A friend has returned from the Whitsundays after a two week cruise. I was interested if they caught any bad weather from the cyclone but he reported it was all ok. The only event of interest was one sailor stepped on a large lure that seriously inbed the trebles in his foot.
They couldn't be removed on board and caused a change in course for professional medical help.

Has anyone else had medical emergency at sea?
What was the solution?

Flatty said..
Not at sea but i have witnessed an accident at the wharf as a couple of guys were attempting to climb aboard a large motor boat (about 65-70ft sunseeker).

They had obiously just got back from the pub and it had been raining,anyway one of the guys was wearing thongs and tried to step on the top of the bulwark and slipped. He fell probably 4-5ft onto the concrete pontoon. He ended up being carried on a stretcher to the ambulance. I later heard he had brocken his arm and several ribs. Although it was an accident it serves as a good reminder to not wear thongs on a boat ever.

"Although it was an accident it serves as a good reminder to not wear thongs on a boat ever"

Yep, at least under way, thongs on a boat are dangerous and, in my opinion, so are are bare feet.
what do others think?

The solution is to have a comprehensive first aid kit onboard specific to your needs and with plenty of supplies. Aside from the usual stuff for cuts and breaks etc, include anything specific to your needs. I'd also suggest doing a first aid course.

60 nm from Eden and a residual ugly sea state in a 44'er. Stupid runner design had a dirty great steel block at head height. The leeward runner was left too loose and a nasty wave came through. The block came inboard and hit a crewman square in the temple. Knocked him out cold, it sounded like a cricket bat. Was slowly slipping into delerium by the time we got to Eden, worst sailing experience of my life.

Interesting topic given the message I received last night that a friend was thrown into a stanchion by the mainsheet during last night's twilight racing. He did not recover conciousness. Very well known and well regarded sailor but was very old. Goes to show that your first aid prepardness may be dependant on the ages of your crew. Mine will also be focused on children as I cruise with my 2 kids.

I have also personally witnessed a similar incident where we lost a rudder in a 25 knot broad reach on a delivery at 2am. boat rounded down and crash gybed continiously (potentially part of the rudder remained on the post which was driving the boat down). The boat just did circles and crash gybe after crash gybe. Obviously crew rushed up on deck and one bloke was in the wrong spot with the mainsheet swinging across and cleaned him up and thrown into the lifelines. He was unconcious but recovered quickly. Very lucky to stay on board as we would have struggled to recover him with the boat in that state and weather.

I almost lost a finger sailing with my parents when I was about 9. Had my finger on the traveller when mum accidentially gybed. First aid kit helped this problem with only a decent scar to remind me. Mum and Dad were very well versed in first aid.

Was also in a marina when a crew on a racing boat had a stroke, they raced in very quickly but ambulance took a long time to get her out due to reluctance to heavy lift out of the boat. Finally got her out with the CFS and chopper came to get her to hospital. She was OK but lng road to reocvery and may not sail much again.

In terms of prepardness, I wholly agree that a well stocked first aid kit is mandatory for any skipper and also the knowledge in how to use it (not just one person as well). Senior First aid is the bare minimum but this wouldnt really help in many marine situations. I would strongly advocate for the skipper and crew to run through emergency scenarios including potentilaly writing these down as procedures. I am a diver with State government and we run through emeregcy sceanrios all the time with documentated risk assessments for extraction points, how we will get the person out of the water/boat in the event of different injuries (spinal, broken leg, sharks etc). We also carry an AED (I dont on my own boat though).

I am planning to undertake a offshore marine first aid kit with my wife when we reach Sydney on our 2 year sailing trip in April. www.marinetraining.com.au/marine-first-aid.html

A friend smashed his hand on his keel winch handle. He was lowering his keel and the winch handle slipped out of his hand. Couple of hundred kilos can get the winch handle spinning with a fair bit of force. Enough force to split the skin and break some bones.

We were cruising in company on Garden island, about 7nm off Fremantle. He was evacuated by power boat to Fremantle hospital - much quicker than sailing, but punching through the chop was uncomfortable for him.

We redistributed crew among the rest of the boats to be able to get his boat home.

We realised later that there IS a bridge out to the island, and we probably could have got permission from the navy for an ambulance to come out to us

SRrat said..
Hi all, got to admit I almost always go barefoot, what do you lot wear on your feet?

Me too SRat,
Mind you, I haven't done foredeck for a long time, I always used to wear shoes up the front. Even up the back I still end up paying for it with stubbed toes and blood at some point but its an old habit that is hard to break.
The only time I wear boots is if I'm down south, cos its too bloody cold not to .

When I was a young bloke down South . Dunlop volley or line 7 boots.
Now . Burke D mesh , $24 , stick like glue and chuck em every 6 months.

Ramona said..

Bananabender said..
When I was a young bloke down South . Dunlop volley or line 7 boots.
Now . Burke D mesh , $24 , stick like glue and chuck em every 6 months.

Those D-mesh look good. How long before the soles get slippery? Crocs have a very limited life before they become lethal at the boat ramp. They do have good toe protection though.

They dont ,they just wear out although I only wear onboard and in and around the water . Very very light. Toe protection ,hmmm fair ,not great . Eyelets surface rust .

Thanks for all the responses!
Gotta say the Volleys are what came to mind after considering what might be appropriate, were the choice of footwear when dragging a prawn net around the Canning River to protect from standing on a Cobbler barb.

shaggybaxter said..

Bananabender said..
When I was a young bloke down South . Dunlop volley

Dunlop volleys are just legendary. Cheap, crappy and yet just keep on giving. As Aussie as beetroot without the accolades

Loved em but my goodness they stank left in sun.

