DROWNING FIRST AID

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27273, 27 December 1949, Page 3

DROWNING FIRST AID

SIMPLE NEW METHOD ADVISED

The “ see-saw ” method of artificial respiration in drowning cases is recommended by a correspondent of a northern paper, who comments upon the high number of fatalities usually recorded during the holiday season. The discovery of Dr Frank Eve, it is the official life-saving' method employed in the Royal Navy, he states, and saved thousands of lives during the war. /

“In many drowning cases Dr Eve discovered that the diaphragm was paralysed, and so it was not possible for previously-used methods of resuscitation to succeed,” he writes. “ The new method is simple. The victim is placed head downward on a plank or stretcher, with arms extended over the head. The ankles and wrists are then tied to the plank, which is supported near the centre by a trestle about 34in high. “To begin,, hold the head of the stretcher or plank down to a tilt of about 45 deg and keep it there until no more water comes from the stomach or lungs. Then start rocking. After a few minutes reduce the tilt to 30 deg either way, with ten double rocks to the minute. This gets 20 times as much air into the lungs at that credited to the Schaefer method.

“While the rocking continues, wet clothing can be removed, the body rubbed, heat, blankets and other restoratives applied. Dr Eve advises heat to the back of the neck. If nothing else is available, two people facing each other with hands clasped can rock a victim by holding him across their arms.” The Eve method, concludes the correspondent, makes an “ iron-lung ” out of a see-saw. '