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#Post#: 1271--------------------------------------------------
Doom First Aid / First response
By: Digwe Must Date: October 15, 2021, 3:36 pm
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First Aid and medical care after Disaster and Doom
I have been thinking about starting this topic for a while. It
rains today so I am mostly inside. I’ve put a few thoughts
together for this first bit of it. We’ll see if there is any
interest in the subject. If not, I’ll just drag it out behind
the barn. If I get too long winded just tell me to stuff a sock
in it.
I don’t want to line up a bunch of links and book titles if
it’s not a good topic - so I’ll start by bringing up a few
concepts and see how it goes.
This topic has interested me for a long time. My wife and I were
both EMTs several decades ago. I also put in a few years as a
volunteer firefighter. We worked in very rural and backcountry
areas. We’ve both written articles on disaster preparedness and
first aid in disaster situations. (Hers, of course, well
researched, annotated, and generally better written) This does
not make me any kind of expert. I know and have worked with
people who are better at this stuff than I would ever be. There
are many people out there who routinely put their own lives at
risk to save strangers. I’m sure there is much knowledge in
this field among those who usually comment here, and I hope you
will contribute your thoughts.
The difference between rendering first aid in a disaster and in
long term collapse is, obviously, that in a disaster
(earthquake, wildfire, tornado, hurricane, blizzard, flood,
massive highway wreck, gas explosion ) help is on the way. In
collapse, depending on how far and how fast conditions
deteriorate, you may be on your own for a long time. There is
crossover. If the Cascadia fault lets go at any time and the
“big one” becomes reality along the Northwest coast of the US
and southern BC, the folks there could be waiting for help for a
long time. Generally speaking though, disaster is a relatively
short term event. Collapse is forever.
How prepared for a medical emergency are you? Do you have a med
kit in your house, your car? Do you have any training? How do
you function in emergency high stress situations? Do you have a
plan in place for your family, your neighborhood, if major
emergency strikes? For a longer term plan, can you identify the
plants and fungi in your area that have medicinal value? Do you
know how to use them?
After collapse is the new normal you may be seeing many people
sicken and die that could have easily been saved pre-collapse.
People will run out of insulin, heart medication, blood
pressure meds, etc. Remember people will also run out of
opioids, meth, bath salts, ripple, whatever they are addicted
to. Previously survivable chronic cardiac issues, kidney
problems, liver dysfunction will all kill people. Injuries that
are survivable today will not be reliably so in an extended
emergency. Compound fractures will be deadly, as will sucking
chest wounds, other thoracic trauma, some skull fractures and
the list goes on. It is also possible that you will encounter
gunshot wounds and other results of human on human violence. In
a long emergency it will not be enough to stabilize and
transport. The choppers aren’t coming. Not today.
Another thing. People go insane. It happens all the time, but
think of all the fragile people who will lose all their ties to
stability, loved ones and their meds at the same time, in a
major emergency that lasts more than a few days. How do you
deal?
Triage. In a true extended emergency you will be forced to make
decisions about who you help, who lives, who dies, that you
never thought might happen. It is impossible to convey in words
how difficult these decisions are. They can be absolutely
unbearable when the call involves family and friends. Simple
example: Imagine you are in front of a large store with big
windows and the big one hits. The windows shatter. Right there
is an old man - my age. Next to him is his five year old
grandson. They are both down with bad arterial bleeds. Who do
you put direct pressure on? Who do you save? Who do you watch
bleed to death on the sidewalk? Easy call you say. Save the
kid. What if it’s your dad and your son? You make the same
call - but you absolutely never get over it.
Do you apply a tourniquet on a bad laceration? You’ve tried
direct pressure. The patient is out - she can’t help by keeping
pressure on the wound herself. You can’t sit there and apply
pressure for long because more people need your help just as
much. Apply the tourniquet and likely lose the limb? Who is
going to sew up the artery?
So, if y’all are interested in this topic we can go into some
specifics. I really hope to get your perspectives....
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