First Aid Basics

I just got certified in CPR and First Aid last month with the American Heart Association. I wanted to share this information with you, because a lot of what we see on TV is not at all accurate as to what you’re supposed to do to actually help someone. Here are some of the topics that were covered:

First Aid Basics

Here are the steps you should follow when addressing a situation where a person may be injured/unconscious:

Check to make sure the scene is safe- you are no help to anybody if you also get hurt

If the person is responsive: “Are you okay?”

If they are unresponsive, hit their shoulders hard and yell: “Are you okay?” to see if you can rouse them

Phone 911 and put the phone on speaker (you can delegate this task to somebody else if you’re not alone)

Have somebody get a First Aid kit (don’t leave the person if you’re by yourself unless the 911 operator tells you to)

Is the person conscious? Unconscious?

Check them for any obvious signs of injury

Check them for medical jewelry

Remember

Time is of the essence! Be decisive and confident.

Don’t be afraid to call for help and assign people tasks

You can only perform CPR on a flat service. If a person needs CPR and is on a bed or in a chair, move them to the floor immediately. Don’t worry about hurting their head or anything, if they don’t get CPR immediately, their life expectancy is significantly less. (See my CPR post for full details)

Do not move the person unless the area they’re in is unsafe. If you have to move the person, drag them by their clothes and pull them to safety.

Adult Choking

There are both mild and severe cases of adult choking. In a mild case, the person choking will be able to make a sound or cough loudly. Typically these cases resolve themselves.

Ask: “Are you choking? Can I help you?”

If the person cannot make a sound or cough in response, they are suffering from severe choking.

Walk around back of the person and put your arms around them

Make a fist with your dominant hand

Place your fist slightly above the belly button and below the chest bone.

Grasp the fist with your other hand

Give quick upward thrusts

If the person is overweight or pregnant, put your arms around the person’s armpits.

If you are unsuccessful in removing the blockage, the person will quickly become unresponsive. You will need to perform adult CPR and call 911.

After chest compressions (see above link) check person’s mouth to see if the thing they choked on is visible. If it is visible, remove it. Never going digging around in someone’s mouth.

Amputation

Call 911 and put the phone on speaker

Get a First Aid kit

Both these steps can be delegated to someone else if they’re around

Put gauze on the wound and apply pressure until the bleeding stops

Do not remove the gauze if it’s bled through- this will remove any blood clots that have formed.

If the gauze is bled through, add more gauze on top and keep applying pressure until the bleeding stops

Clean the amputated part with water

Warp the amputated part with dressing

Put the amputated part in a small plastic bag

Get a larger plastic bag and fill it with equal parts ice and water

Put the small plastic bag inside the large plastic bag

Label the bag with person’s name and time of the injury

Asthma (How to Operate an Inhaler)

People diagnosed with asthma will typically be aware of it and may have an inhaler on them. If someone has an asthma attack:

Ask them: “Are you okay? Do you need your inhaler?”

The person will probably be able to give some sort of indication in response

If they need their inhaler:

Locate the inhaler

Put the medicine (metallic capsule pictured below) in the inhaler if it is not already in there, it will click into place

Shake the inhaler to activate the medicine

Attach the mouth piece if it’s unattached (not all inhalers have one, it is not pictured below)

Remove the cap (cap is darker blue piece pictured below)

Have the person put their head back

Put the inhaler in the person’s mouth

Push down on the canister and have them breathe out slowly

They should begin to feel relief immediately, but you should still have them sit down and take it easy for a while

Call 911 if they are still having difficulty breathing after the inhaler has been administered

Bee Sting

Usually bee stings present only mild irritation and pain. If the person stung has a severe allergic reaction, you will need to call 911.

Get a first aid kit

Scrape away the bee stinger and venom sack using a credit card or something similar in nature

Wash the affected area with lots of soap and running water

Wrap a bag of ice in a towel and place it over the affected area for 20 minutes or until the pain is gone

Watch the person for up to 30 minutes for signs of an allergic reaction

Call 911 if they present any classic allergy symptoms

Bleeding from Nose

Have the person lean their head forward

Get a First Aid kit

Or have someone else get one

Have the bleeding person apply pressure to the bridge of their nose using gauze from the First Aid kit

Do not remove the gauze if it’s bled through- this will remove any blood clots that have formed.

If the gauze is bled through, add more gauze on top until the bleeding stops

Call 911 if the bleeding lasts longer than 15 minutes

Heat Cramps/Dehydration

Can lead to heat exhaustion! These typically happen when someone is dehydrated and tries to do lots of physical activity.

Have the person sit down and cool off

Have them drink something with sugar and electrolytes

Water will work in a pinch but sugary drinks and gatorade are preferred

Heat Exhaustion

Call 911 and put the phone on speaker

Have the person lie down

Cool the person by pouring water on them or wetting them with wet cloths until they begin to act normally

Have them drink something with sugar and electrolytes

Water will work in a pinch but sugary drinks and gatorade are preferred

Wait with them until help arrives

Opioid Overdose

My instructor said that these will often happen in an unsafe or an isolated environment. Always check to make sure that the scene is safe- look out for needles.