In about 1984, I had an altercation with the boom in the mouth of the Bloomfield river. After the girls on board bandaged my head (after getting me back on board) we made up way to an aboriginal community (Wujal Wujal) where the resident nurse stitched up my eye brow which had opened up like a ripe tomato. Got the stitches taken out in the old Cooktown Hospital, which for one day a week was also the veterinary surgery. There was a dog sitting under the table as the nurse there extracted the fishing line. All photos taken from then on had me with my hand over my eye. No one told us there were crocs in the Bloomfield River so we enjoyed out swim at the waterfall :)

Multiple injuries come to mind:
hitting winches with my chest when forced gybe,broken ribs
foot through cockpit seat,flimsy,Adam's 10,,medial meniscus,knee
other knee, setting up stun sails in Atlantic on tall ship

I saw lots as ship's doctor on a few tall ships

Nappies can be handy as well

There is a Free PDF download from the World Health Organization called the "International Medical Guide for Ships".
This forum won't let me post the link for some reason, so just google it and it comes up right away.
You'd have to print it off and keep it on board. It tells you ABSOLUTELY everything you will ever need.

There is a smaller, more practical book (but not free) Doctor on Board: Dr. J. Hauert, 2010

I wrote a whole chapter about this topic in my Singlehanded tips book. The key problem being that as a singlehander, I have no one else to read the darn book and administer the first aid. So I have to be especially careful - even more so at night.

Here is a small section of the chapter:

There are two key issues facing the singlehanded sailor with regard to medical aid. Most "first aid" is given with the assumption that the patient can be transported to hospital within minutes, or at most a few hours. In a search through nearly every first aid book in the world, the instructions for every serious ailment either start or end with "transport to hospital immediately." When a sailor is offshore, the assumption must be made that formal medical assistance is 48-hours away at the absolute minimum. More realistically, professional medical assistance is 5-7 days away. I am not exaggerating with this figure and it has been proven out time after time. Two factors lead to this excessively delayed timeline: First, if sailing anywhere more than 100 miles offshore, even near populated areas, it must be assumed that it will take between 8 and 24 hours for a rescue vessel to reach the boat. If a sailor were to issue a mayday by VHF radio, he would have to hope and pray that a ship is passing within 20 miles to pick up the signal. If the sailor were to activate an EPIRB, it would take several hours for the COSPAS-SARSAT to verify the signal (which requires calling the sailors' contact person to verify that the signal is not a false alarm), and activate the emergency response. If the sailor were to attempt communication to the coast guard by Single Side Band radio, - good luck! Experience has shown this to be unreliable at best. (Referring to Skip Allen's return to California from Hawaii, where he tried to contact them: "Coast Guard NMC Pt. Reyes, Kodiak, and Hono were not answering my radio calls on their published 4, 6, 8, and 12 mg frequencies, both simplex and duplex." See the chapter on Bad Weather for more details.) It is also unlikely that a casual sailor will go to the trouble of installing an SSB for a once-a-year offshore outing. A satphone is the only way for a typical sailor to reliably and immediately contact emergency assistance. But the expense of purchasing/renting and using a satphone means that many trips are done without them. Second, if the boat is in any type of rough weather, evacuation will be impossible even once a rescue ship has appeared. Here is a brief exert from Glenn Wakefield's first westward round the world attempt: But when he was about 300 miles north-east of the Falkland Islands and 750 miles from Cape Horn - his last big challenge before he turned the corner on the home stretch - a storm battered him, his boat and his dreams. "It didn't look on the weather to be anything more unusual than what I'd already experienced," Wakefield said. "But as it turned out it was." The boat was rolled by the fierce wind and enormous waves. Wakefield didn't think he'd perish, but said he realized his "capability to carry on was diminished." "I was unconscious for awhile, I had a gash and was bleeding and the one side of my body was quite badly bruised so I have some nerve damage - nothing that time won't heal and I'm well on my way, but when you put that together with the fact that the life raft was gone, the solar panels were gone, the wind generator was damaged and one hatch was gone, it just led you on a path that wasn't particularly great," Wakefield said. "As it turned out, it was the worst weather they'd had in the Falkland Islands in 25 years."
The Argentine coast guard pegged his situation immediately but getting a 450-foot naval vessel to him quickly was another matter. "It took them two days to get to me and then when they got to me it was so rough they couldn't get to me for 36 hours," Wakefield said. "It was too rough." I know of several other examples with this length of delay. The simple fact is, any offshore sailor must be prepared to live, and I do mean live, with emergency medical assistance at least 48 hours away under the best conditions, and seven days away under the worst.

dralyagmas said..

lydia said..
Sail enough miles you see most things.

worst single incident, owner fell in the cockpit just on dark and winch handle in runner winch caught the nape of his neck and degloved him so to speak.
So much blood.
No help nearby.
worst multiple accident was 6 out of 9 medivac off the boat in bass Strait after a big knockdown impact.
While range of injuries most caused by pipe cots and furniture ripping of the side off the hull as the impact of landing was that great.
luckily i was one of the three not injuried as we where on deck at the time.

Recommend the training referred to above especially if Rob Whitaker is running it. (Ex Vietnam paramedic and later helo jumper)

Standard first aid kit nowadays is 2 large rolls of gladwrap and two packs of women's pads along with the best pain killers you can legally have and litre of saline
Done.
The rest is rubbish.
think about it.

After I posted that I wanted to do the marine first aid training, I rang and its now no longer being run.

Might need to hit up a mate doctor with a few bottles od red to show me the general content as i havent been able to find anything similar elsewhere...

That is a pity as it was very targeted and well delivered.
It was delivered on the premise you are not a doctor or hospital, your job is just to keep them alive for maybe 24 hours and that generally means blood pressure and heart rate and the rest is noise.