What to do if a person drowns. How people actually drown - everyone should know! If the person is unconscious or weak

“When our son and Olya were drowning, I stood by the pool and looked at him, with a cocktail in my hand! It was the first hour of rest in the hotel. My wife was standing nearby, I remember, just for a second, as I thought: “What is she doing ?!” puts down a cocktail and in clothes dives into the pool, in which there is knee-deep water.
After a few seconds, I understood. It turned out that in this pool, the paddling pool turns into a deep one with a slight slope.

Also, as a child, I drowned in the Dynamo pool, in front of dozens of people and my dad. I was lucky to have a coach nearby.”

The new captain jumped off the bridge, fully dressed, and swam quickly. As a former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on the victim, heading straight for a couple of vacationers floating between the anchored boat and the beach. “I think he thinks you are drowning,” the man turned to his wife. They played in the water, splashing each other, and she screamed from time to time, but now they were just standing on the sandbar up to their necks in water. "We're fine, what is he doing?" she asked with some irritation. "We're all right!" the husband shouted, waving his hand to the rescuer, but the captain did not even think of stopping. "From the road!" he shouted as he swam between the astonished owners of the boat. Directly behind them, just three meters from their father, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. When the captain pulled her out of the water, she burst into tears: "Daddy!"
How did the captain, being 15 meters from the vacationers, understand what the father could not understand, being only three meters from the drowning girl?

The thing is that when a person drowns, he does not emit a sharp and piercing cry for help, as most people believe. This Captain was trained to recognize drowning people by professionals and many years of experience. And the girl's father got information about what a drowning person looks like from television programs. If you spend time on the water or on the beach (and everyone does from time to time), you need to make sure that you and the people around you know what signs you can tell that a person is drowning even before entering the water. . Before the girl screamed “Daddy!” with tears, she did not make a sound. As a former Coast Guard lifeguard, I was not surprised by this story. When a person drowns, it is rarely accompanied by any sound. Waving arms, splashing and screaming, for which television prepares us, are extremely rare in real life.

The “Instinctive Drowning Response,” so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation when submerged in water. And it doesn't look like what most people think. No waving, splashing or screaming for help. To get a better idea of ​​how quiet and unspectacular this process looks from the shore, consider this: among children under the age of 15, drowning is the second most common cause of death (immediately after road accidents), and of the approximately 750 children who drown in the next year, every second will drown at a distance of no more than 20 meters from their parents or other adults. In some cases, an adult will even directly watch the child drown, unaware of what is really happening. Drowners rarely look like drowning people, and in an article in Coast Guard magazine On Scene, Dr. Pia details the instinctive responses of a drowning person as follows:

1. “Except in rare cases, drowning people are physiologically unable to call for help. The human respiratory system is designed for breathing. Speech is its secondary function. Before speech becomes possible, it is necessary to restore the function of breathing.

2. The mouth of a drowning person alternately goes under the water and appears above its surface. A drowning person's mouth is not long enough above the water for them to exhale, inhale, and call for help. When a drowning person emerges from the water, he only has enough time to quickly exhale and inhale, after which he immediately goes under the water again.

3. Drowning people cannot wave their arms to get attention. They instinctively extend their arms to the sides in an attempt to push off the water. Such movements allow them to float to the surface to be able to breathe.

4. Due to instinctive reactions, drowning people cannot control their movements with their hands. People trying to stay on the surface of the water are physiologically incapable of stopping sinking and making meaningful movements - waving their arms, trying to get closer to the rescuers or getting to the rescue equipment.

5. From beginning to end, as long as the instinctive reaction is in effect, the body of a drowning person remains upright, without the slightest sign of supporting movements of the legs. If a trained rescuer does not pull him out of the water, a drowning person may remain at the surface for 20 to 60 seconds before sinking completely.

This does not mean at all that the person calling for help and frantically waving his arms is deceiving you - most likely, this is a panic attack in the water. Such an attack does not always precede the instinctive reaction of the drowning person and often does not last very long, but unlike a real drowning, the victims of such a panic on the water are able to help their rescuers - for example, grab onto a life buoy.
When you are on the beach or in the water, you need to pay close attention to the following signs that a person is drowning:

• The head of the victim is immersed in water, and the mouth is at its very surface;
• The head is thrown back, the mouth is open;
• Glassy, ​​empty eyes do not focus;
• The victim's eyes are closed;
• Hair covers the forehead or eyes;
• The victim is kept in the water in an upright position, without making movements with his legs;
• The victim breathes quickly and shallowly, gasps for air;
• Tries to swim in a certain direction, but fails;
• Tries to roll over onto his back;
• It may appear that the victim is climbing a rope ladder.

