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In the event of a disaster or a post apocalyptic setting, basic first aid will mean the difference
between life and death. It is unlikely that hospital’s or Dr offices will still be in operation.
A simple scratch or cut today could potentially prove fatal in a post apocalyptic event. If
you don’t have the water and soap to clean wound’s you can easily get an infection.
Basic first aid!
Have you taken any first aid training like CPR or wound care? There are plenty of classes
that you can take that will teach you how to properly perform first aid! CPR is something
that you’ll need to retrain every other year for, they always seem to be making changes
or updating the technique’s used.
There are a few different goals to basic first aid, those include the Three P’s and the CAB.
The three P’s to First Aid are:
- Preserve Life
- Prevent Further injury
- Promote Recovery
To Preserve Life means to keep that person injured alive to the best of your abilities. With basic first aid, this shouldn’t be much of a problem.
Preventing further injury is very important. Moving someone who has just been in a car wreck is never a good idea, unless they are in extreme danger! Doing so could cause more internal bleeding or spinal damage.
Promoting recovery means just that, help them heal.
Now with the CAB goals this is pretty much CPR, but with different verbiage.
- C is for Circulation
- A is for Airway
- B is for Breathing
CPR stands for Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation
In order to cause Circulation you need to be pumping/compressing the chest in order to keep the blood circulating.
You want to make sure the Airway is clear. If you find someone that is not breathing and you see vomit near them, you should lay them on their side to help keep their airway open. You can also try the Heimlich Maneuver.
Breathing refers to the “Mouth to Mouth” when giving CPR. You are essentially breathing air into their open airway to keep fresh oxygen circulating through their blood. This helps to prevent damage to the brain.
In this day and age you never know what kind of diseases someone might have, so it is always best to have a CPR Mask before you start giving mouth to mouth to a stranger. Also keep in mind that their breath might smell horrible.
Now you can just do the chest compressions if you aren’t comfortable with doing mouth to mouth, that is entirely up to you.
Also keep in mind that as far as the amount of chest compressions and breaths given do change from time to time, so it is always best to stay updated on this. If you are on the phone with 911 they can walk you through the steps.
To Suture or not to Suture?
We often times see post’s on the internet about buying the latest and greatest Suturing kit and how they are going to be sewing everyone up when SHTF. Please be very cautious when doing so, this can actually do more harm than good!
Suturing someone up is not always the right thing to do. Sure a Suturing kit is something
good to invest in, but you really do need to know and understand the dangers of sewing someone up that shouldn’t be sewn up.
Lets say Bobby Ray was noodling down in the local creek, he ended up slicing his forearm up when he reached under the opening. Now his arm is bleeding heavily. You need to stop or slow down the flow of blood.
You grab a rag or towel that you have recently used to wipe your hands off with and apply pressure. You do manage to stop the bleeding but its a wide cut. You end up washing the cut out the best that you can and decide to sew it up.
Two weeks later Bobby is in surgery to get his arm amputated because he had gotten a nasty infection. The infection was brought on by the very small bacteria that was still left inside the wound and when it was sewn up it created a breeding ground for the bacteria to flourish!
I’m not saying that you should never suture anyone up, but you do need to take into consideration the circumstances of how they were injured. Sometimes as long as the bleeding has stopped it is best to just leave the wound open but covered. You will want to change the dressing very often though.
Minor cuts and scrapes
One common misconception is that you need to use triple antibiotic ointment every time you apply a band-aid or dressing. But after further research into this I’ve decided not to use this.
The reason being is that out of the 3 antimicrobial compounds, there is one in particular that a lot of people will get a rash from. That is because some people have an allergic reaction to it. Now everyone is different and reacts differently but people can actually have reactions from any of the 3 compounds.
Now you can find out which one is causing the issue through trial and error, or you could consult a Dr and have some tests run, but its cheaper just to try the different ointments.
The allergic reaction causes a rash around the wound and can resemble an infection, even though its not. This is helping with the over use of antibiotics because folks will go to the Dr a week or so after continually applying the ointment thinking its not working when in all actuality it is the ointment causing the rash and there is no infection.
Find which ointment works best for you and stick to it!
Now with that out of the way, you should always try to keep a wound covered as long as it can breathe. You want to keep out the germs, but if the wound can’t breathe then it can cause an infection.
How to use a Tourniquet!
You can make a tourniquet out of just about anything, or you can buy them as well.
There are many wrong ways you can use a tourniquet so today I will be telling you the right way to use them. Every second counts!
Lets jump back to the story of Bobby Ray and his noodling incident. Lets say that the direct pressure to the wound didn’t help stop the bleeding. Now remember the cut was on his forearm.
What you would do is you would want to apply the tourniquet at least two inches above the wound. You want to apply it to bare skin, so remove the clothing or cut it away. But remember that every second counts so if it’ll take longer to cut the clothing away then just apply it over the clothing.
Now lets say that you don’t have a tourniquet kit that you bought from a store or online. You can also use rope or a belt.
When using a rope, you want to wrap it around the extremity two inches above the wound. While tieing the rope you want to put a stick in the knot in order to twist it to apply more pressure.
When using a belt, just loop it through and pull it as tight as you can and hold it in place.
If the bleeding still persists, then continue to apply pressure. Keep in mind that you will not be able to stop every gusher, but do the best that you can!
What should a First Aid Kit contain?
These do vary from situation to situation but I will give you the basic items to have on hand. You can make some adjustments as you see fit.
- You need band-aids in a variety of sizes.
- Gauze pads and strips in a variety of sizes.
- Sterile eye dressings
- Tweezers
- Antibiotic ointment
- Tourniquet
- Silvasorb
- Aquaphor
- Thermometer
- Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Aspirin
- Emergency Blanket
- CPR Mask
- Latex/Non-Latex gloves
- Emergency First Aid Guide
What are some of the other item’s that you have in your First Aid Kit?