Safety un-Limited

What to say to someone while you’re doing first aid on them

Posted on 23/05/2013 by Tony Howarth

Wow, we get some interesting questions from blog visitors. It’s hard to know where to start with this one as it seems to come instinctively now – just be yourself. Still, there are some hints and tips we can share about what to say to someone while you’re doing first aid on them.

What NOT to say – 4 basic traps

Perhaps this is the easier place to start! What not to say to someone while you’re doing first aid on them. Obviously there’s plenty you shouldn’t say or discuss, but here are four traps that are easy to fall into. Try and avoid them.

Don’t make a diagnosis: unless you’re an MD. Sure you may think it’s epilepsy, but there are a dozen other causes of seizures. Do you know it’s diabetes and not, say, a pancreatic tumor? We think not. Leave the diagnosing to the docs. If you need to say something, then “It looks like…” or “It could be…” But make it clear this is only your best guess.

Don’t make promises you aren’t able to keep. If you offer to phone family for an injured person, be sure to do it. If you promise to stay until help arrives, then stay. ‘Promises’ also includes platitudes like “Everything will be OK.” Really? And we have your personal, medical guarantee on that? Better to stick with truths like “I’ve seen worse” – if you have, but….

Don’t belittle their experience. Sure you’ve seen worse, and you’re wondering what all the fuss is about. Still, if they’ve come to track you down and ask for help, then they think the injury is important. Respect that and help them – even if you are going to laugh about it later on.

Don’t ‘fear the worst’. They’re already worried about what is happening to them. They don’t need you to add to that – you’re supposed to be a source of comfort. “Oh **** you’re having a heart attack” isn’t comforting – even if it is true. “This might hurt” is reasonable, but not so much “you’ll never walk again”.

This might hurt

Ok, so that’s the traps and what not to say, but back to the big (and slightly long) question of ‘what to say to someone while you’re doing first aid on them’. Stick to civil, polite, conversation that’s acceptable/normal to the context. Try some of the following.

What you might say

Give Direction: May or may not be needed. Things like “don’t move” or “hold this”! Taking charge of the situation makes you seem more professional and confident, even if you don’t feel like it!

Comfort & Reassure: Accidents and Injuries are often scary for people on the receiving end. It’s reassuring to know there’s an ambulance on the way, or “I can help”. One of our Facebook fans told us the best thing she’d ever been told was “You’re safe now”.

First Aid Assessment: OK, you’ve found the obvious injury – now ask about any others. Sure they put their back out lifting a heavy box, now you’re applying ice to their back ask if they dropped the box on their foot as well. Often a painful injury can prevent other, smaller injuries from being noticed in the moment. After I smashed several teeth, it took me most of an hour to notice I’d broken my hand as well.

Medical History: What else do you need to know about the person, or what would it be useful to know? Conditions, allergies, medications, etc.

Treatment: Hopefully you don’t need to be told this – explain what you’re going to do and why. People are curious and want to know, especially when it’s them with the injury.

Events leading up to the injury: Once you’re done with the medical stuff, turn your focus to what they were doing and start a conversation. So they fell while climbing? Ask them about climbing, how long have they done it? Favourite places to climb, places they dislike, why do it in the first place, has this fall put them off……? There are lots of things you can ask in situations like this. Just don’t turn it into an interrogation!

Family & Friends: An easy way to start a conversation while you’re waiting for help as long as it seems relevant.

What do you say to someone while doing first aid on them?

So, what exactly were you doing?

Future plans: Maybe a conversation piece, but be careful with this one. Asking the dude who’s injured during a marathon when his next one is would be reasonable to talk about while waiting for the ambulance. Asking him what his plans for the weekend are might seem like you’re hitting on him.

Posted in basics | Tagged conversations, First aid | Leave a comment

EMS – What to say and Who arrives?

Posted on 14/05/2013 by Tony Howarth

Just what should I say when calling EMS? What happens next? What else will they do/ask me? Who arrives when I call? There seem to be common themes to some of the questions people type in to a search engine before they arrive here at our site. So today’s post will deal with these. Before we get started, remember that we’re based in BC, Canada. What happens in your area could be slightly different (or even very different – perhaps you can use the comment section to tell us).

911 – Police, Fire Ambulance?

When you call 911 locally, the call taker will ask “Do you need police, fire or ambulance?” Use your judgement on this, but you’re reading a First Aid blog, so you’ll probably be asking for the Ambulance! They should also ask you which municipality (tell them, or tell them which town you’re calling from).

