Citation

Donohue B, Bierens JJLM. Int. J. Aquatic Res. Educ. 2018; 11(2): e28.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Bowling Green State University)

DOI

10.25035/IJARE.11.02.28

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Koninkijke Maatschappij tot Redding van Drenkelingen's [KMRD] (Royal Society to Rescue Drownings) in 2017 celebrated its 250 th Anniversary. To mark the occasion, KMRD published a book 'Wanneer minuten uren duren' (When Minutes Take Hours) in which the stories of twelve recent rescues are recorded. The book tells the story of these rescues and of those rescued and their rescuers. The stories are in the words of those directly involved, in their native Dutch language, which were recorded by author Arnold van Bruggen and photographer Morad Bouchour who accompanied those involved to the location where rescues occurred. The rescuers' efforts had been rewarded with bravery awards presented by KMRD.

The importance of the 'opportunist' rescuer as an aquatic 'first responder' was recognised in the 'Report of the Working Party on Water Safety' (HMSO 1977). The importance was reflected in the personal stories in the book which illustrated the blend of ingredients involved in rescues: the people [agents], the predicament [problem], the actions taken, the objects used, the causality [the effects intended and unintended of actions], the context [details surrounding the people and actions] and surprises (Kline, 1998, p. 178). The stories also conveyed the drama and the surprises felt by the participants (Kline, 1998, p. 180). "The method we have found most powerful for eliciting knowledge is to use stories.... If you can get them [i.e., participants] to tell you about tough cases, non-routine events where their skills made the difference, then you have a pathway into their perceptions, into the way they are seeing the world" (Kline, 1998, p. 189)

Language: en