Therefore, if a person falls overboard and everything looks normal, you should not calm down ahead of time. Sometimes the most important sign that a person is drowning is that he does not look like a drowning person. It may seem that he is just trying to stay on the water and looks at the deck. How to determine if everything is in order? Ask a simple question: "Are you okay?" If a person answered you at least something, then, perhaps, nothing threatens him. If, in response to your question, you see a blank look, you have only half a minute to pull the victim out of the water. And, parents, remember: children playing in the water make noise. If they stop making noise, take them out of the water and find out why.

Spread, the more people read, the more lives will be saved!

1. Shout to a drowning person that they will save him now.

2. Look around for a life-saving device nearby. It can be anything that will increase the buoyancy of a person and that you are able to throw (lifebuoy, camera, rope).

If there is nothing suitable, without wasting time rush to help.

3. Take off your shoes, undress if possible or turn pockets inside out.

4. To a panicked drowning man it is necessary swim only behind without letting him grab your arm or neck. Take the drowning man by the clothes (preferably by the collar) or armpits, turn him face up so that he is above the water all the time. In this position, the victim should be brought to shore as soon as possible.

Sometimes it is possible to grab the victim by the hair, but wet hair easily slips out of the hands.

If the drowning one has captured you- take a breath and dive under the water, then the drowning person, trying to stay at the surface, will let you go.

! Do not stun the victim, because a conscious person is easier to bring to shore (he helps to keep himself on the surface).

To deliver the victim to the shore, use various tricks:

The lifeguard floats on its side:

With the help of leg movements and strokes of the “lower” hand, and with the “upper” hand, the rescuer holds the drowning person by the shoulder or forearm of the opposite hand, passing his hand on top of the victim’s hand of the same name and under his back.

The lifeguard floats on his back:

With the help of crawl leg movements, while the victim is turned on his back, the rescuer holds his chin with straight arms (in no case squeezing his throat!) or under the armpits.

Pulling ashore, examine the victim:

5. If a person is conscious.

It is necessary to warm the victim and calm:

take off wet clothes, rub with warm hands, change into dry clothes, give a hot drink, when excited - 25-30 drops of valerian tincture.

6. If a person is unconscious, but the pulse and breathing are preserved:

Lay the victim with a raised foot end, turn his head to the side. To bring to consciousness - to give a smell of a pair of ammonia. Remove clothing and rub vigorously to restore blood circulation, then wrap in warm, dry clothing. Introduce analeptics (cordiamin 1 ml, IM).

7. If a person is in a terminal state on the shore, deck or boat, it is necessary to clean the victim's nose, oral cavity and pharynx from sand, silt, mucus as soon as possible. Turn your head to the side and restore the patency of the upper respiratory tract with a finger wrapped in a napkin.

8. In the "blue drowned" (before starting resuscitation), you need to remove water from the stomach and lungs.

Sharply press on the root of the tongue, if the drowned person has vomiting and coughing, remove water from the stomach and lungs.

The victim is laid face down on the ground (a) or belly on the thigh of the rescuer's leg bent at the knee so that the head and shoulders hang down (b) and, with sharp jerky movements, compress the lateral surfaces of the chest for at least 10 - 15 seconds.

After removal of water in the absence of breathing and pulse on the carotid arteries, you should immediately start mechanical ventilation and NMS.

The “pale drowned man” can be revived faster, because their heart contractions do not stop (with laryngospasm). After being removed from the water, they immediately proceed to resuscitation measures.

After drowning in cold water, a person in a state of clinical death is in deep hypothermia. In the brain, as in the whole body immersed in ice water, metabolic processes almost completely stop. Low t environment significantly delays the onset of biological death.

9. After resuscitation, both the “blue drowned man” and the “pale drowned man” must be warmed up. Rub the whole body with dry warm hands or clothes to restore blood circulation, and then wrap in warm dry clothes, blankets.

10. Deliver the victim to the medical facility. If there was no intubation, it is necessary to transport the victim on his side with the head end of the stretcher lowered.

Today I want to continue the theme of summer holidays, but with a focus on water.

Of course, I would like the essence of the article to be as easy as its beginning, but, unfortunately, this will not work out here. Because the sun is getting hotter. Water in the sea and other bodies of water is warming up. The number of picnics is increasing. The degree in the body of many people rises, and sanity often fades into the background. The result is drowning. Moreover, as statistics and news reports show, people, despite all the warnings and other preventive measures, still continue to drown. The reason in most cases is heat, alcohol, water - a cramp, loss of consciousness ...

