Read in this article:
This is roughly how in our fantasies we imagine the scene of rescuing a drowning man. This is roughly what she looks like in the movies. In life, alas, everything is completely different. Fat, tipsy men drown much more often than slender blondes. They are not carried ashore by hand, but pulled out like a bag of waste. Their lips are purple and their mouths are filled with mud and sand.
How to recognize a drowning person
Recognizing a person who does not flounder in the water for fun, but who drowns is not very simple task. It happens that a person goes to the bottom literally in front of others - they see him, they can even watch him, but it does not occur to anyone that the person is in trouble.
Drowning people rarely scream and beg for salvation. Most drown quietly and silently. And not because they are embarrassed to call for help. To scream, you need to take a deep breath, draw air into your lungs. And a drowning man’s breathing is out of breath, he gasps for air like a fish thrown ashore.
In addition, the air in the lungs is our reserve of buoyancy. Try to take a full lungful of air in a safe shallow place, hold your breath and lie down on the water. You will see how easily your body will float on the surface. Now, while remaining on the water, begin to exhale slowly. Very soon your body will lose buoyancy and begin to sink into the water.
The same thing happens to a drowning person. While his lungs are full, he still floats on the surface. But as soon as he screams (and a scream is an exhalation), he will immediately go under water. So, even if a drowning person manages to scream, this scream will be short-lived.
However, there are reliable signs by which you can recognize a drowning person.
The mouth of a drowning person is always at the top and disappears under the water last.
A drowning person tries at all costs to reach for air. From the outside, someone who is just having fun on the water and a drowning person look similar. Both of them can hide under water for a while, then reappear on the surface. The difference is that a drowning person's head is usually thrown back. He reflexively tries to raise his mouth as high as possible.
A drowning person reflexively throws his head back and arches his back to raise his mouth as high as possible
For the same reason, a drowning person, appearing on the surface, instinctively tries to lie on his back. Therefore, a drowning person usually bends back, throwing his shoulders back.
There is also a difference in how a drowning person takes air into his lungs. Anyone who splashes in the water for fun has everything under control. He inhales calmly, knowing that only he can decide when and how much to inhale. For a drowning person, the situation is different. On a short time he managed to stick his head out of the water. When he goes under water again does not depend on him. Therefore, he inhales frantically, trying to get air into his lungs as quickly as possible.
A drowning man instinctively tries to lean on the water
Man is a land creature. It has “water” reflexes, and they manifest themselves, for example, in the fact that a barely born child can swim - like any animal. But very quickly these reflexes are lost. Therefore, in water, if he finds himself in a critical situation, an adult will reflexively behave as if he were on land. And he will try to rely on this water.
Just like a person who is simply playing around in the water, a drowning person commits chaotic movements arms, waves them, spreads them to the sides, and can raise clouds of splashes. But unlike someone who simply bathes, a drowning person does all this while trying to lean on the water. He is looking for support in the water. At this moment, he does not realize that water cannot be a support, and persistently repeats the same movements over and over again.
The drowning person's body is in an upright position
This is another sign by which you can understand that a person is not playing around, but drowning. When we bathe, we work with both hands and feet at the same time. The peculiarity of a drowning person is that he stops using his legs. As a result, the drowning person's body stands upright in the water. At this moment it looks like a float from a fishing rod, which either goes under the water or pops up to the surface.
"Glass" eyes
A drowning man has glassy, meaningless eyes. His gaze is unfocused, he looks into nothing. When a person is drowning, he basically does not see anything, despite the fact that his eyes are open. At this moment, even if some object - a rescuer or a boat - appears in front of the drowning person, he will not be able to concentrate on it.
But the eyes of a drowning man may be closed.
Hair covering the face
Another sign of a drowning person may be hair covering the face. In a normal state, a person will remove them from his face. But a drowning man has no time for hair. Even if they are clearly in the way, it will not occur to him to remove them.
#LIFEHACK
If you are in doubt and cannot understand whether a person is drowning or not, call out to him. Someone who is just having fun in the water will most likely respond to your scream. Even if he doesn’t answer anything, he will probably turn his head in your direction. A drowning person will not react to your cry in any way. He simply won't hear him. And this is the surest sign that he needs help.
