Go take a class and come back and re-read your post. You'll get a good laugh.elchivoloco wrote:If you want to learn all about the Gamov bag or the pharmacotheraputics of dexamethasone, that's laudable. But what is wilderness first aid, really? It's going down, out of the wilderness and to a hospital. Surgeons, nurses, and paramedics in the wilderness are nice, but are pretty useless without operating rooms, hospitals, and ambulances. There are an abundance of tricks and techniques the layperson can learn and use to treat inconsequential, comfort type, wilderness injuries and illnesses, but for the big time, life-threatening stuff the cirriculum is pretty short. 1) Protect the victim from immediate further harm. (dig them out of the snow, pluck them from the river, or pry them from the bears mouth) 2) Careful with the neck 3) Stop serious bleeding (you don't need bandages or guaze for this, get creative. if in doubt, make it tighter) 4) The recovery position (if they're unconscious, or might be soon, lay them on their side while observing #2)shredthegnar10 wrote:Alpinista wrote:
Get advanced first aid training. 24 hours of Wilderness First Aid *at a minimum*. Much much better to spend the 10 days at a Wilderness First Responder class. (it seems unlikely this would have made a difference in the current incident, but it's very valuable information and skill to have in general).
That's it, really. Oh yeah, and get them to a hospital.
For certain types of wilderness emergencies there is a tremendous amount of life saving that can be done in the field. Take hypothermia for example - there is much more to it than just warming the victim up. Do the right things and you can save a life, do the wrong things and you can kill someone. Furthermore WFA teaches students a great deal of how to diagnose injuries so they can relay information to the rescue teams so that when professional help does arrive they will have the necessary equipment with them.