Our mind can replace the three dots of the previous paragraph with “drowned man”, but I want to replace them with “saved person”, who next time will be more conscious about his own safety on the water.

Let's look, dear readers, how we can help in a situation where a person begins to drown and needs the help of another person. Moreover, after pulling a person out of the water, it is also necessary to provide him with first aid. So…

Help a drowning man. What to do?

If you saw a drowning person, no matter how trite it sounds, you must:

1. Pull a person out of the water;
2. Call an ambulance;
3. Provide him with first aid.

These 3 points, if done correctly and quickly, are actually the key to a successful conclusion to the situation. Delays are not allowed!

1. Pulling a drowning person out of the water

A drowning person in most cases panics, does not hear words, and does not understand what is happening. He grabs for everything that is possible and this becomes dangerous for the person who wants to save him.

If a person is conscious

To pull a person out of the water, if he is conscious, throw him a floating object - an inflatable ball, a board, a rope, etc., so that he can grab onto it and calm down. Thus, you can safely pull it out.

If the person is unconscious or weak:

1. While still on the shore, get as close as possible to the drowning person. Be sure to take off your shoes, excess clothing (or at least heavy ones), turn out your pockets. Jump into the water and approach the drowning man.

2. If a person has already gone under water, dive after him and try to see him or feel him.

3. When you find a person, turn him over on his back. If a drowning person starts grabbing you, quickly get rid of his grip:

- if a drowning person grabbed you by the neck or torso, then grab him by the lower back with one hand, and push his head away with the other hand, resting on his chin;
- if you grabbed a hand, then twist it and pull it out of the hands of a drowning man.

If such methods do not help to get rid of the grip, then take air into your lungs and dive, the drowning person will change the grip, and you will be able to free yourself from it at this time.

Try to act calmly and do not show cruelty to a drowning person.

4. Transport the drowning person to the shore. There are several methods for this:

- Being behind, clasp your chin with your palms on both sides and row towards the shore with your feet;
- put your left hand under the arm of the left hand of the drowning person, at the same time, grab with your left hand also the wrist of his right hand, row with your feet and with one hand;
- take the victim by the hair with your hand and put his head on your forearm, row with your feet and with one hand.

2. First aid to a drowning person (First aid)

When you pulled the victim ashore, urgently call an ambulance and immediately begin to provide him with first aid.

1. Get on one knee next to the injured person. Lay him on your knee, belly down, and open his mouth. At the same time, press with your hands on his back so that the water that he swallowed flows out of him. The victim may appear and - this is normal.

If the person is semi-conscious and is vomiting, do not let him lie on his back or he may choke on the vomit. If necessary, help remove vomit, mud, or other substances that interfere with normal breathing from his mouth.

2. Lay the victim on their back and remove any excess clothing. Put something under his head so that it is a little elevated. To do this, you can use his own clothes, twisted into a roller or your knees.

3. If a person does not breathe for 1-2 minutes, it can be fatal.

Signs of cardiac arrest are: lack of pulse, breathing, dilated pupils.

If these signs are present, immediately begin to take resuscitation measures - do "mouth to mouth" and.

Draw air into your lungs, pinch the victim's nose, bring your mouth close to the victim's mouth and exhale. It is necessary to do 1 exhalation in 4 seconds (15 exhalations per minute).

Place your palms on top of each other on the victim's chest between his nipples. In the pauses between exhalations (during artificial respiration), do 4 rhythmic pressures. Press on the chest quite hard - so that the sternum moves down by about 4-5 cm, but no more, so as not to aggravate the situation and additionally harm the person.

If the affected person is elderly, then the pressure should be gentle. If the injured child, then press not with the palm of your hand, but with your fingers.

Give artificial respiration and chest compressions until the person is awake. Don't give up and don't give up. There were cases when a person came to his senses even after an hour of such measures.

It is most convenient to resuscitate together, so that one would do artificial respiration, and the second.

4. After breathing is restored, before the ambulance arrives, lay the person on their side so that they lie stably, cover and warm them.

If an ambulance cannot arrive, but there is a car, follow all the above points in the car while driving to the nearest medical facility.

May the Lord keep us all, dear readers, from such situations.

Help a drowning man - video

Samara, July 3 - AIF-Samara. In fact, according to rescuers, a drowning person is usually quiet and invisible. Therefore, the other bathers surrounding him cannot immediately understand that someone is drowning nearby and needs to be rescued.

