MDA; BEWARE OF DROWNING

The high temperatures have made the beaches the most popular places of attraction.

 The rise in temperatures, according to the forecasters, will continue until the end of the week, and a considerable easing of the heat will be felt along the coast, caused by the cooling winds blowing from West to East.  Thousands of families are expected to go to the bathing beaches to try and escape and find shelter from the severe heat wave; however, the bathing season has not yet officially opened, and swimming in the sea brings with it dangers, which can cause the holiday to end in the Emergency Room, or sometimes with worse disasters.

In the last few years, MDA teams have come up against many cases where the person who has drowned entered the sea from an unofficial beach, where there was no lifeguard.  Most of the cases of drowning involving children and infants were caused by lack of constant vigil by the parents. Only a few minutes of not paying attention to the child are enough for the child to enter the water and drown.  Children need to be watched constantly and supervised by adults accompanying them.

The following are suggestions from MDA on how to act in cases of drowning:

Immediately call for medical help -101.  Do not go into a stormy sea unless you are well equipped to do so, you are likely to be the next victim.  Immediately on removing the body from the water, check for vital signs and start resuscitation procedures as quickly as possible. If the victim is unconscious and not breathing, start resuscitation immediately.  Do not try and remove water from the lungs or stomach.  A victim who jumped in "head first" into shallow water, and lost consciousness could have an injury to his spinal chord in the neck region, and therefore resuscitation must be carried out whilst protecting his cervical spine without moving it. Continue with resuscitation procedures until the arrival of the experienced MDA teams.

Remember!  Water in the lungs, even in a small quantity, can cause severe problems within a few hours, which can cause death in the victim.  Therefore, in every case of suspected inhalation of water into the lungs, call MDA even if the victim has returned to full consciousness and is breathing spontaneously.

The Training Department of Magen David Adom gives courses in resuscitation, and it is strongly advised to join one of these courses.