Do you carry any first aid stuff?

[Finn]

I always carry a band aid and some first aid cream. Hopefully I will never have to use it.

If it's something a little more serious I tend to call 111. Those guys carry quite a comprehensive first aid kit in those ambulances. If I'm unable to dial the number, there's normally someone around that will.

[bugjuice]

hope the peeps who clicked the 'no, but I know what I'm doing' actually know what they're doing!

[Crisis management]

hope the peeps who clicked the 'no, but I know what I'm doing' actually know what they're doing!

I would be more concerned about the ones that are relying on a first aid kit to make up for a lack of first aid knowledge.

[bugjuice]

well, that too.. but if you have one and aren't too sure, then you'd give it to someone who did. If you don't have one and say you know what you're doing, then how does it look?

[pritch]

I would be more concerned about the ones that are relying on a first aid kit to make up for a lack of first aid knowledge.

These things are all relative.

Last accident scene I was present at, from looking at the car and what was left of the bike, I assumed the rider to have a fractured pelvis, two fractured femurs and probably internal injuries as well. (Pretty much accurate.)

Other than ringing 111 for a helicopter (someone else had already done that) and stopping any further injuries, I wouldn't really know what to do in a case like that. A bandaid sure as hell ain't gonna be much use...

By chance there was an ambulance officer and a Nurse in attendance so I directed traffic.

[Crisis management]

There are only so many things you can do; you can stop bleeding, apply CPR and keep victims comfortable. All of that you require knowledge for (and some improvisation to stop bleeding.)
A first aid kit is not essential, it may be nice to have but it will not affect the outcome at all.
If its serious what you need is to get help. There is nothing else to do.
Morbid as hell, but the reality of high speed accidents is that an operating theatre is the only place to be.

Do first aid courses!!!!!!

[JMemonic]

Since I had a St John's ambo officer remove my helmet recently and he didnt have any idea on how to remove my helmet, until I told him how it is done... like pull out the sides wide and get it up over my ears...
He was ripping it off me... like he had just been told that I had gone over the handlebars and landed directly on the top of my head and then bounced twice on my chin... I'm lying on my belly and he was just about ripping my ears off.
The other ambo officer was doing other things, like getting the trolley out of the truck.

I also think ALL ambo officers should be taught on how to remove helmets as well. Those ambo's that ride bikes know how it is done...

WTF I did industrial first aid and have had 3 refreshers now as part of my job, my tutor is a paramedic, his words were do not remove any head protection, unless it is vital to remove it, he told us a story about taking folks to A&E still wearing their helmets, where they can cut them off which is far safer then yanking on a damaged spine, there are folks out there who are technically tetraplegic's yet are walking cause of proper first aid. Only remove the helmet if you need to proform cpr, I seem to recollect thats what the manual says as well.

One of the first things that needs to be taught is do nothing unless it needs to be done, as part of my training we do triarge, which I understand from my last refresher the basic first aid course does not cover, serously folks if you get the chance do this piece of study its wll worth it.

As a side note you folks who have had your certs lapse get the done again, there are a lot of changes, ie recently CPR went from 15 compressions to 2 breaths 30 to 2 fo adults thats the kind of info you need to know

[JMemonic]

The one thought I have had (yes it is friday and that is my weeks allocation) is more to do with how does the ambulance find you? Not so bad in the city but if your out in the country or any area you don't know- no road signs - what do you tell the guy on the end of the 111 call? How about portable GPS? Any good ideas out there?

Rapid numbers, or rough landmarks and distances work well, anything that helps, you would be surprised at what local ambo offices now about their district.

[Bob]

WTF I did industrial first aid and have had 3 refreshers now as part of my job, my tutor is a paramedic, his words were do not remove any head protection, unless it is vital to remove it

I took the "Emergency First Aid for Motorcyclists" course run by St John Ambulance. And they showed us how to take off a helmet safely. And drummed into us that you N E V E R remove a helmet unless there is a life-threatening situation (like they're not breathing and you need to administer CPR). Having been shown how to remove a helmet (you need at least two people to have any chance), it is terrifying. We had to take turns at being the "victim", then the person supporting the helmet and finally the one removing it. By the end, everyone was coated in sweat as it is SO tricky to do with any degree of safety.

