Pole Top Rescue

[CPOPE]

I agree with the others. Time is the critical aspect of rescuing someone who has had an electrical contact. Chest compressions cannot be performed adequately on a victim who is hanging suspended or slumped down in the bottom of a bucket. Rescue breaths are extremely difficult to try and administer in those circumstances. Both take time that is much better spent getting the victim to the ground. If the victim has a pulse but is not breathing a few extra seconds aren't going to make any difference. Doing the rescue breaths with the victim lying flat on the ground is much easier and much more beneficial to the victim. If they do not have a pulse the the seconds are very important, why waste them trying to perform actions that are of no use?

Question - How many of you, when you have another man working on a pole, have your hooks and belt out ready to be immediately put on in the event a rescue is needed? Or are they always put away in your tramp bag or tool bin on the truck?

Good post and I also believe you must get the individual down to put on a defib and perform CPR. I'd like to not only have the second man ready with hooks and belt and a way to contact 911. 1st step before climbing pole is to call for assist 911. I'd also like the second man trained with a defibrilator and one of the squeeze bags to breath CPR breaths. We all have one of thoes microshealds that is supposed to keep blood and spit from being swapped but the device that is a big bubble used by first responder medics looks simple and small preventing you from having to lock lips with the victim.

Good discussion and I know I'm being pegged as a reaper but a picture is worth a thousand words. Discussions like this go a long way toward training and awareness.

Thanks CPOPE

[500 KVA]

of our brand AED, it is not going to restart a heart. It will stop the fluttering only, but never restart it.

He said it is designed to stop the fluttering heart so you can do CPR. CPR will also not start the heart. This thing will not restart your heart in any way according to him.

So even with the AED you have to do CPR until you get advanced life support there. It ain't the miracle pill that you can use to zap them a couple times and their heart begins beating again.

He also said a flat lined heart will never be restarted again no matter what you do. Maybe in an emergency surgery or something but not out in the field.

[BigClive]

I get the feeling that you must have been talking to a salesman. A defib CAN be used to restore operation to a heart when used with CPR. They don't have anything other than "pro" versions in ambulances that are designed for regular use.

Flatlining does require medical intervention and possible direct injection of drugs into the heart to blast life back into it. I'm not sure what the chances of surviving flatlining are.

(Flatline... When there is no heartbeat at all and the 'scope on the heart monitor just shows a flat line.)

[BigClive]

Good discussion and I know I'm being pegged as a reaper but a picture is worth a thousand words. Discussions like this go a long way toward training and awareness.

Thanks CPOPE

Swampy made a poster to help power workers push for AEDs based on that picture. It's an award winning photo that shows an attempt to resuscitate a lineman being carried out by his apprentice. Fortunately the guy did pull through and lived to a decent age.

[BigClive]

Can I also just mention that the image shows linemen from the past when there was much more pole climbing and less bucket trucks. Look how thin and healthy they look compared to the fat bucket-blobs of today.

[mainline]

That photo is called the Kiss of Life. It was taken in Florida in the 60's, I believe it was in Jacksonville. The reporter who took it just happened to be in the area when the contact happened, he won a pulitzer for it. The kid giving the rescue breath was an apprentice. You can actually buy a copy of the photo on EBAY. I think it maybe one of my favorite photos because it shows how we as linemen are there for each other if a situation turns bad.

[Lineman North Florida]

The guy that gave the rescue breaths was from Jacksonville,Fla, unfortunately he passed away a month or two ago according to an article that I read in the paper,a good man like that is always missed.

[old lineman]

Obviously I'm out numbered by linemen who say forget the two breaths on the pole and just get the victim on the ground.
This is a very good discussion because it is coming from many sources. Most from people with no medical training and some based on what those in the medical field have said.
I too consulted with a medical person, my wife who has worked in the ER in both USA and Canada for over 30 years.
She agrees with all of you, not me.
So I stand corrected!
An intersting thing she did say though was that they used the pre-cordial thump in the ER numerous times an it was often successful (pre AED's).
There was a point in time when I tried to get permission to apply a pre-cordial thump on the pole but was denied as it was said that this is a medical procedure and not to be done by a layperson.
We've all heard of a person being electrocuted and falling. When they hit the ground they came to. That was the thought process, the sudden jolt revived the heartbeat.
This was an excellent discussion and carry on.
The Old Lineman.

[BigClive]

An intersting thing she did say though was that they used the pre-cordial thump in the ER numerous times an it was often successful (pre AED's).
There was a point in time when I tried to get permission to apply a pre-cordial thump on the pole but was denied as it was said that this is a medical procedure and not to be done by a layperson.
We've all heard of a person being electrocuted and falling. When they hit the ground they came to. That was the thought process, the sudden jolt revived the heartbeat.
This was an excellent discussion and carry on.
The Old Lineman.

In my earliest CPR training they still encouraged the thump on the chest, and it could well have a physical synchronising effect. There are threads about this very subject on this forum, but they go WAY back. I recall asking if it was ever considered that if no AED was available and all else had failed, then a mighty punch to the chest could do no harm since death would be inevitable anyway.

Of course, a defib is going to do a much more controlled job, but as an alternative it might be better to break some ribs than to let someone die.

I trust everyone is still nagging their management about getting AEDs? Perhaps we should do a new poster that doesn't look like a snog on a pole.

[climbsomemore]

I favor getting the victim on the ground (or out of the water, out of the car, out of harms way in general) then starting CPR if needed.

"Rescue breathing" ... especially the traditional "2 breaths" before a good evaluation is made is not effective.

Get em on the ground and go to work.