What to do if a person is drowning
The main commandment of those who are going to save a drowning person is not to drown themselves. A drowning person is not only a victim of circumstances, he is also a source of danger. A drowning man is practically insane. He perceives the rescuer not as someone who will help him, but as an island that miraculously appeared nearby on which he can rely.
A drowning person does not realize that by grasping a death grip on you, he is drowning both you and himself.
In addition, it is possible that the person began to drown because he fell into a whirlpool or pool. When you swim towards it, you will also find yourself in a dangerous situation. This must be kept in mind when deciding to rush to the aid of a drowning person. It is important that you don’t have to save two people later.
At the same time, we need to act quickly and decisively. A person who has begun to drown and is in a state of panic will be able to stay on the surface for no more than a minute.
You should always swim to a drowning person from behind Here is an approximate sequence of actions if you see a drowning person.
- Do not panic. Of course, it's not easy to pull yourself together when you see your child drowning or close person. But this must be done to help him.
- Call for help. Draw attention to the drowning person. Shout: “The man is drowning! For help!" The more people start helping, the better. There are no superfluous people in this matter: some will swim to the drowning person, others will run after professional rescuers, and still others will run after the boat.
- Shout to the drowning man that they will help him now, that help is on the way. If he has just started to drown, he will hear you. Perhaps your words will calm him down a little. And this will give him the opportunity to stay on the surface longer.
- Look around. Maybe there is a lifebuoy nearby or something that can be used as a flotation device - inflatable mattresses, inner tubes, vests, buoys. If a person is drowning near the shore, throw them to him. If you are swimming from a boat, then life-saving equipment must be on it. There may be other boats or rafts nearby. Saving a person using watercraft is much easier than doing it by swimming. It happens that a person falls, for example, from a steep bank, bridge, breakwater and drowns literally next to you. Then ropes, poles or even a long tree branch will be a good help. Hand them to a drowning man, he will cling to them.
#IMPORTANT
When deciding to rush to the aid of a drowning person, really evaluate your capabilities. You must be able to swim and dive well. The worst thing is if you help a drowning person, you start drowning yourself. Then two people will have to be saved.
- Before rushing to the aid of a drowning person, take off your clothes. Yes, time is precious. But without clothes you will swim much faster. So, the time savings are quite ephemeral. In addition, without clothes you will spend less energy in the water. And you need strength to lift a drowning person to the surface and pull him ashore or on board a boat.
- Consider the current. Your task is to swim straight to the drowning man. If on a river with a strong current you swim straight towards it, then you will not get to the desired point, you will be carried away. And then you will have to row against the current. You need to either make allowances for it, or, which is usually easier and faster, walk up the shore and enter the water above the drowning person.
- In water, do not let a drowning person out of your sight, even for a few seconds. Swimming with your head up is more difficult, but there are inevitable costs. The fact is that a drowning person can disappear under water at any moment and you need to remember the place where you last saw him. There you have to dive after him.
- You only need to swim up to a drowning person from behind. This important condition for your safety. If a person is already in an uncontrollable state, he can grab you, try to lean on you, and then you will begin to drown with him. If you can’t swim up from behind - for example, a drowning person, despite panic, sees you and turns to face you, dive under him, grab him by the hips or legs under water and turn him back to you.
#IMPORTANT
Don't extend your hand to someone who is drowning. Is it dangerous. A person in an uncontrollable state can grab onto it so that you will not be able to free yourself. With one free hand, it will be difficult not only to swim to the shore, but also to stay on the surface.
Do not extend your hand to a drowning person. Is it dangerous - On a boat, you need to approach a drowning person with the stern or bow. If you swim broadside, a drowning person can grab onto it and capsize the boat.
- Despite all precautions, a drowning person may grab you by the arms or, even worse, by the neck. You must immediately release yourself from the hold. This is how you get rid of a neck hold. Place one hand on the drowning person's chin, and the other grab his lower back. Now you need to pull his lower back towards you, and, on the contrary, push his chin away. Of course, it won’t look very delicate, but ceremony is unnecessary here. After all, we are talking about survival - both that of the one who is drowning and yours. So, don’t be shy: it’s better to hurt a drowning person a little than for both of you to drown. Hands are released from grips by twisting them. They twist their arms with a jerk against the thumbs of the drowning man.