Not more than a minute

The fact is that drowning people are simply physiologically incapable of screaming: they either go under water or emerge to the surface, only managing to exhale and inhale. And then they start to sink again. Also, a drowning person cannot control the movement of his hands. His hands instinctively press against his body to balance his body vertically in the water. Far perishing here until waving hands, cries for help. Meanwhile, until the moment of complete immersion, drowning people can be on the surface from 20 to 60 seconds.

What to do if a person who is next to you in the water begins to behave suspiciously? First of all, ask him if everything is all right. If the bather is talking to you, then everything is in order. If only he looks back unseeingly, it means that there are only about a minute left so as not to lose him. Otherwise, he will go under water.

The main thing in such cases is not to waste time. Immediately call out loudly for help: “The man is drowning!” or "Rescuers!"

How to save

If help is not visible, try to save the sufferer yourself. Provided, of course, if you are a good swimmer, - warns 1st class rescuer Andrey Kolesnikov - Remember: you need to swim up to a drowning person only from behind. He must not see the swimmer trying to help him. As soon as the poor fellow notices that salvation is close, he becomes inadequate: he can squeeze your neck with a death grip and pull him along, he can wrap his legs around your body so tightly that you won’t be able to move. You need to turn the person on his back and swim with him to the shore. If he resists and tries to pull you down, it is not forbidden to tap him lightly. It is best to tow the sufferer while under him or in parallel. If a drowning person, despite all efforts, nevertheless went under water, dive under him and try to push him out. Failed - remember at least some landmark. Then there is hope that the person will be taken out alive.

First aid

If you got a person out of the water without signs of life, you need to understand who is in front of you: a blue or white “drowned man”.

"Blue" drowning most common in children and adults who cannot swim, and in drunkards who climb into the water under a fly. The face and neck of such sufferers are blue-gray in color, and a pinkish foam is emitted from the mouth and nose. Such a person needs to be turned on his stomach so that his head is below the level of his pelvis, for example, on a beach bench. The child can be placed on his stomach on his thigh. Just take the baby by the legs and turn it upside down. Don't waste time looking for a pulse. The main thing is to insert two fingers into the victim's mouth as soon as possible and remove the contents of the oral cavity in a circular motion.

"White" ("pale") drowning. It happens due to unexpected contact with cold water and leads to cardiac arrest. The skin of such drowned people is pale in color. With "pale" drowning, it is unacceptable, and it is not necessary to spend time removing water from the lungs and stomach - you need to urgently start artificial respiration and resuscitation. Delay in the start of assistance on shore can lead to death.

Summer is the time for vacations and recreation on the water, but a lot of dangerous situations are associated with this fun sometimes. One of them is drowning. Rescuing a drowning person is exactly the situation when you need to act as quickly as possible. Any delay or inaction can cost a human life, and the timeliness of assistance is often more important than its quality.

More than 90% of victims survive if help is provided in the first minute after drowning. If help arrives within 6-7 minutes, then the chances of survival will be much lower - 1-3%. That's why It is very important not to panic, to pull yourself together and take action. Of course, it is better to have professional rescuers help, but if they are not around, it is better to try to help to the best of your ability than to do nothing.

How to rescue a drowning person

If you see a drowning person, then the first thing to do is to call the rescuers. You can swim to rescue yourself only if you are sure that you swim well and feel good. Swimming at random and joining the ranks of the drowned is not worth it in any case. It is necessary to swim up to a drowning person strictly from behind, so that he does not grab the rescuer in convulsive attempts to escape. Remember, a drowning person does not control himself and can easily prevent you from swimming and even drag you under water, and it will be very difficult to get rid of his convulsive grip.

If the drowning person has already managed to submerge completely in the water, you need to swim up to him along the bottom and at the same time take into account the direction of the current and its speed. When a drowning person is within reach, you need to take him under the armpits, by the hand or by the hair and pull him out of the water. In this case, it is important to push off the bottom strongly enough and actively work with your free hand and feet.

Once you are above the water, it is important to keep the drowning person's head above the surface of the water. Thereafter it is necessary to try as quickly as possible to deliver the victim to the shore for first aid.

The concept of drowning and its types

In order to effectively provide first aid to a drowning person, it is necessary to understand what drowning is and what types of it are distinguished by doctors. Drowning is a condition in which airways become blocked and air cannot enter the lungs, resulting in oxygen deprivation. There are three types of drowning and they all have their own characteristics.

