Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: jsimo7 on December 19, 2006, 11:56:50 am
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Hi everyone, I haven't posted in a long time but had scare from my mom and dad and wanted to share this with everyone. My mom and dad are retired. My dad is 78yrs old and mom is 79 in good health, very active, and spend the winters somewhere other than Ohio. This year they went to Arizona in their motor home. Last Fri eve they decided to go up to the hot tub at the park where they are staying. They went in and my mom said it was real hot so she got out after about 5 min. but my father stayed in. The timer went off about 15 min. later and mom said its time to get out to my dad, he said ok and didn't move. Just about that time his head just went under the water. My mom yelled and he didn't move, so she jumped back in and pulled his head up above the water and realized he had passed out. She tried to pull him out and could not, she was not strong enough at 79yrs old to do it, so she got herself out of the tub layed along side and held his head up, and began to yell for help. No one heard her for about 20-25min. At this point he was in the tub for about 40 min. She was just about out of energy when a young man who was changing the trash bags heard her screams. He came running jumped in the tub (shoes, dressed, wallet ) and got my still unconscious dad pulled out. He called 911 right away and the paramedics came worked on him there for a few minutes, could not get him awake, and rushed him to the hospital. He stayed there for the night and is ok now thank god.
They have been in my tub before, so they are not new to tubbing, but what happened is, the resort tub temperature was set at 105 and my tub I usually keep it at 101. The difference was almost enough to end his life, if my mom had left for a few min to go to the restroom or something he would have drowned.
I post this to remind everyone the young and old must have another person there when they are soaking.
Sorry for the long post but I don't want anyone else to have this happen to them, their family or friends.
It has ruined my dad from tubbing he told me on the phone yesterday he will not be going in hotubs anymore. Thats so sad because he does enjoy it.
The moral of this is BE CAREFUL with the temp. of hot tubs. I soak alone all the time and it does make you begin to wonder how smart that is.
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Thank god your dad is OK.
This is food for thought.
Thanks for sharing.
Gp
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Wow. I am glad your dad is ok.
Folks who entertain a lot with tubs should also be aware that all your guests may not like/appreciate/can tolerate super high temps as well.
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Wow, what a scary story. So glad your dad is ok.
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I think the resort needs to held liable for setting their temp at 105. This is above the temperature anyone recommends - Doctors, American Heart Association, Hot Tub manufacturers, etc.
Not saying a big litigation needs to be started, but they need to be held accountable for what happened to your dad. Thank heavens he is okay.
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I am so happy to hear that your dad and mom are ok now.
What a horrible experience!
Thanks for sharing.
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Hopefully, your father, who enjoys tubbing, will change his mind after he fully recovers. It sounds like a freak accident, and, like being struck with lightning, would never happen again if he was careful and wary. Enjoyable times should not be given up because of one bad experience. Life deals each of us scary times, and we are here to LIVE and ENJOY life, not to be afraid of freak occurences that can happen to anyone.
Hopefully, you will be able to convince him of this at the appropriate time!
Cary in South Dakota.
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I think the resort needs to held liable for setting their temp at 105. This is above the temperature anyone recommends - Doctors, American Heart Association, Hot Tub manufacturers, etc. Not saying a big litigation needs to be started, but they need to be held accountable for what happened to your dad. Thank heavens he is okay.
Held liable? How about informed so that they can lower the temp, change the limit on the timer, and make sure their warning signs are adequate to prevent this from happening to anyone else? A public tub at 105 may not be a good idea, but I don't see it as gross negligence.
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Thank the good Lord your dad is ok, your mom was his gardian angel.
My question is: why should it be necessary for the temp to be at 105 in Arizona where the temp. already is warm? Doesn't make sense!
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Held liable? How about informed so that they can lower the temp, change the limit on the timer, and make sure their warning signs are adequate to prevent this from happening to anyone else? A public tub at 105 may not be a good idea, but I don't see it as gross negligence.
Sorry, not an attorney here, so I guess I used the wrong word. I did say I didn't think a big litigation needs to be started. However, it is incumbunt upon an operator of a swimming pool or spa to know the risks and dangers to its guests. It is their responsibility to find this information and follow the guidelines.