In the picture, the lifeguard is on the left. The drowning man grabbed him by the head. Right hand the rescuer pulls the drowning man towards himself by the lower back, and with his left hand pushes his chin away from him. #LIFEHACK
If you cannot free yourself from the grips, simply dive and stay under water. Having lost support in you, the drowning person will reflexively let you go. After this, float up a short distance from him from the back.
- There are several ways to capture a drowning person. The simplest one is by the hair. There is nothing terrible in this option: when you pull your hair in the water, it doesn’t hurt. Towing a drowning person by the hair, firstly, ensures that he does not grab you. And secondly, it will give you the opportunity to swim face forward and paddle with one hand. Another method of transportation is by the armpits. In this case, you swim forward with your back and drag the victim along with you. This method is more economical in terms of energy consumption and is convenient on high waves. But, unfortunately, the slowest. And finally, there is a third way - using the so-called sea capture. You put your hand under the victim's armpit and place it on his opposite shoulder. In this case, your second hand remains free and you can row with it. You will have to swim sideways, but the victim will be securely fixed and will not disturb you.
Methods of transporting the victim: by the chin and using a sea grip - Don't forget to push off from the bottom when ascending if you rescued a drowning person from there. This will save you a lot of effort, because you are not only raising yourself to the surface, but also the victim. And he is heavy, his lungs are probably already filled with water.
- A drowning person should only be transported face up. When transported by a sea grip or by the armpits, his face will in any case be on the surface. But if you pull the victim’s hair, you need to control this moment and lift his head up to provide the victim with access to air.
- If the victim is in adequate condition, of course, there is no need to drag him by the hair or with grips. Just let him grab your shoulder with one hand. His arm should be fully extended. Otherwise, he will drown you, leaning on top. If you feel able, talk to the victim. This will calm him down.
#IMPORTANT
Unprofessional rescuers often make the mistake of allowing a victim who is in adequate condition to grab the rescuer’s neck with both hands. There is no need to do this. Firstly, the victim will fall on you and drown you. Secondly, in the desire to cling on as tightly as possible, he will choke you.
- It is most convenient to pull the victim ashore if he is unconscious by the armpits. Keep in mind that if a person fell from a bridge, for example, they could injure their spine. In this case, you can pull it ashore only on something flat and hard - on a board or on a shield.
If the victim has filled his lungs with water, you need to immediately call an ambulance and, without waiting for it, begin resuscitation measures Resuscitation measures
A person’s breathing reflexes disappear 4-6 minutes after his lungs are completely filled with water. Doctors call this condition paralysis of the respiratory center. The victim's heart stops after about 15 minutes. But both breathing and heart rate can be restored. To do this, you need to immediately begin resuscitation measures. There have been cases when a person was able to be returned from the other world almost an hour after drowning.
- Lay the victim on his side. Using a finger wrapped in a towel or scarf, remove silt and sand from his mouth. The mouth must be clean.
- Get down on one knee. Place the drowned person with his stomach down on his free knee. The victim's head should be lower chest. Holding his head, press him from behind in the area of his shoulder blades. Water will flow from the victim's stomach and lungs. If the victim is too large and heavy and it is not possible to put him on your knee, take him from below, under the stomach, clasping your hands together, and lift him up. You need to lift the victim like a barbell - with your feet. The arms are fully extended.
First you need to drain the water from the victim’s respiratory tract and stomach. To do this, you need to put it on your knee so that your head is lower than your chest. - When the water drains from the victim, place him on his back. Check to see if he is breathing. Lift your eyelid and see if his pupils react to light. Check your pulse. To do this, you need to place your fingers on the carotid artery on the victim’s neck above the collarbones. If there is no pulse, you need to do chest compressions. If the heart is working - only artificial respiration.
#IMPORTANT
If there is a pulse, even a very weak one, you cannot massage the heart: you can achieve exactly the opposite - complete cardiac arrest. Be careful, don't make a mistake.
- Indirect cardiac massage and artificial respiration do this. Place your palm on the victim's chest near the heart. Place your other palm on top at a slight angle. Raise your fingers so that they do not touch the victim’s chest. You need to apply pressure with the heel of your palm. Use strong, sharp movements to apply pressure to the victim’s chest 4-5 times. At the same time, his chest should fall down by about 4 cm. Press not with the strength of your hands, but with the weight of your body, as if leaning on the victim. After you have applied pressure, take a full breath of air and, pressing your mouth tightly against the victim’s mouth, inhale this air into him. If you do everything correctly, the victim's chest will rise. This is an indication that air has entered the lungs. Repeat the same thing. You should get about 16 blows and 60-90 chest compressions per minute. Now check your pulse. If he does not appear, resuscitation measures must be continued. Don't stop them, even if you think they don't make sense: miracles happen sometimes.
