ADVICЕ FOR SWIMMER
How to Approach and Save a Drowning Person
"What puzzles me more than anything else is the number of drownings
that occur during the season," he continued. "Sometimes many a brave fellow who goes to the rescue of a
drowning pleasure seeker is caught in
the deadly clutch of a drowning man
and accompanies him to a watery
grave.
"Now, I have learned from experience that to swim straight at a
drowning person and attempt to seize
him from the front means probable
disaster. Нe will clutch wildly at anything and hold on fast. Нe prevents
the swimmer from keeping his air, and
when that is exhaled the jig is up.
"Here is the way in which I have
saved many a man. The best way to
get at a drowning man is to swim
around him and seize him beneath the
armpits from behind. Then you are
out of the reach of his arms and can
hold him up and tread water. At
times one must use other means of
rescue.
"Usually the person won't listen to
your advice to keep still and will wriggle around and try to seize you by the
neck. The only thing to do in that
case is to deal him a blow on the
bridge of the nose and stun him. Then
the rest is easy. In his unconscious
state the person will naturally become
rigid, and all that you will have to do is to keep him afloat and tow him
ashore. There are hundreds of ways in which a person can be rescued, the
principal rudiments of which are to
keep cool and always to keep out of
the reach of his arms.
"Another important feature in the
rescue work is that of getting rid of
the water and restoring respiration.
When the rescued party is on shore
the first thing to do is to stand him
on his head and hold his feet straight
up in the air. The water will gush
from his lungs, and when it stops flowing stand him on his feet with his
back toward you and by holding him
about the abdomen allow him to hang
limply over. By pressing the abdomen in and out the water which is in his
digestive organs will also be got rid of.
"Another step is to lay him over a
barrel or any other object face upward and his bead lowered toward
the ground. Seize his bands and work
them with a circular motion from the
bead to the abdomen and back again.
In bringing the arms back toward the
head keep them wide open so that air
will he forced into the lungs. Оf course the work of restoration requires anywhere from several minutes to many hours, according the amount of water which has been taken into the lungs.
"But, like everything else, even a novice can make an effort to prevent himself from drowning. When a man falls into the water who cannot swim the easiest way to keep up is to have the lungs well filled with air. This, together with the hands extended palm downward on a level with the breast and a few motions of the feet, will keep him on top for about a half hour, and in this time he has many chance s of being rescued. Instead of doing this, however, a novice upon falling into the water will raise his bands over his head and attempt to call for help. After he discharges the air from his lungs in the vain shout the lungs take in water, and then he naturally sinks."
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