Three minutes to drown

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32779, 2 December 1971, Page 16

Three minutes to drown

If a child falls into water this summer, he can drown in two to three minutes. Dr R. A. Fairgray, medical superintendent at the Christchurch Hospital, gave this warning during an address to the Christchurch Parents’ Centre last evening. He said that two to three minutes from the cessation of breathing was the maximum time critical tissues in the body could survive without oxygen. They then died, those in the brain first. “Time is so short that resuscitation must begin in the water,” said Dr Fairgray. "Start blowing into the child’s nose or mouth. Blow, then walk a little, and blow again. Don’t run up the beach to the life-saving club.”

Victims had to be taken from the water head-first The abdominal contents put pressure on the diaphragm, and this helped to empty the lungs and throat. Dr Fairgray emphasised the importance of learning life-saving techniques. “With only two minutes, it is too late to learn once you have a drowning child in your arms,” he said. “Parents should not make the decision that their child is dead. This is not something lay parents should decide. You must continue—if only because you would never forgive yourself if you gave up too early. Keep going for at least 20 to 30 minutes until- someone else certifies the . child dead.” Asked if there were any

special precautions parents could take with toddlers near water, Dr Fairgray said: “Only eternal vigilance.”