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ST. LUCIE COUNTY – A diver offshore reported suffering from decompression sickness shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday, a Fire District official said.

Officials received the call at 8:55 a.m. The boat was about 5 miles off shore, said Catherine Chaney, St. Lucie County Fire District spokeswoman. A more specific location was not immediately available.

Fire District officials brought the diver to the U.S. Coast Guard station in Fort Pierce. The diver was then flown to St. Mary’s Medical Center for treatment about 9:50 a.m.

Decompression sickness, also known as diver’s disease or the bends, happens when inert gases build up in the tissues and bloodstream during or after an ascent from a dive. It causes nitrogen to bubble in the blood and possibly expand and injure tissue or block blood vessels in organs as well as cause muscle, joint and tendon swelling and pain, according to medical directories.

The bends are treated with oxygen therapy from a hyperbaric chamber. St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach has the only hyperbaric chamber in the area.
By Lamaur Stancil

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 9:43 am and is filed under fire rescue, Health, St. Lucie County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.