DROWNING DOESN'T LOOK LIKE DROWNING

Submitted by: Kathy Hawkins

Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning

The new captain jumped from the deck, fully dressed, and sprinted through
the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim and headed
straight for a couple who were swimming between their anchored sportfish and
the beach. "I think he thinks you're drowning," the husband said to his
wife. They had been splashing each other, and she had screamed, but now they
were just standing neck-deep on a sandbar. "We're fine, what is he doing?"
she asked, a little annoyed. "We're fine!" the husband yelled, waving him
off, but his captain kept swimming hard toward him. "Move!" he barked as he
sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not 10 feet away,
their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the
arms of the captain, she burst into tears and screamed, "Daddy!"


How did this captain know - from 50 feet away - what the father couldn't
recognize from just 10? Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help
that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning by
experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, learned what
drowning looks like by watching television. 

If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that's all of us), then you
should make sure that you and your crew know what to look for when people
enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, "Daddy," the owner's daughter
hadn't made a sound. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn't
surprised at all by this story. Drowning is almost always a deceptively
quiet event. The waving, splashing and yelling that dramatic conditioning
(television) prepares us to look for is rarely seen in real life.

The Instinctive Drowning Response, so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is
what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it
does not look like most people expect it to. When someone is drowning there
is very little splashing, and no waving or yelling or calling for help of
any kind. To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic drowning can be,
consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children
age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents). Of the approximately 750
children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25
yards of a parent or other adult. In 10 percent of those drownings, the
adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening.

Drowning does not look like drowning. Dr. Pia, in an article he wrote for
the Coast Guard's On Scene magazine, described the instinctive drowning
response like this:

* Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically
unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for
breathing. Speech is a secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be
fulfilled before speech occurs.

* Drowning people's mouths alternately sink below and reappear above
the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the
surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale and call out for
help. When the drowning people's mouths are above the surface, they exhale
and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the
water.

* Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces
them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water's surface.
Pressing down on the surface of the water permits drowning people to
leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to
breathe.

* Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot
voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people
who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and
perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer
or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.

* From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response, people's
bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick.
Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only
struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion
occurs. (Source: On Scene magazine: Fall 2006 page 14)

This doesn't mean that a person who is yelling for help and thrashing isn't
in real trouble - they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present
before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn't last
long, but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own
rescue. They can grab lifelines, reach for throw rings, etc.

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

* Head low in the water, mouth at water level

* Head tilted back with mouth open

* Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus

* Eyes closed

* Hair over forehead or eyes

* Not using legs

* Hyperventilating or gasping

* Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway

* Trying to roll over onto the back

* Appears to be climbing an invisible ladder

So, if a crewmember falls overboard and everything looks okay, don't be too
sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that
they don't look as if they're drowning. They may just look as if they are
treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them,
"Are you alright?" If they can answer at all, they probably are. If they
return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And
parents - children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you
need to get to them and find out why.