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Above
and below: LCDR Sharkey was presented with a Chief of Army
Commendation. Her quick thinking on the job saved a soldier’s
life.
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By
Graham Davis
A
Royal Australian Navy doctor who saved the life of a Special Air
Service soldier when he suffered the “bends” during training at
HMAS Stirling earlier this year has been formally acknowledged
for her actions Chief of Army, LTGEN Peter Leahy presented the
Chief of Army’s Commendation to LCDR Sarah Sharkey during a ceremony
at Russell Offices late last month.
LCDR Sharkey is the officer in charge of the Submarine Underwater
Medicine Unit at HMAS Penguin in Sydney.
She is one of the Navy’s top underwater medicine specialists.
On March 11 she was at the Fleet Base West (FBW) Submarine Training
Facility relieving the normal Navy doctor who was away on a course.
The pivotal point of the facility is a cylindrical tower containing
27 metres of water.
Its primary task is to train sailors in submarine escape procedures.
The SAS was using the tower for training. After an ascent in the
tower, one of them suffered significant decompression illness,
otherwise known as pulmonary barotrauma and cerebral arterial
gas embolism.
The soldier emerged from the tank with difficulty in his breathing,
disorientation, difficulty in speaking and with a loss of feeling
in his lower limbs.
The SAS medic in attendance activated the emergency alarm, which
told everyone in the facility there was a “dive case”.
LCDR Sharkey heard the alarm and immediately went to the tower.
The soldier was obviously seriously ill and LCDR Sharkey was required
to diagnose his problem and begin life-saving treatment.
She inserted a chest drain to relieve a collapsed lung and got
him into a recompression chamber for immediate recompression.
The soldier went back into the chamber the following day for a
second session.
He spent two days in the FBW Health Centre and was then sent home
to convalesce. He is now fully recovered.
