Ever since we have started Capt. Hook’s MTAC (Medical Training in Austere Conditions) we have become obsessed with becoming an even better dive operation.
We have some of the finest instructors in the Florida Keys and therefore the world. To be able to teach divers is a rewarding and fulfilling profession. To bring a whole new world to someone is limited to space travel and to our ocean as we see it. We can be a part of one of those new worlds for our divers. Noble, yes but how good are we?
We have now been involved with several classes with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) that trains both diving and dive medicine. We train the diving portion but we realized our own shortcomings as a dive operation when it is related to the emergency medical treatment of a diver when we listened to the medical didactic content of the course.
We ask ourselves these questions now:
Are we really ready for an emergency?
Are we trained well enough to make the difference?
Do we have the proper equipment onboard?
What do the stats say about treatment and how do we use them to save this patient?
In an effort to serve an area that we believe needs a lot of attention, we have hired Dr. Matthew Welder, a retired Army Colonel. Dr. Matt, as we call him, was instrumental in developing the dive medicine courses we now train today as Capt. Hook’s MTAC. Those same courses that were born out of over 2500 medical cases performed in the field under some less than ideal conditions by Dr. Matt himself. It is also those same courses that we are using to train our own staff now. We have the diving part down with many years of instruction under our belts and now we have come a long way and will continue to build our knowledge and train staff so they can handle these emergencies if they ever occur.
We don’t want to imply SCUBA diving is unsafe. If you are properly trained and prepared, SCUBA diving is a fun and fulfilling sport and the best for exploring a new and ever changing accessible world most people don’t see in their lifetime. The techniques that we are learning will prepare us for any emergency situation and we will be better at it than most, because we will do it in the most difficult conditions.
We believe we are the only dive operation that is training and preparing its staff this way. We are considering bringing this training to other dive shops soon. We have our own upcoming sessions on MARCH…
M..assive hemorrhage check
A..irway patent
R..espirations confirmed
C..irculation present
H..ypothermia prevention (Hike or helicopter)
as we practice different scenarios to test with our staff. We are also encouraging our staff to practice all of the time to or as much as possible to better prepare them and make themselves better.