3rd Congress Of The World Union Of Wound Healing Societies

The 3^rd Congress of the World Union of Wound Healing Societies will be hosted by the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine and Departments of Medicine and Public Health Sciences from June 4 - 8, 2008.
With a theme of Wound Care Efficacy, Effectiveness & Efficiency. Some key areas include:

• The evidence base criteria and research
• Provider education and outcomes
• Patient quality of life and pain
• Government and health care systems
• Local wound bed preparation and infection
• Specific wound types and their diagnosis and treatment (eg. pressure, leg and foot ulcers).

For more information go to the World Union of Wound Healing Societies webpage.

DAN Offers New DVD

Many divers may not know that someone can get decompression illness even while following safe diving rules. To better educate divers, DAN has created a new DVD about DCI and what to do if you suspect a diver has it.

Joel Dovenbarger, Vice President of DAN Medical Services, said the best way for all divers to learn comes from the experiences of other divers. “This new DVD from DAN will help divers recognize the signs and symptoms of a variety of dive-related issues and be better prepared to respond appropriately,” Dovenbarger said.

Dive centers or dive clubs can request the free DVD from DAN. It features a 40-minute presentation by Marty McCafferty, DAN Medical Informational Specialist. Use the DVD as part of your dive training programs, at yoiur next dive club meeting or at dive gatherings.

The DVD emphasizes that the symptoms of DCI are similar to other medical conditions, such as a heart attack or upset stomach, so only a physician is qualified to make a diagnosis. The diver has three responsibilities:

• to recognize the signs and symptoms
• to provide standard care within their levels of training, and
• to help transfer the injured diver to a higher level of care.

Denial is the most common reason for delay in seeking assistance. Injured divers usually call DAN because their symptoms will not go away. Amazingly almost 15 percent of injured divers continue to dive after initial DCI symptoms are recognized.

DAN wants to educate divers in recognizing DCI and seeking immediate medical evaluation, which improves and shortens the treatment and reduces the chances of long-term problems. The risk of DCI increases as divers dive deeper, stay down longer, ascend faster, or shorten their surface intervals.

To order contact DAN Membership Services.

Three divers Airlifted

Three divers have been airlifted to hospital in Dorset with suspected decompression sickness.
They were rescued by the coastguard helicopter from Swanage at 1130 GMT.
Two of the divers were showing definite symptoms of the bends and the third was taken to hospital as a precaution.

BHA 2007 Annual Meeting Starts In Oban

The 2007 annual meeting of the British Hyperbaric Association starts today in Oban, on the west coast of Scotland with the pre meeting diving taking place.
The meeting starts proper on the 1st November and finishes on the 4th November with the BHA AGM.

Cayman Brac To Get Recompression Chamber

Diving related illnesses in Cayman Brac will soon be quicker and easier to treat when a recompression chamber should become operational on the island.
The recompression chamber was brought onto Cayman Brac by Cayman Hyperbaric Services in November 2006. It has however taken until now for the company to build a facility to house the chamber and prepare it for commissioning.
Cayman Hyperbaric Services has had an extension built onto the east end of the Faith Hospital in Cayman Brac to house the hyperbaric unit.
The chamber is a two–lock multi–place chamber, a smaller version of the one operating at the George Town Hospital on Grand Cayman. That chamber is also run by Cayman Hyperbaric Services.
It is hoped that patients can be taken there by 1 January.