Since 2006 I have been a volunteer at New Zealand tree climbing competitions. I sometimes struggle with the early starts but I always go home with a feeling of satisfaction at the end of a long day.
Live your passion, live your dream!
The satisfaction derives from spending time with passionate professionals that come together to share ideas, to learn, and to showcase their skills.
As in the past four year, last February I joined again the team of volunteers for the Taranaki Open. I was given the role of the head judge for the aerial rescue event.
Although the aerial rescue scenario was basic – the injured climber was unconscious and located 6 metres up the tree access line installed for the rescue – 50% of the participants ‘killed’ the injured climber.
When rescuing an unconscious tree climber we need to ensure that the airways are open at all times. The correct way of placing an unconscious tree climber on the ground is still the recovery position.
Now how did they manage that? Simply by ignoring the fact that an unconscious tree climber cannot signal whether the airway is obstructed or not.
The top priority when dealing with an unconscious person is ensuring that they are able to breath.
Permanent damage to the brain can occur within 3 minutes if oxygenated blood is not transferred to the brain.
So when we discover an unconscious tree climber in a tree we need to ensure that their airway is clear while we are rescuing them.
If the climber is not breathing and we cannot remedy this by removing objects from their mouth we need to get them to the ground as quickly as possible and begin CPR.
Some of the participants believed they were doing the right thing by leaning the injured climber against the tree to prevent suspension trauma.
This is, however, not the correct way of dealing with a suspected suspension trauma patient. To learn more about suspension trauma or suspension syncope, please watch the YouTube video or follow the link to the article below.
When rescuing an unconscious tree climber we need to ensure that the airways are open at all times. The correct way of placing an unconscious tree climber on the ground is still the recovery position.
Some may say this is not a real-life scenario and the comp climbers would have done the right thing on the job.
But if we consider the stress levels at a competition in comparison to the stress levels of a real emergency, I believe this argument is flawed.
In stress scenarios the desire to flee is a natural instinct, and emergency service staff train a lot to override such instincts and to react according to a learned routine.
We as climbers also need to develop these routine skills for the emergency response.
This is why we are required to have a valid first aid certificate, do regular aerial rescue training and consistently develop new and more effective ways of ensuring our safety in a high risk environment.
Suspension Trauma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEn4WQ5ShTo&feature=youtu.be
Risks and Management of Prolonged Suspension in an Alpine Harness by Roger B. Mortimer, MD,
https://www.wemjournal.org/article/S1080-6032(10)00320-0/fulltext
Recovery position
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/presentations/100211_1.htm
DRSABC
https://firstaidcoursesperth.net/cpr/use-drsabcd-to-save-a-non-breathing-casualty
Picture source:
(https://www.transweb.org/faq/q3.shtml)