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The exact same thing happened to my mother in law!
Well, almost exactly. She had drank a fifth of Wild Turkey and then passed out.
Oh, she also wasn't in the hot tub. We found her asleep on top of a pile of coats in the bedroom.
Ok. It might have not been my mother in law. It might have been me. Some of the details are kind of fuzzy.
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Sorry, not an attorney here, so I guess I used the wrong word. I did say I didn't think a big litigation needs to be started. However, it is incumbunt upon an operator of a swimming pool or spa to know the risks and dangers to its guests. It is their responsibility to find this information and follow the guidelines.
I'm not an attorney, either. I just reacted to words like "liable, accountable, incumbent, and responsibility", which seemed unneccesarily inflammatory to me. I believe that Jsimo posted this as a valuable cautionary tale, so I don't want to let it devolve into a debate about assigning blame instead of focusing on making sure it doesn't happen again. I think that the point of the thread is that people need to be cautious around hot-tubs, especially the elderly -- and that if the tub is hotter than you are used to, be especially careful about how long you stay in.
Peace and safe tubbing! 8-)
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I talked to my mom today and everthing is ok. She has sore arms and back from holding him and has a sore throat from yelling. Dad is sore and skinned up from being pulled out and embarssed. I asked her if she has found the young man that helped her. The office at the park told her he went on vacation the next day and won't be back for a week. They got him a gift cert and a thank you card ready for him when he comes back. They are looking forward to telling him thanks face to face as soon as he returns.
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so what is the consensus?
is it dangerous to soak alone?
(http://www.hot-tub-spa.com/images/spa-hot-tub-man.gif)
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The exact same thing happened to my mother in law!
Well, almost exactly. She had drank a fifth of Wild Turkey and then passed out.
Oh, she also wasn't in the hot tub. We found her asleep on top of a pile of coats in the bedroom.
Ok. It might have not been my mother in law. It might have been me. Some of the details are kind of fuzzy.
OMG Drew.....you are too funny...ty so much for the laugh!
jsimo7...glad everything is ok now....what a scare....I hot tub alone....and the thought has crossed my mind that it's not the best thing to do.....but it's alone or not at all!
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Hi everyone, I haven't posted in a long time but had scare from my mom and dad and wanted to share this with everyone. My mom and dad are retired. My dad is 78yrs old and mom is 79 in good health, very active, and spend the winters somewhere other than Ohio. This year they went to Arizona in their motor home. Last Fri eve they decided to go up to the hot tub at the park where they are staying. They went in and my mom said it was real hot so she got out after about 5 min. but my father stayed in. The timer went off about 15 min. later and mom said its time to get out to my dad, he said ok and didn't move. Just about that time his head just went under the water. My mom yelled and he didn't move, so she jumped back in and pulled his head up above the water and realized he had passed out. She tried to pull him out and could not, she was not strong enough at 79yrs old to do it, so she got herself out of the tub layed along side and held his head up, and began to yell for help. No one heard her for about 20-25min. At this point he was in the tub for about 40 min. She was just about out of energy when a young man who was changing the trash bags heard her screams. He came running jumped in the tub (shoes, dressed, wallet ) and got my still unconscious dad pulled out. He called 911 right away and the paramedics came worked on him there for a few minutes, could not get him awake, and rushed him to the hospital. He stayed there for the night and is ok now thank god.
They have been in my tub before, so they are not new to tubbing, but what happened is, the resort tub temperature was set at 105 and my tub I usually keep it at 101. The difference was almost enough to end his life, if my mom had left for a few min to go to the restroom or something he would have drowned.
I post this to remind everyone the young and old must have another person there when they are soaking.
Sorry for the long post but I don't want anyone else to have this happen to them, their family or friends.
It has ruined my dad from tubbing he told me on the phone yesterday he will not be going in hotubs anymore. Thats so sad because he does enjoy it.
The moral of this is BE CAREFUL with the temp. of hot tubs. I soak alone all the time and it does make you begin to wonder how smart that is.
