What if.....

What if...you are in the rainforest more than a mile away from the nearest dirt road, and twelve miles from town. The one mile of trail is very muddy, very narrow, and very hard to follow. You have tried to place a phone call to the field station manager, but nobody answers. You place another phone call to another member of the staff and nobody answers. You place a third phone call to one of the faculty and nobody answers. There is no one else to call for whom you have a phone number. The phone signal, although weak, is sufficient and the phones are ringing. And oh!...By the way...this is Panama and there is no such thing as "911".

Now...
Scene one: You are ninety feet off the ground, climbing with two students. Both students are at about sixty-five feet and on opposite sides of the tree. You then discover---the hard way---that one of those students, who happens to be an epileptic, did not take their medicine that morning! Whatchagonnado?

Scene two: Same situation (more or less), different day, but this time you discover---again the hard way----that you are climbing with a narcoleptic! Once again... whatchagonnado?

Bottom line...climbing in this environment---or any remote environment for that matter--- with students can sometimes be quite "problematic". Students are always asked to make us aware of potential medical issues, but sometimes this isn´t done. Students don´t always remember to take their meds either.

Second bottom line: Placing too much faith in modern technology-this time cell phones- can get you into trouble. Sometimes you don´t have a signal and sometimes no one will answer the phone. Sometimes the person you are calling is simply in a "dark hole" and has no reception. Sometimes you are the one in the "dark hole" and can´t get out. Sometimes the technolgy goes "down" simply because of the heat, the humidity, and the dirt. Salt air doesn´t help either!

Third bottom line: The necessity for vertical rescue training and practice is real and climbers need to be ready to perform when a rescue is called for. No excuses!

_________________
Hang your line on a limb...be a rogue on a rope!----- Joe, 2007

An ugly scenario -- hope it didn't really happen since no tree climber should have to face such a situation. But maybe that's why every one of us should practice various "what if" rescue techniques on a regular basis.

If it didn't really happen, here's my solution:

First, since most of us who've been to ITEC have a pretty good idea of your location, you should make one more cell call before giving up -- this time to Tequila Dave, whose jungle shack is nearby; bet him a quart of his favorite beverage and he'll figure out a way to navigate that banged up old Toyota Hilux pickup down that muddy trail straight to the base of the tree.

Second, reach into the zippered pouch on your saddle and grab a roll of duct tape. Use it to stabilize the narcoleptic climber in an upright position until he sleeps it off.

Third, quickly lower the epileptic climber to the ground and jam a thick twig from a ceiba tree into his mouth to keep him from biting off his tongue. Send whichever community hound dog that followed you to the tree back to Willie's for help: "Run Lassie, go find Timmy..., uh, Willie...!"

If it did happen, ignore this poor attempt at humor and try to keep your cool while getting both victims to the ground within 10 to 15 minutes. I would probably bring the epileptic down first and stabilize him/her. If the narcoleptic was on a DRT setting, I could have attached some sort of pull-down line above his/her Blake's before bringing the other victim down; if he was on the typical yo-yo setup used there at ITEC, I'd have to re-climb the 65 feet to bring him down.

Once everybody's on the ground, the narcoleptic can just sleep it off as long as he/she isn't choking on anything. Most epileptics who're healthy enough to travel to ITEC will be able to recover after a few minutes or they would have never been there in the first place.

When everybody's safe and sound, you can begin to chew some a** for failure to properly disclose all medical conditions on the field station's waiver form.

Interesting... an epileptic having a seizure might be safer on rope than on the ground. Similar for a narcoleptic, at least they're tethered. For an epileptic the rescuer might want to provide support to help keep the victim's body position from becoming inverted during the seizure. It does point out though that when you're out of reach of professional emergency support, well... you're on your own.

Question: How do you differentiate a narcoleptic from a healthy rec climber?
Answer: You can't!

Sounds like you're having a heck of a good time down there Joe!
-moss

	WildBill wrote:
	Third, quickly lower the epileptic climber to the ground and jam a thick twig from a ceiba tree into his mouth to keep him from biting off his tongue.

Note: This is a persistent but erroneous myth, very bad idea to try to stick something in a person's mouth during a seizure, you could hurt them or block their airway. It is a myth that epileptics will seriously bite their tongue or swallow their tongue (no one can swallow their tongue, it's too big!). A grand mal seizure passes quickly, it does not require an ambulance call or emergency medical care, unless they hurt themselves banging into something. Recommended first aid is to protect them from hitting anything if practical. Do not try to restrain them. After the seizure they may be groggy, if they are lying on the ground on their back you could roll them on their side to improve their airway.

I know Wild Bill said that to test your first aid knowledge Smile

-moss

Quote:

Scene one: You are ninety feet off the ground, climbing with two students. Both students are at about sixty-five feet and on opposite sides of the tree. You then discover---the hard way---that one of those students, who happens to be an epileptic, did not take their medicine that morning! Whatchagonnado?

Scene two: Same situation (more or less), different day, but this time you discover---again the hard way----that you are climbing with a narcoleptic! Once again... whatchagonnado?

Bottom line...climbing in this environment---or any remote environment for that matter--- with students can sometimes be quite "problematic". Students are always asked to make us aware of potential medical issues, but sometimes this isn´t done. Students don´t always remember to take their meds either.

In scene one I was aware that the student was an epileptic but was unaware that the proper meds had not been taken that morning. I recognized the seizure for what it was and got the student to the ground taking care to keep the student upright and not tipping over backwards. Everything turned out OK, because I had always been keeping a close eye and watching for something to happen.

In scene two, however, I was scared silly because I did not know what was going on. I have never observed narcolepsy before, nor have I ever even thought about it much. I thought I had an unconscious climber and had no idea what the problem was that had created the situation. By the time we got to the ground, it was over, and I got an explanation.

Creative problem solving tip: A tee shirt with a carabiner clipped into the waist band and the neck band together, then clipped to the rope, will keep a climber upright. It won´t keep the head upright but it sure helps for the overall problem of keeping the torso upright.

_________________
Hang your line on a limb...be a rogue on a rope!----- Joe, 2007

	jmaher wrote:
	Creative problem solving tip: A tee shirt with a carabiner clipped into the waist band and the neck band together, then clipped to the rope, will keep a climber upright. It won´t keep the head upright but it sure helps for the overall problem of keeping the torso upright.

Great idea! if you need the climber upright. If someone passed out without some mechanism for spinal injury wouldn't it be more prudent to let the climber flop more horizontal? Our bodies have evolved to go limp if we might need blood to the brain.

Also, could you pull the back of the neck-hole up over their head (Great Cornholio style) to give the head some support?

Thanks for sharing these scenarios!

_________________
Find a tree, climb the tree, leave it as you found it.

At least the principle of "let go, the knot grabs" comes into play. Great scenario, Joe. Have you actually had something like that happen?