#IMPORTANT
Monitor the position of the victim's tongue so that it does not block the airway. Be prepared for the possibility that the victim may vomit. In this case, he must be quickly turned on his side so that he does not choke on the vomit. Cardiac massage should not be done on a soft surface, so as not to damage the liver.
Indirect cardiac massage should be done with the heel of the palm, with straight arms, using the weight of your body, not the strength of your hands. - If there was no one else to call an ambulance, call it after the drowned person has a pulse and begins to breathe. If there is someone else next to you, an ambulance should be called immediately after it becomes clear that resuscitation measures cannot be avoided. You can also shout from the water for someone to call her.
✅ Drowning is an insured event
If the drowned person has insurance, all costs of resuscitation measures will be covered by the insurance company, except in cases where the victim drowned under the influence of alcohol.
- Rub the victim with cologne, alcohol, or just with your hands. Special attention you need to pay attention to your feet. There are important nerve endings there, they will give strength to the entire body. Put dry clothes on the victim, lay him on his side in case he starts vomiting, and wrap him up: when he comes to, he will be very cold.
- Give the victim strong, sweet tea. You can drop valerian or corvalol as a sedative.
- If it is impossible to call an ambulance to the place where you are, or this could not be done, take the victim to the hospital.
A person is able to stay on the surface of the water for up to a minute after he begins to drown. But only if he is ready to fight for life. In a minute, an experienced swimmer swims about a hundred meters. This is exactly the distance at which we can confidently look at a drowning person and understand that the person is in trouble. And it turns out that the stars converge: if one fights, and the second, without wasting time, rushes to save him, then everything will work out.
- Before children go to camps, hikes, or picnics, adults should familiarize children with safety rules at water bodies.
- If you are relaxing near a pond with children, then be sure to keep an eye on them, even if the children are playing in shallow water, because there is a chance that while playing, the child may fall and choke. Children can learn to swim only under adult supervision.
- It is not recommended to enter the water when hot. Do not swim far from the shore, do not swim beyond warning signs (buoys). Swim in specially designated and equipped areas. Never swim alone, especially if you are not confident in your abilities. Do not give false distress signals.
- Do not play games in the water that involve gripping - in the heat of excitement, you can cause your partner to inhale water instead of air and lose consciousness. Avoid grabbing each other's arms and legs while playing in the water.
- It is dangerous to jump (dive) into water in an unknown place - you can hit your head on the ground, snags, piles, etc., break cervical vertebrae, lose consciousness and die.
- Those who cannot swim can swim only in specially equipped places with a depth of no more than 1.2 meters.
You can't swim while drunk.
What to do if a person is drowning:
- Immediately call loudly for help: “The man is drowning!”
- Ask to call rescuers and an ambulance.
- Throw a lifebuoy, a long rope with a knot at the end, to the drowning person.
- If you are a good swimmer, take off your clothes and shoes and swim to the drowning person. Talk to him. If you hear an adequate answer, feel free to offer him your shoulder as a support and help him swim to the shore. If the drowning person is in a panic, grabs you and drags you into the water, use force. If you are unable to free yourself from the grip, take a deep breath and dive under the water, dragging the person being rescued with you. He will definitely let you go. If a drowning person is unconscious, you can transport him to the shore by holding him by the hair.
If you are drowning yourself:
- Do not panic.
- Take off your excess clothes, shoes, scream, call for help.
- Roll over onto your back, spread your arms wide, relax, take a few deep breaths.
- Before you go swimming, don't forget to take a safety pin with you. It will help you if cramps start in the water. If your leg is cramped and you don’t have a pin with you, pinch the calf muscle several times. If this doesn't help, grab your big toe firmly and straighten it quickly. Swim to the shore.
You choked on water:
- Don't panic, try to turn your back to the wave.
- Press your arms bent at the elbows to your lower chest and take several sharp exhalations, helping yourself with your hands.
- Then clear the water from your nose and make a few swallowing movements.
