Being prepared

havent done a course in decades, its a good idea though..

I've had a number of jobs which value the employees having senior 1st aid. Currently they are paying for it. I've been renewing it for more than twenty years. Leading more than 400 activities for a club some years back and i never even got out a band aid. Wilderness 1st aid might be more useful. More costly though.

My tramping club subsidises first aid courses for members. There's a designated First Aider on any Club hike. Usually falls to the professional nurses.

Spent time with the Red Cross in my youth the skills obtained have been useful throughout my life and continue to be so.

I've been doing first aid courses regularly since I was a teenager but not for a while though. During my time as a Mtn Safety instructor, we did them annually. My job puts us through CPR training annually though the different protocol (2 resusitators vs 1) is a wee bit confusing. I'm also a registered nurse but the skill set is a bit different. First aiders used to regard nurses as being a bit conceited and out of their depth for some scenarios as the hospital setting is better resourced with staff and equipment. That might have changed though. In the outdoors, we can always improvise e.g. walking poles for splinting. My worst experiences involved a fatal fall and with Frank, a broken leg (double spiral # of tibia). Being able to diagnose hyperventilation in one instance was helpful. I've yet to see genuine hypothermia. Sometimes people are just a bit sulky and cold! One time, our local president who was a paramedic slipped while crossing a stream and fell, cutting his forehead. Everyone hung back, including several first aid instructors and I was hanging back too as I thought in the pecking order, I would be low down to rush in and assist. But in other circumstances I would have whipped off my pack, taken out the roll of toilet paper I keep in the top pocket and pressed that one his cut in the matter of a few seconds. I got to follow my own advice recently when I walked into a very sharp object, cutting above my eye. I got Frank to whip out the toilet paper roll while I pressed on my cut with a non-adhesive dressing and then he tied the roll on with his bandana. I then put my neck muff over that, then 2 hats. We walked to the car (half an hour away) and the cut had stopped bleeding when I removed the toilet paper and telfa dressing. I put steristrips on and it healed nicely.