Naloxone is used to revive people who have overdosed on opioids. If you find someone who has overdosed on opioids you happen to have naloxone on you and know how to administer it, the American Heart Association recommends that you use it instead of waiting for help to arrive.

Responsive:

Yell for help

Call 911 and put the phone on speaker

Wait with the person until help arrives

Unresponsive

Yell for help

Call 911 and put the phone on speaker

Perform five cycles of adult CPR

Wait for help

Seizure

Seizures are abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Typical seizure symptoms: spasms, muscle rigidity, and unconsciousness. Seizures typically last between 60-90 seconds before the person gains consciousness.

Do NOT touch the person who is having a seizure

Do NOT put anything in their mouth

Call 911 and put the phone on speaker

If there are people around, ask them to get a First Aid kit while you wait with the person having the seizure

Don’t leave the person having a seizure if you are alone

Move objects away from the person having the seizure so that they don’t knock into them

If possible, place a small towel/pad underneath the person’s head

If the person starts vomiting, turn them over on their side so that they don’t choke

If possible use gloves and an eye mask from a First Aid kit to avoid exposure to bodily fluids

After they come to, they may be bleeding from the mouth.

Use gauze from a First Aid kit to stop the bleeding

Have them apply pressure with the gauze until the bleeding stops

Stay with the person until help arrives

Splints

Splints should be significantly longer than the injured area. They’re used to constrict movement, so the person is injured should not be able to move freely once the splint is applied. Splints are use to treat broken/dislocated bones. It’s very difficult to tell if a bone is actually broken or just dislocated, so don’t worry about it and just splint the thing.

Call 911 and put the phone on speaker

Get a First Aid kit

Both these steps can be delegated to someone else if they’re around

Put on gloves/eye glasses from the First Aid kit to avoid contamination from bodily fluids

Cover exposed wound area with gauze

Do not remove the gauze if it’s bled through- this will remove any blood clots that have formed.

If the gauze is bled through, add more gauze on top until the bleeding stops.

Place a strip of rigid material underneath the injured area

Use gauze/dressing from the First Aid kit to secure the splint by wrapping material above and below the injured area

Never tie material directly over the injury

Have the person stay as still as possible until help arrives

Stroke

Strokes are caused from blockage/bleeding from things like blood clots. Typical signs of a stroke: face drooping (or numbness), arm weakness (or numbness), and speech difficulty. There is nothing much you can do except wait with the person and try to make them comfortable until help arrives.

Call 911 and put the phone on speaker

Note the time that the stroke symptoms began (this will help hospital technicians)

Stay with the person until help arrives

Tourniquets

Some First Aid kits will come with a pre-made tourniquet. If your kit does not have a tourniquet you can make one fairly easily. Tourniquets should only be used for injuries where the person is squirting blood. No squirting blood? Use a splint.

Call 911 and put the phone on speaker

Get a First Aid kit

Both these steps can be delegated to someone else if they’re around

Put on gloves/eye glasses from the First Aid kit to avoid contamination from bodily fluids

Fold cloth or a bandage so that it’s long and an inch wide

Wrap the the bandage/cloth two inches above the wound

Never apply a tourniquet bandage/cloth on a joint (like elbows or knees).

Find a small stick

Place the small stick atop the cloth/bandage and tie it there

You can now turn the small stick to tighten the cloth/bandage

Have the injured person lay down and try to move as little as possible

Do not remove the tourniquet- even if the bleeding stops.

Wait until help arrives.

I wanna tell you guys a story,

Not too long ago, my friend Bella came out as aromantic to me, and now I’ve got some things to say.

I was the one who told her what aromantic means, because I was explaining different sexual orientations to her. I remember saying, “Asexualiy is when you have romantic attraction, but no sexual attraction.”

Bella immedently, without missing a beat, asked, “Is there an opposite to that?”

I asked what she meant, and she asked if there was a term for sexual attraction but no romantic attraction. I told her about aromantics. She got weirdly quiet, then excused herself.

Not two weeks later I was heading to my boat. I was supposed to meet Bella and another one of our muteral friends there for a day of fishing.

As soon as I was in earshot, I saw Bella storming off the boat, and our other friend standing there like an idiot. Boi had no idea what was happening.

Anyway, Bella isn’t looking where she’s going and walks smack dab into me. That’s when I realized she was crying. Puffy red eyes, wet cheeks, the whole nine yards… And if you know anything about Bells, she does not cry. Ever.

She’s been through some serious crap in her life, and she does not cry. She’s tough as nails. Bella has a steel core. She does not not cry. I’ve seen her fall off a roof and break her arm before, not a single tear. I can’t stress this enough, Bella. Doesn’t. Cry.

