Atypical EMS: Medicine without Equipment

HemoPneumo

HemoPneumo

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Being a small time doomsday prepper, and (hopefully) soon-to-be EMT-Basic, the idea of medicine in a situation where you have little to no tools or outside help/resources fascinates me. I'd like to discuss with you all, and have you share some war stories, and any helpful tips and tricks for operating without your kitbag with you.

My cousin was in the Army for several years,and performed very well there, going to places such as Balad, Iraq and others. Not long after she had been discharged she was attending a party, during which a drunk male accidentally put his arm through a window. He had a pretty deep laceration about a few centimeters distal to the elbow, with massive arterial bleeding. Her First-Aid training kicked in and she went to work. She used rags from the kitchen to apply pressure to the wounds, and then took the injured man's belt and wound it around the arm as a makeshift tourniquet. The Paramedics that responded applauded her, saying if she hadn't reacted in the way she did the man's condition could have been much worse.

So, have any of you guys ever been confronted off-duty with a medical situation? How'd you save the day?
 
By calling 911 and using basic skills like the above. As soon as you start trying Macguyver medical treatments, you aren't really doing much for the patient.

Also it is really hard to use a belt to make an effective tourniquet. You need a windlass of some sort to actual get pressure.
 
Pocket knife and ball point pen to do a cric once.... in a movie.
 
I once used duct tape to strap a baby woodchuck to a friend's arm to stop an arterial bleed, as an improvised pressure bandage.

He still won't talk to me.

Neither will the friend.

But, now I know how much blood will a woodchuck stop, because a woodchuck will stop blood.
 
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But seriously, op, don't be that guy.
 
It's one thing to get a cut and grab a rag. It's another to develop a hero complex over it.

I've told plenty of people their quick thinking/action probably saved a life. I might have actually meant it once or twice...
 
i made a fire with 2 sticks... does that count?
 
Ahhh....Balad....a true Mecca to be assigned to. Swimming pools, restaurants, tons of entertainment and dining options, oh yeh support work and the ability to throw a rock in any direction and hit a CLS, a Role 1 or the Role 3. Hard core experience for sure and definitely prepares one for the extreme!
 
OP...we are busting your balls intentionally because this is not a hero job. This is A job, one in which you get skills and some education (not enough but different topic). We do not "save" the day, we are not Life Savers (that's a candy by the way). We learn to do our job, we perform our job, we go home.

My "saves" and others as evidenced in different threads consist of stuff which no one would find fascinating and usually end up on the A&E editing floor.
 
DesertMedic66 said:
Pocket knife and ball point pen to do a cric once.... in a movie.
Click to expand...

You probably heard about this one:

'Somebody tried to give her the Heimlich maneuver and they weren't big enough,' he told CBS Bakersfield affiliate KBAK-TV.

Fortunately for Larwood, some of the nation's top medical specialists were also in the restaurant after having attended the same symposium.

When Dr Johnson failed to open her airway, he used a steak knife to make an incision in her throat before calling for a pen, which he broke in half....
Click to expand...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...tracheotomy-knife-pen-choked-piece-steak.html
 
Ha, I remember that story. Figured it was only a matter of time before someone dug it up.
 
Anyone see The Heat with Sandra Bullock
 
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