Canadian Forces Bison Ambulance – probably doesn’t respond to civilian 911 calls

Once the call taker knows what you need, and where, they will connect you to that service (For example, ‘the ambulance’ in ‘Whistler’ gets you connected to Whistler Ambulance service – you get the idea!) The person who answered your call will also stay on the line until the requested service actually answers your call. The whole thing should take under 30 sec and is often much quicker.

If you aren’t sure which service to ask for, they are trained to ask you a few questions and make a quick decision. And don’t worry about ‘getting it right’ – if someone at your house fire needs an ambulance too, you’ll be sure to get one. They do talk to each other!

EMS – What to say

Once you’re connected to the ambulance service, the detailed information can start. You need to tell EMS:

Where you are calling from
The phone number there
How many people need EMS
Are they conscious & breathing (or not)
Other details of their injury
Anything else you’re asked for

Tell EMS where you are

The more information you can give, the better (and more quickly) they’ll be able to find you. Street address and cross streets are a good start where applicable. Think about the building and how the EMS crew will find you. Residential houses may be relatively easy, but once you are in a multi-story building with many rooms on each floor, much more detail will be needed.

If you’re not in a place where roads & streets apply, think about how the crew can get to you. Trail names, GPS co-ordinates, place names, landmarks, etc. “On Whistler mountain” is not going to get you a fast response – be as specific as you can. At this time, as far as I know, they don’t have the technology to do some kind of ‘reverse-GPS-look-up’ thingy on your phone’s location. Not in a way that’s going to be meaningful to your emergency, anyway.

Tell them the phone number

So that if you get cut off, or they need more information, they can call you back. Sure a land-line may have caller display, but even that can be incorrect, and your cell phone may not have.

Tell EMS about the Casualties

How many people are involved – they want to know how many ambulances to send! Is the person/people breathing or not? Conscious or not? This should be a base-line minimum of information that you have when calling. Obviously the more information you can give the better, and they will ask for sure. But if you’re involved in CPR, you may not have time for the finer points of the medical history. Tell them you’re doing CPR – they understand! Consider telling EMS if this is a baby, child, adult, elderly person – certainly in Vancouver you may be lucky enough to get a paediatric service if that’s what is needed.

Stay on the Line

Keep the connection to EMS until they tell you they’re done talking. Unless you’re a lone person dealing with a life-threatening emergency, you can spare the time. Don’t hang up the call just because you think you’re done, they may be just about to ask you something else.

Calling EMS – Who’s coming?

Whoever is nearby. Yes, you’ll get the ambulance you asked for eventually. In my personal experience though, if there’s a fire crew closer, they’ll get there faster. (They’re big and red and make cars move!)

If your incident requires more than one service, they’ll all turn up anyway – eg: major road accidents.

Tips for calling 911

Posted in basics | Tagged Emergency medical services, EMS, Vancouver | Leave a comment

Disaster preparedness – Emergencies are Sexy?

Posted on 10/05/2013 by Tony Howarth

Emergencies are Sexy – really? Let’s be honest, there’s nothing pleasant about being caught in the middle of a disaster. But perhaps, just perhaps, surviving an emergency unharmed, with that special person could, in fact, be sexy. Maybe we’ve just been working in Healthcare & Safety Training for too long, but here’s our top 5 reasons why disaster preparedness and emergencies are sexy.

Chocolate

Do you need any other reasons? Actually, we have talked about this in the past but here is a quick refresher for your disaster preparedness: Chocolate should be in every post-apocalypse kit. It is high energy and takes up little space for the amount of tasty calories provided. It’s easy to pack & carry. It contains serotonin, a natural anti-depressant, which also happens to boost your sex drive. It’s also good for you and has been proven to reduce blood pressure.

Oh, and if there’s no emergency happening, supplies should be checked every 6 months – and eaten and replaced… or is that just in our house? So point 1 - emergencies are sexy with chocolate around. Disaster preparedness point 2….

When the lights go out: Candles

You’ve done the disaster preparedness right and survived, you are now probably in a situation where there is no available power. Sure battery power is great, but once your batteries are expended, you’re left with romantic old candlelight. So why is candlelight so sexy?

Well there is the fact that we get most information about our surroundings visually and candles help things to look ‘warmer’ and more pleasant. Moreover, you won’t be able to see the post-apocalypse rubble so clearly! Along with this, candles usually are saved for special occasions and intimate moments, which we remember no matter what is currently happening. They bring a feeling of intimacy and closeness no matter the setting, so candles are our second reason why emergencies are sexy.

