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Glenn and I have always had more than just a basic first aid kit. We also carry sutures. We realized early on the places the we wheeled and the intensity of it if something serious happened to someone we would have to carry them out aways and also they would have to be life flighted. We prepared for the worst, and have never had to use any of it. We have it if we need it though.
Exactly - I ride ATV's out here nearly every weekend and am amazed by how few carry a first aid kit and how inadequate the kits are when people do.
Glenn and I have always had more than just a basic first aid kit. We also carry sutures.
Glenn does.
I figured one of you had some medical experience and if my memory isn't too rusty Glenn is active duty Army, so I'm guessing he does something medical.
Anyway, the book isn't all that good IMHO. Beside from the "how to be a human shield" stuff, some of the medical information is way outdated. At least by US standards. Put a burned hand or foot in a plastic bag? I'd think not. Same with paraffin dressings for burns. They also don't mention tourniquets, but they also might be assuming that it's going to be a long, long time before the patient sees definitive care.
Gary
I have to agree with Gary: I think most of the people in this group would be better served taking some sort of "ditch medicine" course. Also putting together a medical kit that fits your needs, AND knowing how to use everything in the kit. Putting together a kit that has everything in the cool guy gear catalog, just in case the world ends is not going to help if the kit is so big that it stays in the car, while you are in the woods.
Nah, Glenn isn't active Army now. Son is Guard and just came back from Iraq, which is what I think you are thinking of. Glenn and I have both been out of the military a long time now. We both are EMT trained.
Believe it or not what I learned from the military to do as far as first aid, was better than my EMT course. Basically you can do more in the military as far as first aid than what you can do as far as a civilian EMT-B.
Alan learned to do IV's before they hit Iraq. Basic EMT's don't do that.The military just for general principal has you do more than a Basic EMT. Trust me I was told quite a few times I couldn't do certain things when I took my EMT class.
Our club offered a first aid course geared towards gunshot wounds free of charge last year. I thought it was a great idea. Hopefully it can be repeated as I was unavailable for the first one.
I came accross a group of 5 people from Connecticut ATV-ing in Beartown. One guy was "dancing around" clutching his hand - blood pouring out. One of his friends was laughing, the others were scrambling for napkins or anything else they could find. While fixing the balljoint on his ATV, he had cut his thumb at the web so deeply, that it almost looked disconnected. No one and I mean no one had a single piece of first aid gear. They had plenty of food, gas, beer and cigarettes - thousands in ATV equipment, but not a single first aid kit. After I patched him up to the "ooohs and ahhhs" of his friends, I then had to direct them out of the woods - as no one had a trail map. ...
I took the combat lifesaver course when I was in. Being in a LRSD we didn't have medics, so we carried our own first aid kits with IV's. During our time in Op Desert Shield/Storm we were issued morphine(The single dose kind). We actually had the Division Surgeon train us on using the morphine and some other advanced stuff that was not covered in the combat lifesaver course.
...I built kits for my friends as gifts, then show them how to use them. Started off with Sawyer first aid kits from Wally World, ($9.99) and added to them, (pressure bandages, Neosporin, needle and thread, emergency blankets, food bar etc...) Kind of like a mini survival kit. It's cheap insurance, but useless if it's under the seat of the car, or in a drawer, (unless that's where you get injured)...
Could you elaborate? What is a "Sawyer" kit? Is that a brand name? Do those come with the needle and thread, or is that something you added? If added, where does one get those? Thanks.