corner -- DSE, webmaster] - “About DAN: Divers Alert Network (DAN) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit medical and research organization dedicated to the safety and health of recreational scuba divers and associated with Duke University Medical Center (DUMC).” - “Founded in 1980, DAN has served as a lifeline for the scuba industry by operating diving's only 24-hour emergency hotline, a lifesaving service for injured divers. Additionally, DAN operates a diving medical information line, conducts vital diving medical research, and develops and provides a number of educational programs for everyone from beginning divers to medical professionals.” - “DAN's Mission Statement: DAN helps divers in need with medical emergency assistance and promotes diving safety through research, education, products and services.” - “DAN's Vision Statement: Striving to make every dive, accident- and injury-free.” In the above material I was unable to find any description of DAN’s/Diver Alert magazine’s role in advancing u/w photographic skills, travel location reviews, marine conservation, dive gear and the like. Yet, the current Spring 2010 edition, while admittedly including a number of diving safety and medicine pieces, is filled with such off-topic articles, several of them Feature pieces. For example: Photography (the most egregious examples): Pushing the Envelope (Three Advanced Photo Techniques Taught by Pros Who Perfected Them), pp 68-75 Imaging, pp 76-87 Travel: Anacapa Island, California, pp 24-25 Alger... More »
Demystifying Recompression Chambers
Many divers have seen a chamber either in photographs or in real life, but very few have ever had occasion to be in one unless they were being treated. As a result a certain "mystique" has developed about chambers and many divers regard them as hostile and menacing environments. Briefly, we would like to acquaint our readers with the realities of these important devices. Generally, chambers are divided into two categories: recompression chambers (used for the treatment of diving related injuries and other ailments) and decompression chambers (used for surface or deck decompression facilities so the working diver can be removed from the water and complete the decompression obligation in a dry and controlled situation) Both of these units are also properly referred to as "hyperbaric chambers", meaning that the pressure inside will be higher than normal atmospheric pressure. These elevated pressures are usually expressed in feet of seawater (fsw) just as if we were diving in the ocean. Air pressure is introduced to the chamber to raise its internal pressure and begin the "dive". We can then use these chambers to treat DCS (decompression sickness) or AGE (arterial gas embolism) cases, conduct "dry" surface decompression schedules, or simulate dives for research purposes. In hospital situations, the role of hyperbaric medicine has been recognized as a specialty wherein victims of such injuries as crush wounds, burns, skin grafts, gangrene and carbon monoxide poisoning are treated with oxygen in large climate-controlled chambers. These typically are able to accommodate as many as 18 patients at once, have hatches shaped and sized like conventional doors, are equipped with air conditioning and humidity controls and even piped-in music. In the "field", things are just a little bit different. Forget the creature comforts and get prepared for close quarters. Although a well set up field chamber can provide the same... More »
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