International Congress on Hyperbaric Medicine ICHM newsletter Page 3
Ex
ecut
i
v
e Dir
ect
o
r'
s
Me
m
o
r
andum
he last memo I w
r
ot
e t
o
y
o
u ended w
ith
the st
r
o
ng w
ish t
o
be able t
o
meet y
ou all at our
XIV I
n
t
e
r
national M
e
eting under the P
r
esidency
of
F
r
ed C
r
amer in San F
r
ancisc
o
,
Califor
nia in
Oct
o
ber 2002.
Despit
e the hor
r
i
ble memor
ies of
Sept
ember 11,
2001,
man
y c
o
lleagues and fr
iends
came t
o
San F
r
ancisc
o for this meeting
,
and fr
om
"
far a
w
a
y
"
c
ount
r
ies.
The organization was e
x
c
e
l-
lent w
ith e
v
er
y
thing in or
der and under
"
par
ental
guidanc
e;"
w
e
al
l had a w
o
nderful time,
both
socially
,
as w
e
ll as scientifically
.
Y
ou w
i
l
l
find a detailed descr
iption of
the
meeting elsewher
e in this N
e
wslett
er
.
An
impor
tant decision was r
e
ac
hed dur
ing
the t
r
aditional Go
v
e
r
n
or'
s
L
unc
heon,
in the
br
eathtaking sur
r
ounding
s of
the w
o
rld famous
W
estin
"
St.
F
r
ancis
"
H
ot
el on U
nion Squar
e.
W
e
all ag
r
eed t
o
meet in 2005 in Bar
c
elona t
o
gether
w
ith the E
u
r
o
pean U
n
dersea and Bar
o
medical
Societ
y
(EUBS).
Our P
r
esident ther
e
w
i
ll be J
o
r
d
i
Desola,
who is a w
e
ll-kno
w
n
and t
r
ust
ed orga-
niz
er sinc
e the EUBS meeting in 1984;
some time
ago alr
ead
y
,
b
ut ne
v
e
r forgott
en!
Ei
gh
te
en differ
ent c
ount
r
ies w
e
r
e
r
e
pr
esent
ed
in this Go
v
e
r
n
or'
s
L
unc
heon.
To
our g
r
eat sur
p
r
ise,
a hig
hly positioned
Chinese r
e
pr
esentati
v
e of
h
y
per
bar
ic medicine
was also pr
esent.
She also in
v
i
t
e
d us t
o
Beijing in
the near futur
e
for one of
our I
n
t
e
r
national
Me
e
t
ing
s.
The Ex
ecuti
v
e C
o
mmitt
ee was select
ed t
o
ser
v
e
for the c
o
ming thr
ee y
ears.
W
e
said good-b
y
e
to
thr
ee members w
hose t
e
r
ms had ended,
and w
e
thank
ed them for the impor
tant c
o
nt
r
i
bution
t
h
e
y
had g
i
v
e
n t
o
the I
n
t
e
r
national C
o
ng
r
ess (Dr
.
N
iinik
oski fr
om T
u
r
ku,
Finland;
Dr
.
A
lessandr
o
Ma
rr
oni fr
om R
oset
o
deg
li
A
b
r
uzzi,
I
taly
;
and
Dr
.
H
ide
y
o T
akahashi fr
om N
a
go
y
a
,
J
apan).
Of
c
ourse,
w
e e
x
pect t
o
see them man
y times in the
futur
e
and c
e
r
tainly in Bar
c
elona!
In
Ap
r
il 2000,
I v
isit
ed C
u
r
a
cao
,
T
he
Ne
therlands
A
n
tilles,
t
o ad
v
ise ho
w t
o
go
t
h
e
re
i
n
the futur
e
w
ith h
y
per
bar
ic medicine.The
y ha
v
e
an old h
y
per
bar
ic c
hamber in the Elisabeth
HB
O CONGRESS
Pa
g
e
3
Fa
ll 2003
T
Fa
ll 2003
Pa
g
e
6
HB
O CONGRESS
eq
uipment-r
e
late
d
mishaps w
e
r
e
d
ue t
o
so
me
failur
e
of
the o
x
ygen deli
v
e
r
y
equipment.
