Drowning Rescues Unraveled: Mastering the Art of Saving Lives

Lifesaving Techniques: Rescuing Drowning Victims

 Spending a day at the pool or the beach can be an incredibly soothing experience. However, encountering a drowning individual can quickly transform your day into a harrowing ordeal. It is crucial to be well-prepared and knowledgeable about how to handle such a situation. By acquiring fundamental life support and rescue skills, you can effectively aid someone in distress and ensure their safety while they are swimming. Educate yourself on how to rescue a person in danger of drowning.

• How to Save a Drowning Person

Follow the following guidelines to save a drowning person:

1. Get help from a lifeguard or any nearby person and have someone call emergency services immediately.
2. Retrieve any nearby rescue equipment, such as an inflated buoy attached to a rope, or any object that can float.
3. Throw the rope to the drowning person and encourage them to grab onto it. If the rope doesn't reach them, form a human chain if there are enough people, extend your hands to the person in distress, but remember not to swim towards them unless you are skilled.
4. The rescuer may attempt to swim in front of the drowning person, but they should secure a rope around their waist before approaching the person, wearing a flotation device, and having someone on the shore or boat hold the rope. They can use a pole, paddle, rope, or any other object to reach the drowning person.
5. Once reaching the person, have them wear a flotation device, then pull them out of the water by wrapping your arm around their waist. Swim using side strokes.
6. Lay the person on their back on a flat surface, and be cautious when handling them as they may be unconscious due to a head collision with something.
7. Try to communicate with the person and wake them by gently shaking their shoulders.
8. If the person does not respond, check their breathing by placing your ear next to their mouth and nose and feeling for exhaled air, then observe chest movement.
9. If the person is breathing, it is important to place them in the recovery position and provide warmth by using clothing or blankets until the ambulance arrives.
10. If the person is not breathing, check for a pulse for 10 seconds, and if absent, start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
11. Lay the person on their back carefully, open the airway by tilting the head back and lifting the chin.
12. Place the heel of one hand on the center of the chest at the nipple line, with the other hand on top, interlocking fingers.
13. Perform 30 chest compressions, pushing down about two inches without pressing on the ribs.
14. Give two breaths followed by 30 chest compressions and check for the person's breathing afterward.
15. If the person is still not breathing, repeat the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation twice, then perform one cycle of CPR until the person wakes up or until the ambulance arrives.
16. If the person starts breathing before the ambulance arrives, keep them warm with clothing or blankets and change their wet clothes.
17. Monitor the person, continue checking their pulse and breathing until the ambulance arrives.

• Tips for the Drowning Person After Rescue

The first 48 hours after a drowning accident can be the most critical, as complications from water exposure can occur during this time, such as pneumonia, infection, and heart failure. That's why it's important to go to the hospital after rescuing the drowning person.