Article by Capt. Steve Katz
Fishing by boat or on land often takes us to distant areas, whether a deserted beach, distant bay, or open ocean; all these areas bring us closer to the fish but are far away from people and far away from medical help.
As a teenager fishing offshore with friends in the late 70’s, we had a first aid kit on the boat; a few band aids, maybe some gauze and the most sophisticated item in the first aid kit was the bolt cutters – presumably to cut an errant fishhook that could become embedded in one of us.
Today’s modern first aid kits are available from many sources and their contents vary widely. The type, size, and contents of your first aid kit needs to be tailored to your boat and where you travel. The more passengers you carry, the more supplies you should carry. If you travel to areas where medical help is not immediately available, the first aid kit needs to be more inclusive, to potentially include items that are needed to sustain a life until professional help arrives or a swift return to port is possible.
Opening a top-of-the-line first aid kit may be overwhelming for many boaters and anglers without recent training on how to use the contents of the kit. While many of us have taken a first aid class in the past, keeping up to date requires recurrent training and new skills to go along with new tools. The most modern contents of today’s first aid kit is the AED. An AED, or automated external defibrillator, is used to help those experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. It's a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use, medical device that can analyze the heart's rhythm and, if necessary, deliver an electrical shock, or defibrillation, to help the heart re-establish an effective rhythm.
NOTE: An AED is not initially used to help a person experiencing a heart attack (myocardial infarction).
Heart Attack or Cardiac arrest
The Cleveland Clinic says “sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) isn’t the same as a heart attack, though people often use the terms interchangeably. While both are life-threatening heart conditions, understanding the differences could be lifesaving. Cardiologist Nicholas Ruthmann, MD, clears up the confusion below”:
Heart attacks are primarily a plumbing (blood flow) problem; SCA is an electrical (heart rhythm) problem. But heart attacks can create problems that lead to sudden cardiac arrest.
Your coronary arteries are the pipes that supply blood to the heart.
Sometimes, heart arteries get clogged by fatty deposits called plaques (a condition called atherosclerosis). When that happens, it’s harder for the blood to flow around the plaque. Think of a slow-draining sink — when the pipe gets clogged with hair or debris, water doesn’t flow freely. And this problem can be life-threatening when it’s your heart:
If not enough oxygenated blood reaches the heart muscle, the muscle tissue begins to die — a heart attack.
The heart has a built-in electrical conduction system that keeps it beating at a steady pace. Underlying conditions, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or previous heart attacks, can result in problems with that electrical system. The malfunction could lead to a dangerously fast and erratic heart rhythm (arrhythmia). As a result, the heart stops beating effectively — it quivers or appears “stunned,” and it can no longer pump blood to the brain and other organs. Cardiac arrest often affects older people. But young people with genetic heart problems are also at risk.
How does an AED work?
An AED is a type of computerized defibrillator that automatically analyzes the heart rhythm in people who are experiencing cardiac arrest. When appropriate, it delivers an electrical shock to the heart to restore its normal rhythm. The conversion of a ventricular arrhythmia to its normal rhythm by an electrical shock is called defibrillation. Consumer grade AED are designed to be used by everyday people with little or no training.
Defibrillation is time sensitive. The FDA indicates the probability of survival decreases by 7 percent to 10 percent for every minute that a victim stays in a life-threatening arrhythmia. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates AEDs as medical devices and evaluates them for safety and effectiveness.
This is how an AED works:
The user turns on the AED and follows the voice prompts. Some devices turn on automatically when the user opens the lid.
The user attaches two sticky pads with sensors (called electrodes) on the chest of the person in cardiac arrest.
The electrodes send information about the person’s heart rhythm to a processor in the AED, which then analyzes the rhythm to find out whether an electric shock is needed.
If a defibrillation shock is needed, the AED uses the voice prompts to instruct when to press a button to deliver the shock. In some devices, the voice prompts announce that a shock is going to be delivered and the AED delivers the shock without intervention by the user.
AEDs are not difficult to use, but training in the use of AEDs is highly recommended. This training, in connection with CPR training, is offered by many major health organizations. Some training is available online. Classes can teach you how to recognize the signs of a sudden cardiac arrest, when to call emergency medical services, how to do CPR, and how to use an AED.
An AED requires periodic maintenance; the battery and electrodes both have expirations dates, as short as 2 years after purchase.
The AED device may not always be available or appropriate for every situation, learning and practicing Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is also a fantastic tool to help save a life. CPR is an emergency procedure that can help save a person’s life if their breathing or heart stops. CPR uses chest compressions to mimic how the heart pumps.
These compressions help keep blood flowing throughout the body. Acquiring a first aid kit that meets your fishing and boating requirements may save a life of your crew or even help render aid to someone nearby – emergencies can happen at the dock or offshore – be prepared and remember the three C’s of first aid - Check, Call and Care.
Sidebar
One company providing a variety of first aid kits tailored to offshore boats is D-Dey Offshore, they offer first aid kits, AEDs and hands-on full day training at their Stuart, Florida facility for boat owners, families, captains, and crew to handle medical emergencies at sea.
Students will receive training in CPR/AED, Airway Management, Bleeding Control, Allergic Reactions, Prescription Medications, Burns, Wound Management/ Closure, Splinting and patient movement.
Until next time...
Keep it safe
