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Originally Posted by sipowicz
Please use this incident as a reminder of how important it is to be proficient and knowledgeable in your first aid techniques. It is not uncommon that we arrived first to a 902R call or traffic accident where we have to take some form of initial first aid action. Off duty, it could be family or a friend in need of your proficient and immediate care.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BarbC
First, do no harm.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ingmansinc
How do you feel about this plan? If I was the only person available to provide first aid and wasn't sure what to do I think I would attempt to stop bleeding, keep air passages open, and keep victim warm until help arrived. I would not move the person unless it was necessary to prevent further injury.
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Excellent post, Sip, and excellent points made by all.
I know a lot of first aid. I have been in situations many times in my life where I could use it. I can't really account for why, but there have been some doozies. I sat stopped one day on the interstate while cranes were lifting a precast beam for into place for a new bridge. One of the crane booms BROKE, dropping the beam and the boom! I ran down to the scene, and could see an arm hanging over the side of the beam they were about to set the beam on. The crane operator was simply staring wideyed at the arm, frozen. I said "Come help me" and took off climbing the boom- the only way up to the guy 20 feet or so up. Got up on the beam, crane op behind me. The arm's owner starts coming to. BIG guy, maybe 220 or more, and not in a real good mood! Remember- it's 20 feet or more DOWN to the road, and we're on a beam 20-24 inches wide. He calmed down after some yelling. Glad the crane op knew his name. He wanted off that beam, and I really did not want to tell him no, if you get my drift. I was sure he was basically OK. Got him up, and walked the length of the beam to the old bridge. Whew! A cable from the crane's boom had apparently slapped him up side his head, only dazing him a mite. Just a guess, but he looked like a rough enough ol' boy to have been hit harder, somewhere, sometime.
Another time, outside a bar, a few friends and I were saying goodbye when we heard BLAM-BLAM. A station wagon had run over a guy- both axles. Alive, but not much to do there. Airway checked, elevated feet, covered with jackets requisitioned from the crowd till the wagon showed. Sure knocked the edge off a rather good buzz. No clue if he lived.
There have been others. I've always found it remarkable how many people in a crowd are willing to take orders if you just start giving them.
.........and there is always that exception- the point of all this rambling-
Driving down a country road one day, beautiful hot afternoon. Round a curve, see a car upside down to the right, 25 feet off the road, against a tree, wheels still turning!
The bark is knocked off that 20 inch poplar about 15-18 feet above the ground. I don't know how, but the car had been airborne and upside down when the driver's door hit the tree, and it slid down to the ground. It is a large, 70's land cruiser of some brand. I get to it. It is wrapped significantly around the tree. We are on a slope, and I can't open passenger door. Windshield is broken, and one corner hanging out of the frame. Peeking in, I see a stocky guy in his late 30's laying on his back, breathing very loud, raspy, labored, and bloody and unconscious.
Well, I got the windshield out. Crawl in. Clear the airway. I think that's when my shirt came off. Bad situation. Cut switch off. Gas tank is intact, but some gas is running out the spout. Not much, but enough to worry me.
Hmmmm. I'm thinking- if we burn, this will be tough. Pretty good sized guy. Definite chest injury, but no holes. Only way out is through the windshield. Steering wheel and terrain won't make this easy, and the hood is an overhanging awning that only cramps the space more.
This is before I had a cell phone. An off duty fireman showed up that had a cell.
I am thinking I want to pull this guy out and have him laying in the grass when the wagon arrives. I am also thinking I might punch lots of holes in his already bad lungs or heart. We're not gonna burn, though. I've seen that happen to a Huey. Oddly, the thought crosses my mind that if I can't get him out, and it burns, should I shoot him?
Got off that thought and decided I would pull harder. Guy is wearing a T shirt and jeans. No belt. Will have to pull by the wrists, arms obviously above head. Bad postion for a mushy chest.
So, we wait. He blows red bubbles, I clean them out.
Paras arrive. I'm thinking we'll slide a board in, tie him to it, and slide him out.
Not procedure. My suggestion was not welcomed.
We wait for the rescue crew. They want to cut the car apart, and lift it OFF HIM. Great. Now we wait for a wrecker.
Wrecker arrives. Everybody is setting up their toys. We are stacking timber blocks to keep the car from falling or shifting when they cut the roof off it. We are dragging chains to hook up the wrecker. We are jawing the roof posts in two because the saws might light the gas.
Finally, the car is pulled off, and THEN they bring in the board!
The golden hour is about gone.
When I walked toward my truck, he was on a gurney behind the wagon, and they were bagging him and giving him manual chest compressions. So much for the mushy chest.
I drove home shirtless, bloody, and dejected, figuring he was dead.
He was buried three days later.
I always wondered if he'd have lived if I'd drug him out. Dunno. Might have killed him. But, the fact is he'd have been rolling about 40 minutes sooner, assuming I had gotten him out alive.
No secret- I support Paramedics, LEO's, and Firemen. They do a great job by and large.
Sometimes, though, I think 'the book' can get somebody killed.
It haunts me, and I will always wonder. I watched the tree die from the large amount of bark he knocked off it, and it stood for years as I watched it rot when I drove that road daily.