How scary that must have been for your Mom to be holding him for that long without any help! I am so glad that your Dad is fine and your story is so important for all to read. Hot tubs are wonderful but when not used properly, they can be deadly just like a car in that a car can be a source for transportation or a lethal 2000 lb object hurdling out of control... A hot tub can be very dangerous and all of us are thankful he wasn't alone.
My wife and I just came back from a long weekend on the west coast and stayed at this beatiful hotel. Saturday night we went down for a swim and a tub and I bet the tub was over 106 degrees! That's just crazy and I let the staff know to check their limit for temperature as I'm sure they were over it. It was so hot it wasn't enjoyable but more importantly...it was dangerous at that temperature!
Have a wonderful Holiday Season
Steve
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Glad to here he's o.k. Let's hope this story will save another life someday. Your mom kept a cool head. Hats off to her.
When I do orientations with new spa owners, I stress the difference in individual degrees above body temperature. It's night and day above 100 degrees. 101 feels very different than 102.
Hope it doesn't put a damper on his future soaks.
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Would be curious to know if the doctor mentioned anything about your father's blood pressure. More specifically, did the 105 degree water cause his veins to vasodialate so much that it lead to unconsciousness? On top of that he was already in AZ so his body was already trying to cool istelf via vasodialation so the problem could have compounded itself using the hot tub.
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Would be curious to know if the doctor mentioned anything about your father's blood pressure. More specifically, did the 105 degree water cause his veins to vasodialate so much that it lead to unconsciousness? On top of that he was already in AZ so his body was already trying to cool istelf via vasodialation so the problem could have compounded itself using the hot tub.
Is "vasodialate" our word of the day? ;) :)
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Is "vasodialate" our word of the day? ;) :)
I take it as a humorous jab. Not quite sure of your intention.....
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Reese,
It pays to (Know your VOLCABULARY). Can be found in Readers Digest! ;D ;D
Fatman,
I am sure that is what happened. As we get older our blood pressure has a tendency to drop if we are otherwise healthy. Getting into a tub at any temperature above our core tempature will start to lower our blood pressure as the body is working to compensate for the increase. The warmer the temperature the quicker this can happen. Normally a public hot tub has warning signs in place indicating this type of danger, but certainly a good reminder this can happen to anyone and if you start the slightest feeling of dizziness it's time to get out of the tub and now.
ps: I appreciate your medical terms. :)
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Glad to hear everything is ok now. :)
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On top of that he was already in AZ so his body was already trying to cool istelf via vasodialation so the problem could have compounded itself using the hot tub.
I had to respond to this one, I'm in the Phoenix area and there's not much vasodialation going on right now. currently it's 43 degrees, and the highs have only been in the 60s, downright Cold, for us desert people. But it's great weather for the hot tub, and I'm not looking forward to the return of summer.
Scary story, glad your parents are ok.
Garth
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Thanks to all for the kind words of concern. I talked to my mom today and she said the guy who helped her came back today from vacation. They gave him a gift gert and my mom took a picture of the young man with my Dad, they were both all smiles she said.
They made it very clear to this fellow that he himself saved my dads life and how humbled they were by his actions. (my mom was completely at the end of her energy)
They are not doing any legal things to the park, they did go up to the spa and look at the temp yesterday and it was 101, so at least the management did lower the temp. Thanks again to all for the concern.
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I put in a safety shutoff in one of the commercial spas I used to run, and it had a loud horn. Some folks were turning off the safety shutoff when they left the spa - I guess they thought that was the thing to do. But that turned everything off including filter and heat, so it was NOT the thing to do. Hence the change to a noisy shut-off system.
Anyway, with this new system in place, if you pushed the Big Red shutoff button, the horn would sound. The assumption is that in the case of a real emergency, you would want to alert people that someone needs help or that something out of the ordinary is going on.
Might have helped - though who knows if Mom could have gotten over to it and pushed the button or not. But if she had been able to punch the button and the horn had gone off, help might have come sooner.
Starting to think an update to the safety systems might be good here.