I had to renew my First Aid Certificate as part of my FGASA* qualification. After four or five long evening sessions of classes I had to take the exam. I had studied for the exam and tried to be conscientious in classes so I thought I'd pass it - just!
(I can't get my head around many of those terms "myocardial infarction"-- simply say 'heart attack' - I know that one!!)
(I can't get my head around many of those terms "myocardial infarction"-- simply say 'heart attack' - I know that one!!)
The examiner set the scene: "You're walking in the bush and come across two people, one is screaming in pain claiming to have been bitten by a snake and the other is dead. What do you do?" I went through the motions of attending to the screaming patient, explaining what I was doing to the examiner (and the whinging patient). Afterwards the examiner asked me "What about the other person?". "You told me he/she was dead," I answered. "Now it's over to Jesus." I failed the exam. The examiner told me I should have performed CPR on the other person. "But YOU told me he/she was dead! I'm not doing CPR on a corpse!" I'm miffed as I have to fork out another fortune to do another course.
This morning I went birding in a nearby Nature Reserve which is also busy with cyclists on the quiet roads. Rounding a sharp downhill turn, I found two cyclists on the side of the road. One had come off his bike. OOOOOOOOOO Roasties!!! He had used up all the bandages, plasters, etc. on his thigh that had been in their mini 1st aid kits and I saw he had no skin left on his shin and part of his calf. He was waiting for other cyclists who'd returned to the carpark to collect the car so he didn't need my help, not that I had anything in the first aid line in my car.
His cycling friend told him to show me his butt. The lycra shorts on one side of his gluteus maximus no longer existed and there was very little skin too. EEEINA!!!! I think he is going to be in a lot of pain for a long time and I don't think he is going to be able to sit at his office desk for a while either! The guys told me they'd been pushed off the road by passing trucks yesterday as well, so theirs has not been a great cycling weekend. The injured cyclist seemed in good spirits though and, after offering more help again, I left them, suggesting the injured guy try adding "training wheels" to his bike :-)
Both of these incidents made me think about a First Aid kit and what I should have in a kit for my adventure in some more remote parts of Namibia. I've looked at some online lists and if I took the recommended stuff, I won't have place for my sleeping bag, clothes or food in my LSP (little silver Pajero).
* Field Guides Association of Southern Africa
1 comments:
Ah, sounds like a trick question to me! why wouldn't he say he appeared to be dead instead, and then you surely would have gone through the proper resusetation techniques. darn!
we have a pretty good kit, it's got everything i think you'd need and it's the size of a small lunch box. my travel dr. said to carry things that do double duty. and don't forget the duct tape. every medical kit needs a roll of that!
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