To
bett
e
r understand r
isks of
fir
e in the h
y
per-
bar
ic en
v
i
r
o
nment,
Mr
.
Sheffield pr
esent
ed
a
n
ex
ce
llent o
v
er
v
i
ew of
fir
e c
h
emist
r
y
and the
causes of
h
y
per
bar
ic fir
es w
ithin the past t
e
n
y
ears.
H
e
infor
med att
endees that one half
of
the
hy
per
bar
ic c
hamber fir
es dur
ing this per
i
od
oc
cur
r
e
d in 100% o
x
ygen en
v
i
r
o
nments while
the other half
in air
-filled c
hambers.
The ig
nition
sour
c
es cit
ed in eig
ht w
e
r
e
personal war
mers,
smoking mat
er
ials,
and a c
hild'
s t
o
y
;
elect
r
ical
shor
ts in four
;
and,
one was not r
e
por
t
ed.
H
e
enc
our
aged all t
o
eliminat
e or tig
htly c
o
nt
r
ol all
pot
e
ntial sour
c
es of
ig
nition energ
y
,
c
ont
r
ol t
h
e
ty
pes of
fuel sour
c
es,
and c
o
nt
r
ol the quantit
y
o
f
fuel sour
c
es.
The w
o
r
kshop was c
o
ncluded b
y
a super
b
pr
esentation b
y
Dr
.
H
ar
old Beeson of
N
ASA.
Dr
.
Beeson discussed the need t
o
stud
y o
x
ygen
co
mpatibilit
y and outlined ho
w t
o
manage fir
e
r
isks in h
y
per
bar
ic syst
ems.
H
e
r
e
c
o
mmended
that the use of
suitable mat
er
ials should be maxi-
miz
ed while minimizing the pr
esenc
e of
ig
nition
mec
hanisms.
These st
eps ar
e follo
w
ed b
y
the use
of
"
b
est pr
actic
es.
"
The XIV I
n
t
e
r
nat
ional C
o
ng
r
ess
On H
y
p
e
r
bar
ic M
e
dicine
(C
ont
inued fr
om P
a
ge 1)
T
uesda
y e
v
ening
,
O
ct
ober 1st,
w
ith a r
e
c
e
ption for
the int
er
national delegat
es in the elegant
Co
mpass R
ose lounge in the lobb
y of
the St.
Fr
ancis hot
el.
A
w
e
lc
ome r
e
c
e
ption the ne
xt
ev
ening featur
ed a bir
thda
y cak
e for our
Ex
ecuti
v
e Dir
e
ct
or
,
D
ir
k Bakk
er of
the The
Ne
therlands.
Th
ursda
y e
v
ening
,
the g
r
oup enjo
y
e
d a
dinner cr
uise on the ba
y
.
The w
eather was ideal
and the sunset o
v
er the Golden Gat
e B
r
idge w
i
ll
be a fond memor
y
of
the C
o
ng
r
ess.
The social
pr
og
r
am c
o
ncluded w
ith a gala closing banquet
H
ospital in
W
i
llemstad.
T
he only wa
y t
o
impr
o
v
e
hy
per
bar
ic medicine is t
o
pur
c
hase a new
c
hamber t
o
gether w
ith the M
inist
r
y
of
T
our
ism,
the di
v
ing c
o
mm
unit
y
,
and the R
o
y
al Dut
c
h
Na
vy
.
Plans ar
e in pr
og
r
ess.
In
J
une 2000,
the UHMS v
isit
ed St
ockholm,
Sw
e
d
e
n
f
o
r their y
early meeting
.
T
he meeting
was e
x
c
e
llently org
aniz
ed b
y
F
olk
e Lind,
and was
held in K
a
r
olinska hospital.
