When AEDs have been first launched, CPR coaching didn’t change in a single day. It took time for adoption, time for instructors to regulate, and time for requirements to catch up. However finally, the coaching did change—as a result of it needed to. Proof proved AEDs saved lives, and the trade advanced. The identical factor occurred when ILCOR and the AHA revised the breaths-to-compressions ratio. There was no alternative—requirements have been rewritten, and coaching worldwide needed to observe. The change was based mostly on science and proof, and that shift led on to extra lives being saved. Change was robust, however it occurred. At this time, we’re standing on the subsequent turning level.
In 2012, the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) examined leisure rescue coaching. Their conclusion was placing: “In lieu of a way to get an individual out of the water in lower than 60 seconds, the coaching offered is one of the best the dive trade can provide.” For many years, that has meant instructing divers to get a sufferer to the aspect of the pool or boat—after which stopping. The belief has been that somebody on deck would determine the remaining. The fact is that with out the best instrument, getting a human physique out of the water is sluggish, exhausting, and inconsistent—even for the strongest rescuers.
The Fast Extrication Board (REB) adjustments that. It supplies a constant, protected, and repeatable method to take away somebody from the water—quick. Its design, with color-coded straps, lifting handles, progress-capture hooks, and wheels, turns what was as soon as brute power and improvisation right into a structured, achievable course of. For the primary time, college students can practice in each function of an extrication—from in-water rescuer to deck help—with out risking damage to themselves or the sufferer. What was once almost inconceivable is now sensible, teachable, and repeatable.
However similar to AEDs, coaching is what turns a instrument right into a system. An AED is barely efficient when paired with high-performance CPR—that’s why ILCOR, the AHA, and OSHA require CPR coaching alongside AED use. You may’t separate the 2. The Fast Extrication Board is not any totally different. With out coaching, it’s only a piece of apparatus. With coaching, it turns into a part of an entire, high-performance rescue course of: fast elimination from the water, fast CPR, oxygen supply, and coordinated crew care.
That’s the place Floor Rescue is available in. The dive trade has no scarcity of CPR packages, however none handle the distinctive realities of resuscitating a diver recent out of the water—nonetheless in a wetsuit, nonetheless dripping moist. Floor Rescue fills that hole. It pairs REB coaching with the logistics of real-world crew care: CPR, oxygen administration, and coordinated response as soon as the sufferer is out of the water. It’s not nearly pulling somebody out—it’s about what occurs subsequent.
After we’ve requested main coaching businesses so as to add Floor Rescue as a specialty, the replies have been constant: “Thanks for making diving safer. Right now, we’re not transferring ahead, however we encourage dive outlets to hunt coaching that exceeds requirements.” That hesitation is acquainted. Every time a breakthrough instrument emerges, the trade takes time to regulate. However as soon as the information reveals that extra lives will be saved, acceptance turns into inevitable.
The dive trade is dealing with its subsequent AED second. A instrument now exists to get a diver out of the water in underneath 60 seconds. The coaching to make use of it’s right here. The one query left is: will we evolve now, or wait till we’re compelled to?
And should you’re heading to DEMA, be certain that to plan on attending a reside demo of the Fast Extrication Board on the Rosen Aquatic Heart, simply minutes from the conference heart. Demos can be working from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday of DEMA week.
