TRAUMA ONE

 

PREPPING 'AND' HOMESTEADING - Trauma One

                In some ways our bodies are very resilient and adaptable.  In other ways we are quite fragile and brittle.  Sometimes the smallest thing can lay us low – a spider bite, a burn, a wound infection.  While in other ways we can seem nearly indestructible – surviving an automobile crash or a gunshot wound that seemed surely lethal.

                When we are confronted with life and death situations – wither our own or someone else’s – we may not always have the luxury of simply dialing an emergency number.  We may be forced to handle things on our own.  In those times there may be no one else to turn to – we may be on our own.  It is then it will be best if we have had some medical training, or at least to have studied a book on emergency medical care.

                From army infantry days I remember my medical ABCs:  clear the Airway/stop the Bleeding/Control for shock/Dress the wound.  While such teaching may seem simplistic, it is something that can be remembered and it builds a framework within which we may act, rather than wringing our hands in anguish.

                The very first thing to do in any trauma situation is to keep your head.  It does no one any good if you panic.  And, the more you know about what you’re doing, the less likely you are to panic.  So take a deep breath and become aware of what is going on.  Do you have any injuries yourself that need to be treated?  Is it safe for you to approach the scene?  What hazards may you be facing?  Falling glass or concrete?  Toxic chemicals?  A rabid animal?  The potential for explosions?  Other cars becoming involved, in the case of an auto accident?  Violent perpetrators still in the area?  Noxious fumes?

                If you can connect with emergency medical responders, do so.  Once you have evaluated the potential risks at the location, move into action.  Do not move the patient unless theming there where they are could result in further injury.  Wear medical gloves to treat the patient, if you have them.  If there is more than one victim, you will need to decide who has the most urgent need of assistance.

                Who can ever forget their own brushes with medical emergencies?  The young soldier crying out for help in the dark after being bitten by a rattlesnake down by the river and me risking the drill sergeants’ wrath insisting that the Survival Escape and Evasion drill be called off in favor of rescuing that recruit there at Fort Knox.  A woman standing alongside the road with blood streaming down her face after an automobile crash up in Michigan.  Our son’s accident where he had been ejected from the car which then rolled over on his head – pinning him to the pavement.  (And me showing up at the ER and seeing his head all out-of-shape and thinking it had been crushed completely and that this would be the last time I would ever see him alive).  And Nancy’s accident where she kept asking over and over again “Where’s Dara?” (Our granddaughter who had been in the car only minutes earlier and who had thankfully been dropped off at the babysitter’s).  And no one knew where Dara was for the longest time and the State Troopers even went back to search the scene again, lest her car seat had been thrown off into the rocky ditch somewhere.  Oh, Lord, those are harsh memories that make me queasy even now.

Copyright 2021 James D. Sanderson.  Parts of this post are from 'Shelter at Home' a book in progress.