H
e
had org
aniz
ed a
we
ll-att
ended pr
e-c
ong
r
ess c
ourse on the r
ole of
hy
per
bar
ic o
x
ygen in maxillofacial surger
y
,
a
c
ourse esp
ecial
ly desig
ned for surgeons.
A big
ad
vantage was the mor
e
than beautiful
Spr
ing/S
ummer w
eather in the S
w
edish capital,
St
ockholm.
The EUBS met on the beautiful I
sle of
M
a
lta,
in the M
e
dit
er
r
anean,
in Sept
ember 2000 under
c
hair
man I
r
o Cali-C
orleo
.
I
t
was a v
e
r
y
memo-
ra
ble meeting w
ith a w
o
r
kshop org
aniz
ed b
y
the
Eu
ro
pean C
o
mmitt
ee on H
y
per
bar
ic M
e
dicine
on
"N
ew I
ndications.
"
I
t was also decided that
Dir
k
J
an Bakk
er w
ould suc
c
eed F
r
ancis
W
att
el
fr
om Lille,
F
r
anc
e,
as P
r
esident of
the E
u
r
o
pean
Co
mmitt
ee fr
om 2002 on.
The UHMS met in San
A
n
t
o
nio in J
une 2001.
As
al
wa
ys,
it was a v
e
r
y
ag
r
e
eable and fr
uitful
meeting w
ith man
y old fr
iends fr
om all o
v
er the
wo
rld.
I
t
is a pit
y that w
e
ar
e unable t
o
v
isit al
l the
meeting
s that ar
e org
aniz
ed in h
y
per
bar
ic
medicine;
ho
w
e
v
e
r
,
w
e
w
ould be a
w
a
y
fr
om
home a large par
t of
the y
ear!
In
the last w
e
ek of
Oct
o
ber 2001,
the
Eu
ro
pean C
o
mmitt
ee on H
y
per
bar
ic M
e
dicine
org
aniz
ed a large c
o
nsensus meeting on the
influenc
e of
h
y
per
bar
ic o
x
ygen in r
a
diation
damage of
nor
mal tissue.
T
his was done in c
o
op-
er
ation w
ith the E
u
r
o
pean Societ
y
of
Radiation
Onc
olog
y
in Lisbon,
P
or
tug
al.
The org
anization
c
hair
man was Philippe R
o
que of
the P
o
r
t
uguese
Na
vy
.
N
eedless t
o
sa
y
,
nothing w
e
nt w
r
ong and
ev
er
y
thing pr
oc
eeded in a v
e
r
y
fr
iendly
"
n
a
v
al
wa
y
.
"
T
he meeting was v
e
r
y
fr
uitful in that w
e
established indications and e
v
idenc
e
on the
differ
ent le
v
e
ls the E
u
r
o
pean C
o
mmitt
ee
(ECHM) is ac
cust
omed t
o
w
o
r
k
w
ith.
I
t
was v
e
r
y
good t
o
ha
v
e
a delegation fr
om the USA/UHMS
in Lisbon t
o
discuss the e
v
idenc
e
w
ith,
c
o
mpar
ed
Wo
r
kshop on the Fir
e
Risk
of
M
e
dical S
u
pplies
in the H
y
p
e
r
bar
ic Chamb
er
question oft
e
n ask
ed among h
y
per
b
ar
ic
c
hamber oper
at
ors is
"
C
an I safely use this it
em
or dr
essing inside the h
y
per
bar
ic c
hamber?"
F
o
r
man
y y
ears,
the h
y
per
bar
ic medicine c
o
mm
unit
y
has been seeking a list of
it
ems or medical
supplies that ha
v
e
been appr
o
v
ed for c
hamber
use.
Due t
o
the difficult
y of
pr
oducing a list
w
ithout the pr
oper
,
c
ont
r
ol
led t
esting of
eac
h
it
em in the h
y
per
bar
ic en
v
i
r
o
nment,
no suc
h
list has been for
mally de
v
e
loped.
