First Aid
Should YOU Tourniquet a Snake Bite?
With summer comes outdoor activities like hiking and camping, and yard work. With the warmer weather comes more interaction with wildlife like snakes. Knowing what to do with snake bites could help you to come out on top in a bad situation. In this article I will be discussing some first aid, dos and don’ts…
Read MoreHow to Spot Head Trauma
There isn’t a lot a medic can do for head trauma to make the situation better for the casualty. There are still things to be done, such as preventing further harm to the casualty and managing the airway but knowing what massive brain damage looks like can help you make the right decisions. One of…
Read MoreBattle Dressing Showdown: Israeli Style Vs. OLAES
Seems like I’ve been on a bit of a pressure bandage kick. Which is fine with me cause I can only write about tourniquets for so long before my eyes start to bleed. If you didn’t already know, a pressure bandage is a stretchy material wrapped around the victim to provide constant firm pressure to…
Read MoreWhat is a Nasal Pharyngeal Airway?
Taking care of someone who is unconscious can be daunting, especially if you don’t know what you are doing. Trauma to the head, or even a massive loss of blood can cause your casualty to lose consciousness. When unconscious, the casualty loses their ability to protect their airway and their tongue may fall to the…
Read More4 Styles of Pressure Dressings Explained
Tourniquets enjoy too much of the spotlight. With all the glorious combat saves a good TQ has, the hardworking pressure dressing gets forgotten in civilian emergency preparedness. Yes, of course TQs are important, but they only count for approximately ¼ of your body. There are other places where a wound would be life-threatening, but untreatable…
Read MoreIf You Don’t Already Know, Here’s the Theory on Pressure Dressings:
If you have a good understanding on how to use your gear, it frees you up to think outside the box and come up with solutions to problems you might face in an emergency. Everyone wants to be that person who saves the day, calm, cool, and collected while the world goes to hell around…
Read MoreNew and Improved CAT Clone? The Recon Medical TQ Review
I’ve never thought more about tourniquets then I have in this job. Bleeding control being such an important topic of discussion means devoting a good amount of time to all the various ways people have developed to save lives. It takes some time to run through all the various options out there, and this week…
Read MoreThe BEST Way Stop Bleeding W/o a Tourniquet
We can’t be prepared all the time. Even if you’re the kind of person who has every pocket full of life saving materials, you still need to shower at some point and when that day comes you may very well find yourself having to save a life without any gear at all. Tourniquets are normally…
Read MoreThe Best Type of Flashlight for Emergency
It would be nice for emergencies to happen in the very best locations. A well-lit ER is a great place to have an emergency if you happen to be in one at the time. But Emergencies don’t happen like that. Usually it’s cold, wet, and dark, and with no help available. Emergencies are especially scary…
Read MoreTrauma Gear: The 1 Item That’s Worth 5
Working as a Corpsman and EMT, I wasn’t given the choice of what medical gear I used. People with much more experience, training and education decided ahead of time what was acceptable and what wasn’t. As a result, I only used gear that was issued and available to me and I never thought about if…
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