Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-08-14

use of his arms and because his legs
have not been sufficiently developed to
kieEing i ss aone, eHH The ms breaStStPoks. sr O
which includes a powerful kick" with
the legs. or any of the strokes which
include the Scissors kick" are far
preferable to the crawl or other speed
strokes. In the opinion OF live-saving
Schools Deficient
Again. the instruction at the ma
jority of public schools is deficient in
that IT fails to teach the pupils how to
proceed to the work of rescuing those
who are struggling in the water. The
mastery of swimming strokes is but
one branch of the art of life-saving of
the most elementary nature-it is eS-
sential that the swimmer know how
to approach the drowning person, how
to take hold of him. how to break his
grip and how to dispose of his weight
so that he will not be too much of a
burden in swimming toward safety. 1t
is the duty of the city to teach all this
on the city devolves the responsibility
for the lives lost by drowning in pub
lie swimming places
drowning person should always be
approached from behind, say the Red
Cross life-savers, because this enables
the rescuer to obtain the best hold and
also to approach unobserved, therefore
catching the struggling man before he
Is able to offer resistance. Violence is
hardly ever necessary in saving peo-
pie from the water and the man who
strikes a drowning person in order to
iossen his hold is usually unversed in
the art of life-saving.
a firm grip by the hair is the method
generally advocated in saving women
from the water, both because 1t allows
the rescuer to have one hand free to
swim with and because it gives him a
good leverage upon the body of the
woman he is saving. A mass of hair
firmly gripped will not cause the victim
much pain and what little discomfort 1t
occasions is now more than offest by
the ease with which the rescue may be
effected.
saving a Drowning Nun
In the case of a drowning man 1t is
usually best to secure a hold with both
hands upon the back of the drowning
persons head. the thumb above the
ears and the fingers curving back Of
the ears and down the side of the neck,
care being taken not to cut off his
bresthing n any ny, way sty as tais tbs would nre
In this manner, 1t is comparatively
easy for a breast-stroke swimmer to
make shore without being inconveni-
enced by the additional weight of the
man he is saving. A side-stroke swim
mer should put his right arm about the
body of the drowning man. and, hold
keeping the others body as much out
Of water as possible by floating on the
back.
The method of resuscitation of parti-
ally drowned persons, as taught by the
Red Cross experts, consists of laying
the victim face downward on floor or
the sand, with his arms extended above
his head. The rescuer then kneels
astride the body and alternately presses
and relaxes upon the region just below
the ribs, thus Stimulating breathing as
far as possible. In this method, the
the fluids in the body will naturally
tongue will take care of itself and all
work themselves out through the throat
and mouth. This operation should be
continued for at least half or three
quarters of an hour, with the substitu-
ton of a pulmotor II one is available.
In this connection it is interesting
! to note that the Red Cross life-savers
teach an entirely different method of
saving colored persons than white, due
to the fact that negroes almost always
sink like a p1ummet, their bodies be-
ing usually much more solid and
heavier than those of white persons. A
bottom, his hands above his head and
will struggle much less than will a
white person. He is therefore harder
to reach but much easier to handle.