Casualty management

Originally posted by sargesail

   In the light of  incident in Aus discussed here http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8905&title=unfortunate-event-at-australian-youth-championship maybe it's time for another 'rescue' topic 
my first question  primarily to  those who advocate single crew rescue boats or rescue crews where the 'crewman' is not dressed to enter the water   - how would you deal with this especially if it were a single hander or the crew of the casualty vessel was not 'together' enough  ( or in the case of club racing  where the crew might be a child and the helm a parent - physically capable of assisting )?

with my Health Professional Head on - my  first thought and the first thought of marshals and first aid / ambulance personnel at a motorsport even where you have a competitor knocked out  would be the possibility of spinal injury 

How many clubs  even possess Spinal immobilisation kit  never mind routinely  carry it on rescue boats  and have crews trained to use it 

- use of a long extrication board is a core part of the pool lifeguard qualification in fact Ferno make a specific   model of board for aquatic use  http://www.ferno.co.uk/product/aquaboard

although the majority of long extrication boards are buoyant  and water proof ( being either rotomoulded or GRP ) while straps and head restraints might not be .

You can't rely on the Ambulance service being able to assist in a timely manner as  ordinary crews aren't water rescue trained - so we'd be relying on HART or the the Fire and Rescue service inland and the RNLI / Coastguard  in coastal waters 

I have visions of spending 30 or 40 minutes 'on scene'  with a hypoxic head injured patient  who is being handled poorly , and becoming more and more hypothermic because of a lack of preparation 