Intermountain Diver’s Day
Extreme Diving Situations and Diver Safety
Sunday, June 29, 2008
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Doty Education Auditorium
Intermountain Medical Center
5121 S. Cottonwood Street, Murray, UT

INTERMOUNTAIN DIVER’S DAY
Check/money order enclosed
Make checks payable to LDS Hospital Hyperbaric Medicine
Intermountain Diver’s Day

Registration Form
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Mail registration form with payment to:
LDS Hospital
Hyperbaric Medicine
8th Avenue & C Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84143

For registration questions, please call 801-408-3623
Advance Registration (before June 10, 200 : $35.00
Registration Type:
Regular/Same Day Registration: $40.00
Intermountain Hyperbaric Medicine Service
Intermountain Medical Center
LDS Hospital
For nearly twenty-fi ve years, the Hyperbaric Medicine Service
at LDS Hospital has served the divers of the Intermountain
region, treating dozens of injured divers from a several hundred-
mile radius. This year, we open a state-of-the-art rectangular
multiplace hypo/hyperbaric chamber at Intermoutain
Healthcare’s fl agship hospital, Intermountain Medical Center.
In addition to operating the multiplace and monoplace chambers
at Intermountain Medical Center, our staff will continue
to off er hyperbaric oxygen therapy at LDS Hospital.
Medical director Lin Weaver, MD, is also the Southwest Regional
Coordinator of the Divers Alert Network. Our team of
physicians and advance practice clinicians staff our chambers
24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and are well equipped to
handle diving emergencies. We also provide fi tness-to-dive
evaluations. Many of our staff are diving enthusiasts.
Intermountain Diver’s Day is a unique opportunity for recreational,
technical, and commercial divers to learn about
extreme diving situations, diving safety, current treatment
for diving injury, and special considerations for diving in the
Rocky Mountain region.
For questions about the Diver’s Day program, registration, or
sponsorship, please call us at 801-408-3623.
For diving emergencies, call Lifefl ight at 801-321-1234, and
ask for the hyperbaric physician on call.

Program
7:30 - 8:00
Same Day Registration
Come early and enjoy a continental breakfast.
8:00 - 8:15
Welcome and Introduction
8:15 - 9:00
Breathing Underwater is an Unnatural Act
Richard Vann, PhD
Assistant Research Professor, Duke University
Vice President of Research, Divers Alert Network
The underwater environment can aff ect respiration leading to breathlessness
and impaired consciousness. Exercise and carbon dioxide
play key roles in this process. Understanding the process is a good
countermeasure to avoiding the panic that breathlessness can cause.
Examples from “shallow water blackout,” “deep water blackout,” and
rebreathers illustrate the physiology and importance of equipment
design.

9:00 - 9:45
Research Diving in Antarctica
Neal Pollock, PhD
Research Associate, Duke University
Antarctic Field Research, New York State Department of Health
Many think of SCUBA diving as a warm water activity. However, a
small number of divers go to the ends of the earth to conduct their
underwater work. Dr. Neal Pollock has spent six seasons in the Antarctic
as part of a diving research group with the U.S. Antarctic Program.
He will discuss the art and science of Antarctic diving. You will see
how researchers travel to and around the “Ice,” how they get through
6-18 feet of ice, and some of the creatures they fi nd. You will hear
anecdotes regarding native biology, human physiology and the language
of the Ice.

9:45 - 10:30
What is DAN/Are You Really Ready to Dive?
Dan Orr, MS
President/CEO, Divers Alert Network
In the DAN accident data, a percentage of those involved in diving
accidents have indicated equipment, somehow, played a role in the
events leading to a diving emergency and subsequent injury. This
presentation, through the use of candid, and humorous, photographs,
will address how equipment use (or user error) may lead to
a diving emergency.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Intermountain Diver’s Day
10:30 - 10:45
Break

10:45 – 11:30
Treatment of Decompression Illness in the 21st
Century: What is State of the Art?
Simon Mitchell, MD, PhD
Fellow in Anesthesia, Auckland City Hospital
Whilst diving is a safe sport, accidents can occur, and one possible
consequence is decompression illness (DCI). Ideal treatment of this
potentially serious disorder usually consists of appropriate fi rst aid
measures, such as administration of 100% oxygen, followed by recompression
and hyperbaric oxygen administration in a recompression
chamber. In this presentation we will discuss these interventions,
and other aspects of DCI treatment. With reference to the latest diving
medical research, we will address commonly asked questions like: are
there any drugs that might be useful; what is the role of fl uid administration;
do all cases of DCI require recompression; what is the role of
in water recompression; and others. Any enthusiastic diver may one
day be called upon to be an amateur diving physician in the fi eld.
This presentation aims to update your knowledge and provide some
practical advice that might help should this need ever arise.

11:30 – 12:30
Who is in a Hyperbaric Chamber when a Diver
is Not?
Jim Holm, MD
Attending Physician and Diving Enthusiast,
Intermountain Hyperbaric Medicine Center
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is commonly known as a treatment for
diving-related illnesses such as decompression sickness. Although
there are some chambers used just to treat divers, most chambers
are treating patients with conditions other than diving-related problems.
This talk will discuss what Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBO2)
is and how it works. The currently accepted indications for HBO2 will
be reviewed, including its use for necrotizing soft tissue infections (so
called “fl esh eating bacteria”), chronic bone infections, and diabetic
wounds.

12:30 – 1:45
Lunch and Tour
Intermountain Medical Center’s
Rectangular Multiplace Hyper/Hypobaric
Chamber and Monoplace Chamber
Box lunches are provided. Participants will take a tour in small groups
of Intermountain Medical Center’s state-of-the-art rectangular multiplace
hypo/hyperbaric chamber and monoplace chamber.

1:45 – 2:30
Diving in the Rocky Mountains and the
Intermountain West
A panel of local diving experts will highlight diving opportunities in
the Intermountain West and discuss the unique logistics of diving at
these sites.

2:30 – 3:15
Rebreathers... Just How Safe Are They?
Jeff Bozanic, PhD
Technical Diver and Instructor
Author of Mastering Rebreathers
Currently rebreathers are used in the recreational diving community
primarily by technical divers and photographers. Many active divers
are intrigued by the technology, but are reticent to “take the plunge”
because of perceptions of cost, complexity, and perceived safety issues.
This talk will cover how rebreathers function, their advantages,
and their disadvantages compared to standard open circuit SCUBA
diving. In particular, it will look at the daily logistics and maintenance
involved in using rebreathers, as well as an overview of the accidents
experienced by rebreather divers, and why they occurred.

3:15 – 3:30
Break

3:30 – 4:15
Diving at Altitude and Decompression Illness
Paul Thombs, MD
Medical Director, Hyperbaric Medicine Center.
Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center, Denver, CO
Denver, like any land-locked city, has a large diving population. Its
altitude and distance from popular dive sites infl uences the nature
of decompression illness diagnosed and treated there. Diving in the
Intermountain West and the Rocky Mountains requires signifi cant
changes in altitude to reach local dive sites. How should this be factored
into dive planning?

4:15 – 5:00
Diving Accidents: A Review of Local Cases
Lin Weaver, MD
Medical Director, Intermountain Hyperbaric Medicine Center
Professor, University of Utah School of Medicine
Despite advances in equipment and technique, SCUBA diving continues
to carry risk. Diving accidents can and do occur in our lcation. Dr.
Weaver will present, specifi c cases of diver injury for discussion and
review how equipment malfunction, diver error, and “acceptable risk”
played their parts.

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