Seek shelter

In our post-apocalypse world, you and your partner(s) need to be warm, and dry, and safe. However you find yourselves creating that safe haven, it’s going to be significantly more efficient if everyone is in close quarters. Less materials will be needed and less building will have to be done. This will free up time for other survival concerns. Of course one great way to keep warm is to share body heat by getting as close together as you choose too – if you have a good sleeping bag then clothing would be optional.

You need to save water

After a disaster, you and those you care about will need to take care of the basics. Food, shelter and fire have been covered, so next is the water supply. You need to conserve water as best as you can. While you can’t both drink the same glass of the pure stuff, you can certainly save limited water supplies by sharing your shower. You’ll obviously want to keep the shower short due to limited water supplies post-apocalypse, which brings us to our last reason why emergencies are sexy.

Something to do

Let’s face it, it’s post-apocalypse, there’s no power and limited food and shelter. Disaster preparedness has only taken you so far. You certainly won’t be watching television or playing computer games. Candles are great, but maybe not for reading books in the dark. So what’s a couple (or an handful) of survivors to do to pass the time? I suggest they discuss why emergencies are sexy, and then get to addressing the re-population issues.

couple

Are you ready?

Did we miss anything? Something we should have added. Please comment below so we all can be better prepared for anything!

Posted in News | Tagged emergency prepredness, sexy | 1 Comment

Emergency Planning – Fire Safety

Posted on 09/05/2013 by Tony Howarth

Earlier we talked about having a plan of emergency escape routes for your home – hope you did one because today we’re going to carry on the emergency preparedness theme by improving on the plan and discussing fire safety and fire safety training.

Fire Safety for My Home?

fire – onlookers (Photo credit: Daveybot)

Yes, your home. There are over 50,000 home fires in Canada every year to which firefighters are called. Put that into your calculator and it comes out to approx. one fire every ten minutes. Are you ready to deal with one?

When do Fires Happen

When you aren’t looking! (because otherwise you’d deal with it before it became a problem). Most fatal fires start at nighttime. Don’t assume you’ll be woken by the smoke – you may not be able to smell it and the lack of oxygen may make you even more sleepy. Fires also can be due to unattended candles, unattended BBQs (or coals that haven’t been properly extinguished) etc.

Where do Fires Happen

The most dangerous place is your kitchen. You have a whole bunch of grease and oils ready to catch, as well are plenty of heat sources. At this time of year, you may also be getting your BBQ out for its first run after the winter, sorting out camp stoves, etc.

Fire Safety Tips

Smoke detector (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Get, install and maintain smoke detectors. At least one on each level of the house. Site them appropriately (near the kitchen door would be a good start). Make sure they are tested regularly and batteries are changed every 6 months or as needed. Replace them every ten years.
One survey suggested at a quarter of Canadians had either taken the batteries out to silence the alarm, or to use for other things like kids toys. Really? Batteries are like $5 or something. Is your life not even worth $5? Don’t do this!!
Keep your chimney swept regularly, keep the fire place (relatively) clean and free from debris, use appropriate screens, don’t store your fuel where a stray spark can catch it.
Keep your oven clean, and combustibles (like dishcloths & tea towels) away from it. If there is an oven fire, turn off the gas/electrical supply and keep the door shut. No oxygen will quickly mean no fire.
If a pot on the stove catches fire, (safely) put a lid over the pot, it will smother the fire.
Never, ever put water onto a fire involving grease, oil or any kind of fat. It will almost certainly explode – which ii going to be painful for you! Use appropriate fire extinguishers. (See the training section if you’re unsure or if this came as a surprise to you!)

How to Plan for Fire Safety

You should already have your emergency escape plan with two exits from every room. You will also have made sure the exits are clear and usable, right? If not, time to do it.

To the plan you already have, you can now add an outside meeting place – somewhere away from the house, but close enough for everyone to get to. Make sure everyone in the house knows where it is and can get to it.

Look at the plan and try to predict the main areas of danger (hint, we’ve already said it may be your kitchen) based on the things you have in your house – you know where your fires & BBQs & fuels & electricals are better than we do! Once you’ve identified the danger spots, make sure there are smoke detectors nearby each one.

If it’s appropriate, consider where you might put home fire-extinguishers or fire blankets. Once done, identify these spots on your plan.

Fire Safety Training

Consider taking a fire safety course. You’ll learn about how fires start and continue to burn as well as how to put them out. Find out about different types of extinguisher as well as what to do with them (and what not to do). It’s a small investment to save lives.