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Geeze, wouldn't it have been easier to just send them a box of handgrandes and a dip net? >Last spring, there were a number of messages posted about the Miskito Coast >Indians. They described the plight of divers involved with the lobster >industry of Roatan and the Honduras. What was described was a situation >where 4th world SCUBA divers are burning 10 or 12 tanks per day, weeks at a >time, at depths exceeding 100' in pursuit of the dwindling supply of >lobster. That they survive this type of diving baffles hyperbaric experts. >100% do suffer symptoms of DCS during their short employment and as many as >1/3 end up permanently crippled or dead. That is the plight Sub Ocean >Safety has been trying to do something about. > >Recently, there have been more posts about these 4th world divers as well as >similiar conditions in the South Pacific and Asia. Some people voiced a >desire to do something, others criticized the efforts of individuals on site >for failing to do something more, and, as usual, others just criticized. > >This is an opportunity to do something that will make a difference. > >Sub Ocean Safety has placed two hyperbaric chambers in central American >locations that are accessible to Miskito Coast natives suffering from DCS. >Last spring, SOS was working to get the generators and air compressors >needed to activate those chambers. Today, they have the hyperbaric >equipment they need and it's time to get it where its needed. > >Unfortunately, they're out of money and need some help. Specifically, they >need $1900 to pay the travel expenses to put 5 people in Central America to >complete the installation. That's problem #1. > >Problem #2 is they're in need of J-valves. The native divers are provided >with very basic SCUBA gear. Submersible pressure gauges aren't included. >Commonly, these divers know when to ascend by when they run out of air. >They do an Emergency Swimming Ascent, switch to a full tank, and head back >down. No surface interval. J-valves would provide a low air warning so >that they can make a slower ascent using a unique protocol. So SOS is >asking for J-valve donations. > >Obviously, we're not talking a high-tech, extravagant organization seeking >bucks to recarpet their lobby. This group is doing what they can with >little and nothing. If you doubt their credibility, consider who's on the >board of directors of Sub Ocean Safety; you'll find a list of the directors >at the end of this message. > >For those of us under the U.S. tax system, I'm told that SOS is a 503c >organization and would qualify for tax-deductible donations. > >Should you care to help, send your donations (money or J-valves) to: > Sub Ocean Safety > PO Box 834 > Lacombe, LA 70445 > (504) 882-7286 > subocean@co*.ne* > >FWIW, I'll kick in the first $100. Now it's down to $1800. > >Rocky Daniels > >---------------------------- > >The following is a message recently received from Bob Izdepski, President of >Sub Ocean Safety. > >---------------------------- > SUB OCEAN SAFETY is at a do or die crossroads in it's emergency >medical rescue of Miskito Indian lobster divers on the Miskito Coast of >Honduras and Nicaragua. These exploited divers are suffering from a plague >of paralytic decompression disease, ranging up to 30% of the young men and >boys in coastal villages. > We have non-operational recompression chambers in remote locales in both >Honduras and Nicaragua. Just now, thanks in part to contributions received >during the Underwater Miskito Marathon, we have secured two compressor >packages, two sets of chamber gear (gages, regulators, hoses, radios, etc.) >and two ships for transportation. > Cochran Dive Computers has loaned us 20 dive computers with which to >track the dive profiles of the lobster divers. This data will be sent to >DAN, DCIEM and to the SOS hyperbaric research board for evaluation and >studies. Dr. Bob Wong of Australia is the most recent member of our >research board and is the gentleman who successfully reduced the Broome >Pearl Divers percentage of serious decompression disease rates to ZERO, with >his new dive schedules. SOS has great hopes that the same can be done in >Mosquitia. > I am working on some new tables based on scuba tank pressure rather than >time, as the lobster divers have no watches, depth, or pressure gages. >Hopefully, the tanks will be fitted (we need donated 'J' valves) with 'J' >valves having a 500 psi reserve. That reserve will be used for a new, 12 >feet per minute compromise ascent rate that Wong's research indicates as >superior. > How do you time your ascent? Any takers? > You start with a weighted shot line hanging off the cayuca at approximate >dive depth. Assuming an average of 12 breaths per minute and an average >hand breadth of 4", climb three hands with every breath. This is stone age >high tech diving, an interesting marriage with a few rocky spots to be >ironed out; but it is a beginning. > Next, we work in a constant 20 minute surface interval for all dives. > Lastly, we add an 'in-water' O2 schedule that varies according to depth and >number of tanks consumed. All of this is loosely related to the studies of >Dr. Carl Edmonds and Dr. Bob Wong. I think it will work with some >tinkering... and may end up changing the face of dive medicine. > How can some Miskitos dive for years with no apparent ill-effects? SOS >wants to know. > What treatment protocol is best for different degrees of decompression >diseases varying from pain only to severe type ll symptoms with varying >times to treatment? SOS wants to know. > SOS doctors will teach classes at the SOS hyperbaric chambers once they're >operational. This teaching will be akin to training a surgeon on a >battlefield. None better. > So it seems like we have made a lot of progress and have everything much >closer to being wrapped up. True. > Here's the rub. SOS has no funds for it's planned February expedition. >I'm tapped out, having spent a personal fortune to get this far. > We can get the two SOS chambers working this February. We can start the >training of divers and local doctors immediately. We can reverse the diver >paralysis epidemic and make this an example to the entire fourth world. We >can make this industry sustainable by limiting dive times. We can cut this >Gordian Knot and change a dark history for the better. We are very close. > The South China Sea has a longer diving history than Mosquitia and I think >that we can glimpse the future through that glass. Throughout Indonesia you >can hear the night time blasting of the reef fish. Cyanide poisoning is the >norm. WHO ARE THE PERPETRATORS? > Most of them are injured diver/fishermen who are afraid or unable to dive >anymore, pushed to these extremes by the pressures of survival. This >world-wide plague of decompression disease is a sore boil on fragile fourth >world societies. No environmental program will mean a thing to these >coastal peoples until some of the pressure is relieved at the root. SOS has >no small part of that cure. > If you can help us now, we hope that SOS will become self sustaining >through our continuing medical education classes coupled with eco/adventure >tours of this fantastic region. We have lined up some of the paralyzed >divers to conduct boat, diving, photographic and sea kayak tours, thus >giving them a chance at productivity and bringing economic diversity to the >region. > SOS needs your help now, as never before. This is our last big push in >Central America, our first major precedent. Welcome to the front lines! > >Sincerely, > >SOS Board of Directors: > R. Izdepsk New Orleans > J. Bookspan, Ph.D Philadelphia > J. Buchanan, MD Saba School of Medicine, Netherlands >Antilles > T. Millington, MD Santa Barbara > B. Nietschmann, Ph.D Berkeley > K. Van Meter, MD New Orleans > D. Youngblood, MD Charleston > >SOS Research Board: > Lou Jankowski, Ph.D Montreal > Mike Lepawski Vancouver > Humberto Castro Olayo, MD Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua > Bob Wong, MD Australia > Milo Woods, MD Calquira, Honduras > > >-- >Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. >Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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