Hyperbaric chamber and Resurgam visit
In a change to wet diving we booked a visit to the Liverpool hyperbaric chamber.
At a cost of £40 per head it is a good mornings activity, including a lecture and then a ‘dry dive’ down to 40 meters to see how a hyperbaric chamber works.
The day started with a lecture given by Dave Alcock of the Emergency services training team.
The talk has two sections. The first (and main) section is a discussion of DCI, precautions, prevention and treatment. This is hugely relevant to divers and much of the information from the event is relevant to how we dive and how we prepare for diving. The talk also addressed misconceptions about DCI and how thought processes, based on collected evidence, is changing. The second part of the talk was about the main use of the hyperbaric chamber, its use in tissue repair for victims of accidents, cancer surgery etc. This is an amazing aspect and some of the lifechanging work that is carried out at the centre is at the point of miraculous.
After the talk we were given a brief tour of the centre, looking at the state of the art, A&E section and then into the the room housing the two chambers.
The first one is set up as a fully equipped A&E room with all the facilities for treating people in severe trauma. The second chamber (ours) is a simpler set up but an also be used for treatment.
In groups of ten we took it in turns to complete a dry dive down to a pressure the equivalent of 40 meters. Computers were dropped in a bucket of water to activate them in order to record the ‘dive’ and then the doors were sealed. It’s an odd sensation of hearing a rushing sound and having to equalise on a regular basis, more frequently than when diving. Once at the 40 meters we completed a written test to see if we were narked. We all focussed, desperately trying to get everything right and prove we weren’t narked. It is also surprising that the temperature drops to the point where warm clothing is required.
Once the dive was over some of us had decided to visit the Resurgam submarine memorial. Having applied and received permission to dive the Resurgam we thought it appropriate to visit the replica, which was located five minute away next to the remains of a German U-boat.
To finish off the day we headed to a local cafe for lunch and then home.