White asphyxia or imaginary drowning This is a reflex cessation of breathing and heart function. Usually, with this type of drowning, a very small amount of water enters the airways, which leads to spasm of the glottis and cessation of breathing. White asphyxia is relatively safe for a person, since the chances of returning to life remain even 20-30 minutes after direct drowning.

Blue asphyxia is a real drowning that occurs when water enters the alveoli. Usually, in drowning people, the ears and face take on a blue tint, and the tips of the fingers and lips have a violet-blue color. It is possible to save such a victim, if only no more than 4-6 minutes have occurred since the moment of drowning.

Drowning with depression of the function of the nervous system usually occurs after a cold shock or in a state of extreme intoxication. Respiratory and cardiac arrest usually occurs 5-12 minutes after drowning.

First aid for drowning

In the case of drowning, even if the victim is conscious and feels relatively well, an ambulance must be called. But before her arrival, you need to try to provide the victim with first aid, and the first thing to do for this is to check his vital signs. If breathing and pulse are present, then it is necessary to lay the person on a hard, dry surface and lower his head. Be sure to rid him of wet clothes, rub and warm, if he can drink, give him a warm drink.

If the victim is unconscious, then after removing from the water, you can try to clean his mouth and nose, pull his tongue out of his mouth and start doing artificial respiration. You can often hear recommendations for removing water from the lungs, but this is not necessary, in most cases there is either very little or no water there, since it has managed to be absorbed into the blood.

The most effective way to carry out artificial respiration in case of drowning is considered the classic "mouth to mouth". If it is not possible to unclench the victim's jaws, then the mouth-to-nose method can be applied.

Carrying out artificial respiration

Usually, artificial respiration begins with an exhalation. If the chest rises, then everything is normal and the air passes, you can take several breaths, pressing on the stomach after each breath to help the air out.

If the victim does not have a heartbeat, it is important to do an indirect heart massage in parallel with artificial respiration. To do this, put your palm at a distance of two fingers from the base of the sternum and cover the second. Then, strongly enough, using the weight of your body, press 4-5 times and inhale. The speed of pressing should depend on the age of the victim. For infants, pressing is done with two fingers at a speed of 120 pressures per minute, for children under 8 years old at a speed of 100 times per minute, and for adults - 60-70 times per minute. At the same time, the sternum of an adult should bend by 4-5 centimeters, and in a child under 8 years old - 3-4 cm, in an infant - 1.5-2 cm.

It is necessary to carry out resuscitation until breathing and pulse are restored on their own or until undeniable signs of death appear, like rigor mortis or cadaveric spots. One of the most common mistakes in the provision of first aid is the premature termination of resuscitation.

Usually, during artificial respiration, water is released from the respiratory tract, which got there during drowning. In such a situation, it is necessary to turn the head of the victim to the side, so as to allow the water to flow out and continue resuscitation. With a properly performed resuscitation, water will flow out of the lungs on its own, so squeezing it out or lifting the victim upside down does not make any sense.

After the victim comes to his senses and breathing is restored, it is necessary to take him to the hospital, since deterioration after improvement is practically the norm for drowning. You should not leave the victim unattended for a single minute, as swelling of the brain or lungs, respiratory and cardiac arrest can begin at any minute.

Some features of resuscitation of drowning people (Video: "Rules for first aid for drowning people")

There are quite a lot of prejudices and rumors associated with the rescue of drowning people. We will recall some of the rules and features of resuscitation in case of drowning. These rules are important to remember and use in a real situation.

Resuscitation measures must be carried out, even if a person has been under water for a long time. Cases of revival with complete recovery of the patient's condition are described even after an hour of being under water. Therefore, if a person has been under water for 10-20 minutes, this does not mean that he died and there is no need to save him, this is especially important when resuscitating children.

If, during resuscitation, the contents of the stomach are ejected into the oropharynx, it is necessary to carefully turn the victim to one side, trying to ensure that the relative position of the head, neck and torso does not change, then clean the mouth and, turning to its original position, continue resuscitation.

If there is a suspicion of damage to the spine, especially its cervical region, then the patency of the respiratory tract must be ensured without tilting the head of the victim, but simply by using the “pull forward of the lower jaw” technique. If this action does not help, then it is possible to throw back the head, despite the suspicion of spinal injuries, since securing an airway is a priority action in rescuing patients in an unconscious state.

It is possible to stop resuscitation only if the signs of respiratory failure have completely disappeared. If there is a violation of the rhythm of breathing, rapid breathing or severe cyanosis, it is necessary to continue resuscitation.