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CNN Live Today

Interview With Miners' Physician

Aired July 29, 2002 - 10:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to check on the status of three of the miners that are still in the hospital. They are in relatively good shape. There were some problems, and as I said, three are still in the hospital this morning.

The miners' physician, Dr. Russell Dumire, he joins us now from the hospital, from Conemaugh Memorial Center in Johnstown, Pennsylvania with a medical update.

Dr. Dumire, good morning. And it is, indeed, a good morning, is it not?

DR. RUSSELL DUMIRE, MINERS' PHYSICIAN: It's an excellent morning here in Johnstown -- thank you.

KAGAN: What can you tell us about the condition of the three miners that are still in your hospital today, sir?

DUMIRE: The three miners that are still here are doing excellent today. They are all in, again, excellent spirits. A couple of them are still undergoing some tests, some routine tests, to evaluate what caused some of the problems which required them to stay an extra day.

But they are all up, talking, visiting with each other, eating. They are sleeping better at this point. The last couple of nights have been very busy for them, haven't gotten much sleep, even despite the severe exhaustion that they were experiencing. But last night, they all got a good night's sleep and a good meal in them. And again, you wouldn't know that they had been trapped underground for three days if you looked at them today.

KAGAN: As they were being brought up, some of the possible problems we were hearing about: hypothermia, No. 1. Is that affecting any of the men today?

DUMIRE: No. All of them were mildly hypothermic when they arrived here at Conemaugh Memorial. That was easily treated, and we actually had no problems rewarming them to normal body temperatures. All of them were moderately to severely dehydrated. That took a little bit longer to correct with warm fluids. But once that was corrected, they all started feeling much better and were able to take liquids and a regular diet by themselves, and are maintaining their own nutrition and hydration status now. KAGAN: I was listening in to you during a news conference that you held in the last hour, and you mentioned some kind of heart trouble or problems or challenges for at least one of the miners.

DUMIRE: I'm sorry, I didn't hear the question.

KAGAN: Is there one or more of the miners dealing with some kind of heart trouble?

DUMIRE: One of the miners had an underlying heart condition and experienced some chest pain during the entrapment period, although that chest pain had gone away by the time he arrived here. We are still evaluating him to make sure that there was no damage to his heart, which already had a preexisting condition.

The other miner had no history of heart problems, and was sustaining a rather rapid heart rate, which was causing him some problems. That was easily corrected with medication. It has been resolved at this point, but the evaluation to determine what caused that erratic heart rate is still ongoing right now.

KAGAN: And then, another problem we were possibly hearing about as the miners came up was decompression, and that they had to bring in these decompression chambers. I think only one of the miners ended up having to go in there.

DUMIRE: Yes. We were concerned about it, but as it turned out, they were able to pump the water out of the tunnel at a low rate of speed, about one foot per hour. And that would have been almost exactly the same rate that they would have been decompressed in the Navy's decompression chamber. And none of the other miners experienced any symptoms, which we can construe as decompression sickness. However, one of them was experiencing severe shoulder pain, which could be one of the manifestations of the bends.

The Navy had their dive chamber prepositioned here at Memorial Medical Center. And the Navy doctor evaluated him promptly, and we took him right into the chamber and put him down to pressure, basically repressurized, squeezed those bubbles back into solution, and then brought him up slowly and gave those bubbles time to come out of solution without forming gas bubbles in his joints or other vital organs.

KAGAN: Yes, because...

DUMIRE: And he is actually doing really well.

KAGAN: That can be a much bigger problem than just shoulder pain, can't it?

DUMIRE: Absolutely. The shoulder pain is the most minimal finding of decompression sickness. If that bubble were to go to the spinal cord or to the brain, it could cause a stroke or paralysis, which may be temporary or even permanent.

KAGAN: So when do you think you're going to be able to spring these guys? I imagine that might be one of your biggest problems now that they are pretty -- they are antsy, and they want to get out of your hospital.

DUMIRE: Right now -- you know, right now, we pretty much have to tie them down to keep them here. They want to go home down badly.

Two of them will go home later today, pending the results of a couple of tests that are still ongoing right now. We expect them to be negative, and if they are, they will go home. The third gentleman, who was experiencing the rapid heart rate, will still need to be here for at least a day, maybe two, depending on how things go throughout the rest of the day.

KAGAN: And then, finally, doctor, before we let you go, we want to have you share with us a picture that I believe a 5-year-old drew, just one of...

DUMIRE: Yes, this is...

KAGAN: ... just incredible support that's coming from across Pennsylvania and the country. Can you show us?

DUMIRE: I mean, the miners here are basically part of the central Pennsylvania family. We all feel for them. And this is just amazing, 5-year-old Conner Higgins (ph) from Johnstown dropped this off the day we got the miners in here. And this is just an amazing depiction of his -- how he saw the rescue attempt and bringing the miners up, and what he calls the "miracle." We all agree with that. We are going to frame this and put this up in our emergency room. This is really special for us.

KAGAN: Boy, absolutely. From the helicopters to the cranes to the holes they had to dig, it's 24 stories down, to get those miners out of there. That tells the story. Thanks for sharing that, and thanks for the update. Tell all three miners we wish them well and a speedy recovery.

DUMIRE: Thank you very much -- nice talking with you.

KAGAN: Yes, good to have you, too. Dr. Russell Dumire joining us from the hospital, where the miners are being held, and they on the mend today.

We want to let you know, by the way, we are going to hear from the three miners hospitalized later today. A news conference is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 a.m. Pacific. As always, you can you depend on CNN to bring that to you live.

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