So seeing her in tears shook me. I took her by the shoulders and escorted her somewhere more private where we could talk. We ended up in the women’s restroom, which was weird as fuck for me, because haven’t been in a woman’s rest room for years. Luckily it was empty, and I’m realistic, I know I don’t pass so well, so I don’t think anyone would have said anything anyway.

Before I can even ask her what’s wrong she hugs me around my middle and burys her face in my hoodie. Then, in a voice I can only describe as traumatized, she says, “I think I’m broken.”

I’ve never seen her in so much pain, and Bella and I are CLOSE. She’s one of my dearest friends. She’s like my little sister, but if she’s like my sister, our other muteral friend is like her twin. He and Bella have know each other WAY longer, they’re practically inseparable. They come as a pair. They’re a duo. They’re a package deal.

Appearently, said muteral friend asked Bella out and forcefully kissed her. She shoved him off, and told him she’s aromantic, which she only recently figured out. She wasn’t ready to be out, but this muteral friend left her no choice. She tried telling him no, and he didn’t listen. Bella saw no other option.

Quote on quote, this is what he said to Bella. “That’s okay. You just haven’t dated me yet. We’ve been like, unofficially together for years. You’re probably just freaked out that it’s finally going somewhere.”

After that I’m not 100% clear on what happened, but apparently Bella kept saying no Nd trying to explain herself, but he kept insisting he could ‘fix her.’

Eventudally she started crying and stormed away. That’s when I found her.

Keep in mind, this was her first experience coming out, and her best, closest friend insisted he could fix her and forcefully kissed her. I found out later he also implied corrective rape would ‘solve the problem.’

Bella was traumatized. She’s still traumatized. I tried to make her feel better by buying her an aro pride shirt, and taking her go a local LGBTQ+ hang out. I wanted her to be around like minded people, so she could see she wasn’t broken, and her identity deserved to be respected.

Instead of a warm, welcoming environment… The first thing someone said to her was, “This place is for REAL lgbt people. You don’t belong here.” He also implied she wasn’t human.

Just think about that for a minute. Her first experiences with being an out aromantic have been limited to;

A person she trusted more than anyone forcing himself upon her, claiming she was ill, and needed to be fixed. (Raped.)

Sobbing in my arms in the women’s restroom because she thought she was broken and defective.

Being told she wasn’t welcomed in LGBTQ+ spaces and called inhuman.

This isn’t what I want for her. Bella deserves better than this. She needs a support system, not all this crap. I’ve spent the past week trying to undo all the damage exclusionists, arophobes, and people she trusted did.

Aromantics and asexuals belong in the LGBTQ+ community. You literally cannot change my mind.

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oracleofthepast

4 years ago

Heard Some Important Information On Twitter Today, And Thought I’d Post It Here For Anyone Who May

Heard some important information on Twitter today, and thought I’d post it here for anyone who may not have heard it. This is actually a thing, devised by human rights organisation called Karma Nirvana.

Reblog to save a life?

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oracleofthepast

5 years ago

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oracleofthepast

1 year ago

FEMA is doing an emergency alert test on all TVs, radios, and cell phones on October 4, 2023, at approximately 2:20pm ET.

If you live in the US and you have a phone you need to keep secret for any reason, make sure that it is turned off at this time.

Yes, I'm doing this months in advance, and yes, my blog has very little reach, but I figure better to post about it more than less.

Please reblog and add better tags than mine, I'm bad at tags.

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oracleofthepast

5 years ago

I spent my two-hour layover mourning the two halves of my Ovation. Help me save others from the same fate!

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oracleofthepast

5 years ago

As a note! Therapists cannot tell your parents what goes on in your sessions, but they are legally required to tell them if you are in danger of hurting yourself or others (if you’re a minor)

"Should parents read their daughter's texts or monitor her online activity for bad language and inappropriate content?"

Earlier today, I served as the “young woman’s voice” in a panel of local experts at a Girl Scouts speaking event. One question for the panel was something to the effect of, “Should parents read their daughter’s texts or monitor her online activity for bad language and inappropriate content?”

I was surprised when the first panelist answered the question as if it were about cyberbullying. The adult audience nodded sagely as she spoke about the importance of protecting children online.

I reached for the microphone next. I said, “As far as reading your child’s texts or logging into their social media profiles, I would say 99.9% of the time, do not do that.”

Looks of total shock answered me. I actually saw heads jerk back in surprise. Even some of my fellow panelists blinked.

Everyone stared as I explained that going behind a child’s back in such a way severs the bond of trust with the parent. When I said, “This is the most effective way to ensure that your child never tells you anything,” it was like I’d delivered a revelation.

It’s easy to talk about the disconnect between the old and the young, but I don’t think I’d ever been so slapped in the face by the reality of it. It was clear that for most of the parents I spoke to, the idea of such actions as a violation had never occurred to them at all.

It alarms me how quickly adults forget that children are people.

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