[Paddlewise] risky rescues

From: <Bhansen97_at_aol.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999 10:46:29 EST
John Winters makes the excellent observation that: "the object of life saving 
is saving
lives not risking your own life. Two casualties don't make a rescue."

Reading that statement reminds me of a rescue course I took a few years ago. 
The instructor said that when performing a rescue the priority was "me (the 
rescuer) first, me second, the victim third, and everybody else fourth". 

When I heard that I thought "What a callous and inappropriate approach to 
rescue". After a while it percolated through that the whole point was exactly 
what John Winters has written. Two victims (or casualites) don't make a 
rescue. That, and the presumption that the rescuer has taken some precaution 
to put others out of harm's way before undertaking the rescue in the first 
place.

Bill Hansen
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Received on Mon Nov 08 1999 - 07:47:22 PST

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