Fending off the ‘bends’ in PC

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Before the advent of modern scuba equipment in the 1940s, bridge builders and underwater construction workers labored in large, watertight, high-pressure chambers known as “caissons” or dive bells. But some of those divers returned to the surface sick, in shock or worse. Today, along with his team at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit at Naval Support Activity Panama City, Fla., Navy Lt. (Dr.) Jonathan Casey Brown, also a medical diving officer, helps with the understanding, treatment and research of caisson’s disease – known as decompression sickness – in efforts to keep military divers safe and mission-ready. (Source: Defense Media Activity 07/26/16)