- Having regained your breathing, lie on your stomach and move towards the shore.
- Call people for help if necessary.
Rules for providing assistance in case of drowning:
- Turn the victim face down, lower the head below the pelvis.
- Clean your mouth.
- Press sharply on the root of the tongue.
- When gag and cough reflexes appear, achieve complete removal of water from the respiratory tract and stomach.
- If there are no gagging movements and no pulse, put him on his back and begin resuscitation (artificial respiration, chest compressions). When signs of life appear, turn it face down and remove water from the lungs and stomach.
- Call an ambulance.
- If a person has already plunged into the water, do not give up trying to find him in the depths and then bring him back to life. This can be done if the drowned person was in the water for no more than 6 minutes.
The victim must not be left unattended, as cardiac arrest may occur at any moment. You also cannot transport the victim yourself; if possible, you need to call the rescue service.
Unlike the films, the drowning man in real life does it quietly, because due to lack of oxygen there is no strength to scream.
In films you can see victims waving their arms and screaming for help - real drowning victims are silent, trying to breathe. Attempts are made to “grab” the surface of the water in order to stay above the water. If you see someone bobbing vertically in the water and unable to call for help, act quickly to determine if the person is drowning and rescue him or her immediately.
Some signs that a person is drowning:
The victim is rarely able to seek help. The person has instinctive arm movements—striking the water with both arms partially extended at their sides—that seems to propel them upward in the water. The victim usually manages to turn towards the shore. The body remains upright, with no visible supporting kick. The victim is completely limp in the water.
If you have the slightest doubt, ask the person if they are okay. If the person doesn't respond or responds with a blank stare, you need to act quickly.
If a person is drowning:
Immediately call loudly for help: “The man is drowning!”
Ask to call rescuers and an ambulance.
Throw a lifebuoy, a long rope with a knot at the end, to the drowning person.
If you are a good swimmer, take off your clothes and shoes and swim to the drowning person. Talk to him. If you hear an adequate answer, feel free to offer him your shoulder as a support and help him swim to the shore. If the drowning person is in a panic, grabs you and drags you into the water, use force. If you are unable to free yourself from the grip, take a deep breath and dive under the water, dragging the person being rescued with you. He will definitely let you go. If a drowning person is unconscious, you can transport him to the shore by holding him by the hair.
If you're drowning yourself
- If you're drowning, the first thing to remember is don't panic!
Take off your excess clothes, shoes, scream, call for help.
Roll over onto your back, spread your arms wide, relax, take a few deep breaths.
Before you go swimming, don't forget to take a safety pin with you. It will help you if cramps begin in the water. If your leg cramps, but you don’t have a pin with you, pinch the calf muscle several times. If this doesn't help, grab your big toe firmly and straighten it quickly. Swim to the shore.
You choked on water:
- Keep your head up and try to breathe normally. The body floats better when the lungs are full of air
- don’t panic, try to turn your back to the wave;
- press your arms bent at the elbows to the lower part of your chest and take several sharp exhalations, helping yourself with your hands;
- then clear the water from your nose and make several swallowing movements;
- Having regained your breathing, lie on your stomach and move towards the shore;
- draw attention to your difficulties if there are people around you by shouting, waving and/or splashing water (as much as you can).
Better call loudly for help: “The man is drowning!” and ask to call rescuers and an ambulance. If you don’t have a lifebuoy at hand, you can gain time by throwing a floating object to the drowning person: a children’s ring, a surfboard, a car inner tube, or even plastic bottles. You can also find a boat and a rope, and then swim to the drowning person on your own. If you are not 100% confident in your abilities, do not swim to the drowning person on your own - this is dangerous, since in a panic he can pull you after him.
Step 2
If you are confident in your abilities or have the skills to save a drowning person, you can try to save him yourself. It is better to swim to a drowning person with two or three of them and without swimming equipment. If the drowning person does not control his actions, swim up to him from behind and, grabbing him by the head, arm or hair, tow him to the shore. Do not let them grab you; the victim must be transported so that his respiratory tract is above the surface of the water.
After pulling the victim ashore, examine him. First, you need to clean the mouth and nose by turning the person's head to the side. If the person is unconscious, place him with his stomach on your knee (head hanging face down) and, pressing hard, throw out the water from the stomach and respiratory tract. All this must be done quickly. Also quickly lay the victim on his back, if he is dressed - unfasten his belt and the top buttons of his shirt, and begin artificial respiration.
