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KirkGrovesRV8

Well Known Member
(Mods please delete if necessary)

Hi fellas,
I had an incident happen today that quite honestly made me shake a little after it was over. To make a very long story short I was put in a situation were myself and one other person were trying to keep a man alive while we waited for the paramedics. I quite honestly shook me up that my basic cub scout first aid knowledge from 20 yrs ago was woefully inadequate. And being that I know we have some medical pros here they might be willing to pass along some advice for basic classes that would give someone a very basic knowledge base.
Thanks I really appreciate it
Kirk

P.S Thankfully the guy made it until the EMTs arrived
 
One of the most empowering things I have done is to take a First Aid course that was more than just how to put on band aids. I took an Occupational First Aid course, Level 2. It covered everything you'd want to know shy of how to pack someone for transport to the hospital. I did this for work, where I was going to become a first aid attendant until I got laid off instead.

After taking that course, while I haven't maintained my Level 2 certification, I do review the OFA manual regularly and most times I have a pocket mask with me (for performing CPR). You're right... Basic high-school first aid *is* woefully inadequate in a lot of circumstances.

Congratulations on the successful outcome. You'll never forget the experience of saving a life.
 
check around and see if your area has any First Responder courses.

Montana is mostly rural so paramedic response times can be long. So to help get injured people to survive that 1st hour a lot of towns have 1st responders. Not trained to paramedic level but a very effective group of people. I found the training excellent and have put it to use. Or see if you can get Outdoor Emergency Care trained (Ski Patrol sometimes uses this for the volunteer force)

Good luck
 
First aid

Someone at our flying club suggested we put on a course at the club a couple months back. It was a full first aid, with cpr course with a proper accredited trainer. It was packed and a great idea for a flying club.
It is funny how much things have changed. They dont suggest mouth to mouth at all anymore, throw away that silly mouthpiece! Well worth the time every couple years or so.

Its easy to not bother for years and years. Hopefully your post will get some here to go get recertified. Glad you helped..sometimes it amazes me how many people stand and look with their mouth open.... Good for you.
 
We do heartsaver training at work, First Responder I believe has been changed to something a little more intense, it may or may not still be called that. (At least for my company.)
Come to think of it I need to re up my Heartsaver this year.
 
Kirk-

Sorry I missed your phone call. Give me a call tomorrow if you have some time and we can discuss (I'm flying to KGED in the am for breakfast but otherwise around/working on my rudder). Glad he made it until EMS arrived! To a regular (non medical) person, these incidents can be scary and very emotional. Even us professionals still get that call that shakes us up every once in awhile... but you hit the nail on the head in that training always helps :)
 
Check with your local full service fire dept.

Our FD, which we are almost in...:)...has regular first aid classes for the public.

http://www.golderranchfire.org/ - under Classes and Events.

The Tucson events of Jan 8th showed how the public trained in first aid can save lives in the minutes before the professionals get there.

Your posting has jogged me to sign up....:)
 
We had an incident occur at warehouse the third day I worked. Short story, someone's hair got caught in powered rollers (worst incident in the company's 35 year history), and it was painful waiting the 20 minutes or so for the ambulance to arrive. It had only been about five years since my first aid had expired, but do you ever feel horrid with how rusty your skills are...

I know St. John's Ambulance offers Extended Standard First Aid courses out here, and wholeheartedly recommend getting the extended over emergency or "standard" first aid courses. Yes, it's a tad longer (two full days), but there's a great deal more skills trained.

I would've gone for EMR, or even EMT-A/EMT-P training years ago, but I have this irritating tendency to lock up at the worst of times, despite a long history of willingly comitting "stupid" and "unsafe" acts while doing volunteer first aid (example: jumping over the fence to attend to a fallen facer -WHILE- a race is going on at an arenacross track. I knew the riders, I trusted them... Got a few nicknames from the pro riders too)
 
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