As JMemonic says, the risk of causing far greater injury (for all you know, the helmet is the only thing keeping their spine intact at the neck region) outweighs any need to remove a helmet unless immediate emergency treatment is needed to keep them alive.

Back to the course - we were taught scene assessment, how to check breathing and for any fractures or other injuries, how to put someone into the recovery position (so simple once you know how) and CPR. We were also given the basics of putting on a bandage.

So to the original subject - I carry a bandage and a mouth guard in case I need to adminster CPR. I keep meaning to add a triangular bandage to the kit, as they can be used for all sorts of things.

Thanks for advising the change in breaths/compressions ratio - I'd not heard that. Of course, this kinda makes a mess of using the old childrens song "Nelly the Elephant" to get the rythm and numbers right.

(Seriously, do Nelly the Elephant up to the end of "Off she went with a trumpety trump, trump, trump, trump" and it is 15 compressions. Suppose now just double it)

[kevie]

I carry a large bumbag with a mini version of my trauma kit, I carry it with me at work (linehaul trucker) and wear it on rides.
I have a full trauma kit in my car too.
Im trained up to Primary care 2 ambulance level altho I have quit ambulance after a few years as a volunteer.
Had it with me when we went on the Palmy ride a couple weeks ago ... and while Im prepared for the worse.... always relieved and hoping it never happens to any of the riders.

I often wonder in an organized ride wether its an OSH requirement for someone to be 'firstaide' on the ride ...... oops now were getting technical eh lol
But its good for anyone that is firstaide qual'd to approach the organizer of the ride and make themselves known, aspecially if you have a kit with you.

[bugjuice]

I often wonder in an organized ride wether its an OSH requirement for someone to be 'firstaide' on the ride

there's no OSH stuff here.. just a bunch of guys n gals riding bikes.. doesn't even come into it

[kevie]

LOL yeh the emergency service personel do have a good local knowledge, but in same light ..... give as much info on location as you can, sometimes the 'local' meat wagon isnt available and they send one from a neighbouring area ... and bearing in mind .,.. when you dial 111 on a cell phone your call could be picked up as far away as Christchurch control centre and they dont even know where the North Island is lmao I had an incident where I came across a car fire at 1am and had to explain to the operator where Kakariki was and what was the nearest responding station LOL .. they didnt have a clue.

[kevie]

heheheheheh

got a reaction eh :P

[JMemonic]

LOL yeh the emergency service personel do have a good local knowledge, but in same light ..... give as much info on location as you can, sometimes the 'local' meat wagon isnt available and they send one from a neighbouring area ... and bearing in mind .,.. when you dial 111 on a cell phone your call could be picked up as far away as Christchurch control centre and they dont even know where the North Island is lmao I had an incident where I came across a car fire at 1am and had to explain to the operator where Kakariki was and what was the nearest responding station LOL .. they didnt have a clue.

And from here in the mainland we have the same issue except wait for it, had to ring police comms emergency number for a serious matter, got an operator in Auckland the conversation was going now where fast and it took me a few minutes to work out what was going on, things like there is no intersetcion between those streets etc, turned out she was looking at the wrong map, hung up and rang the local camms number and went straight through, the operator there suggested it might have been as I was on a cell phone it went through to Auckland. Brilliant system ..... not.

[kevie]

Yeh when I was on Ambulance we had a caller phoned 111 and screamed down the phone there was a reallllly bad crash on the intersection of 2 streets ... then hung up, EMS were sent to that addy in Auckland where the operator had 'picked up the 111' only to find nothing there , they couldnt get the caller back on phone so ambulance control had to wait till they called back, turned out it was at a town in South Island.