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Subject: Re: [world-cruising] New US regulations
From: Rosalie B. (gmbeasley@XXX.XXX)
Date: Tue Jan 07 2003 - 22:10:17 EST
On Tue, 07 Jan 2003 13:22:54 -0500, you wrote:
>Rosalie B. wrote:
>
>> I was also told (after the fact) that I might have been able to get
>> Bob retrieved from our boat after his heart attack by the CG and
>> airlifted to Miami for free. But as things turned out, what we did
>> cost more money, but was really better. It would have been very nerve
>> wracking for me to try to get the boat back by myself, and I wouldn't
>> have wanted to leave him, and he wouldn't have wanted to leave the
>> boat unsecured.
>
>Back when I was working SAR, we had a policy of not evacuating heart attack
>victims by helicopter until after medical personnel were confident that the
>patient was stabilized.
>
>This policy was implemented right after we gave some heart surgeons some
>complimentary helo rides <G>. Seems they decided the helo was a greater
>risk to the patient than was leaving him on the boat!
>
>Out of that policy came a program where we'd carry fire dept paramedics in
>our helos and lower them to the boats with their communications gear. Once
>the patient was properly stabilized, we'd lift everyone and transport to the
>nearest hospital.
>
>The program has expanded to the point where helo crewmen are trained as
>EMTs. But it remains critically important to stabilize a heart patient
>before introducing the stress of a basket hoist and a chopper ride.
Well Bob would have given your EMTs a heart attack then - I don't know
if you know the story but in case you don't ....
He had some discomfort pulling the anchor (we have a manual windlass
and a 55 lb anchor with an all chain rode - not particularly difficult
except for the last bit lifting the anchor onto the bow roller) when
we left Norman's Cay Feb 2nd, but he didn't say anything. Happened
again when he pulled the anchor at Highborne Cay Feb 4th - still
didn't say anything. Then when he pulled the anchor at Shroud Cay
(uninhabited) he had a LOT of pain. It would have to be a lot for him
to notice BTW.
We were going to head down toward the Exuma Land and Sea Park on Feb
6th and anchor again and wait for a mooring. He came back and sat
down in the cockpit and said - We're going back to Nassau. Since that
was the other direction, I was a little taken aback. I said - Why? He
then told me he had severe chest pain.
Well we were about 50 miles from Nassau, and our boat motors about 5
knots, and it was about 10:30 in the am because we weren't planning to
go too far that day. And I wasn't going to motor around in the
Bahamas at night. So I said we'd better go back to HIghborne Cay, and
he agreed with that.
When we got there, I told the marina manager our problem, and he was
for calling a seaplane to take him to Nassau. But by now the pain had
subsided a bit, and he thought he'd just pulled or bruised his chest
muscles because he didn't think he had real heart attack symptoms. So
he refused to take the seaplane.
He had an uncomfortable night. The marina manager had phoned his
friend at the marina in Nassau so they were expecting us, and I'd been
on the radio to another boat that was going back at the same time, so
we had company. We left about 7:30 am. But there was a nice breeze,
and Bob insisted on pulling out the sails (I can't do the mainsail as
I'm not strong enough), and turning off the motor and sailing. Aghh.
We got into the marina in Nassau about 2:30 or 3, and the marina
manager had an easy slip for us to get into. I had us checked in, the
boat secured and had booked a car to go to the doctors within a half
an hour. We got to the clinic and the doctors listened to his
symptoms and looked at each other and said - we don't have the
equipment to deal with this - you need to go to the ER. Do you want
us to call a cab.
And Bob said - no I feel better standing up, I think I'll walk. (we
had passed the hospital on the way to the clinic) And he did. It was
about a half mile - mostly downhill, but the first bit was uphill.
When we got there, the ER was chock full. I grabbed someone and said
- my husband's having a heart attack, and we were almost instantly
given a stretcher. He had one artery 90% blocked.
After we explained what we'd been doing to the doc. she said that
normally they treated these things very aggressively but in this
case....
grandma Rosalie
S/V RosalieAnn, Leonardtown, MD
CSY 44 WO #156
http://home.mindspring.com/~gmbeasley/_wsn/page2.html
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