Step 3
It’s good if two people provide assistance - first one does artificial respiration, then the other does a heart massage, without stopping until the ambulance arrives.
Security measures
First of all, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations warn about the danger of swimming in places where conditions are not created for this.
A guarantee of safe recreation on the water is the ability to swim well. Rescuers recommend starting to swim in sunny, windless weather, when the water temperature reaches 17-19 degrees Celsius and the air temperature reaches 20-25 degrees. In this case, you should stay in the water for no more than 10-15 minutes, and before swimming you need to wipe your body with water. On equipped beaches, on average, less than 1% of people drown over the entire season. total number people who died on the water, since most often people die where there are no rescuers on duty, whose function is not only to save drowning people, but also to remind vacationers of the rules of behavior on the water and to monitor their compliance.
1. Shout to the drowning person that they will save him now.
2. Look around to see if there is a life-saving device nearby. It can be anything that increases a person’s buoyancy and that you are able to throw (lifebuoy, inner tube, rope).
If there is nothing suitable, rush to help without wasting time.
3. Take off your shoes, undress if possible, or empty your pockets.
4. To a panicking drowning person it is necessary swim only from behind without allowing him to grab your arm or neck. Take the drowning person by the clothes (preferably by the collar) or armpits, turn him face up so that he is above the water all the time. In this position, the victim should be taken to shore as quickly as possible.
Sometimes you can grab the victim by the hair, but wet hair easily slips out of your hands.
If drowning has captured you- take a breath and dive under the water, then the drowning person, trying to stay near the surface, will let you go.
! No need to stun the victim, because It is easier to bring a conscious person to shore (he can help keep himself on the surface).
To bring the victim ashore, use various techniques:
The rescuer floats on his side:
With the help of leg movements and strokes of the “lower” hand, and with the “upper” hand, the rescuer holds the drowning person by the shoulder or forearm of the opposite arm, passing his hand over the victim’s equal arm and under his back.
The rescuer floats on his back:
Using crawl movements of the legs, with the victim turned on his back, the rescuer holds the chin with straight hands (in no case squeezing his throat!) or under the armpits.
Having pulled it ashore, examine the victim:
5. If the person is conscious.
It is necessary to warm and calm the victim:
take off wet clothes, rub with warm hands, change into dry underwear, give a hot drink, if excited - 25-30 drops of valerian tincture.
6. If a person is unconscious, but pulse and breathing are preserved:
Lay the victim down with the leg end raised, head turned to the side. To bring you to consciousness - let them smell the vapor of ammonia. Remove clothes and vigorously rub the skin to restore blood circulation, then wrap in warm, dry clothes. Administer analeptics (cordiamin 1 ml, intramuscularly).
7. If a person is in terminal condition on the shore, deck or boat, it is necessary to clear the victim’s nose, mouth and throat of sand, silt, and mucus as soon as possible. Turn your head to the side and use a finger wrapped in a napkin to restore the patency of the upper respiratory tract.
8. The “blue drowned” (before proceeding with resuscitation measures) must remove water from the stomach and lungs.
Press sharply on the root of the tongue; if the drowned person begins to vomit and cough, remove water from the stomach and lungs.
The victim is laid face down on the ground (a) or with his stomach on the thigh of the rescuer’s leg bent at the knee so that the head and shoulders hang down (b) and, with sharp jerking movements, the lateral surfaces of the chest are compressed for at least 10 - 15 seconds.
After removing the water in the absence of breathing and pulse in the carotid arteries, you should immediately begin mechanical ventilation and NMS.
It is possible to revive a “pale drowned person” faster because their heart contractions do not stop (with laryngospasm). After being removed from the water, they immediately begin resuscitation measures.
After drowning in cold water, a person is able to clinical death is in deep hypothermia. In the brain, as in the entire body, immersed in ice water, metabolic processes almost completely stop. Low t environment significantly delays the onset of biological death.
9. After resuscitation measures, both the “blue drowned” and the “pale drowned” need to be warmed up. Rub the entire body with dry, warm hands or clothes to restore blood circulation, and then wrap in warm, dry clothes and blankets.
10. Deliver the victim to a medical facility. If there was no intubation, the victim should be transported on his side with the head end of the stretcher lowered.