Manchester Bombing - Teach your children

Not wanting to seem like we are capitalizing on incidents, this post is being written purposely later then others which have been posted here after an event has taken place. Of course other incidents have taken place since this one..... I do not think we will be delaying posting in the future. I really did not want to seem like the posts were taking advantage of situations.............

Completely trying to stay out of the politics........... Children, unarmed children, who pose no threat to you, are not legitimate targets no matter your cause....... Period, end of discussion.

Given the current attacks we need to cover something which came up while reading reports about the attack. Children did not know what to do. They had no idea what to do when things went south. Granted children should not have a complete skill set for dealing with bad days. They are children and should not have to deal with this S*&^, but they do have to deal with it. Even if dealing with it is just hearing about it on the internet or listening to adults talk. They have to process the information and deal with it using the tools they have been given. As adults we should be trying to prepare our children by giving them tools they can use when, god forbid, they have to deal with a situation.

WHY? 

Because they might not always run into someone willing to help them as this lady did for a group of kids.

http://news.grejeen.com/uk/2017/05/23/manchester-attack-angel-of-manchester-praised-for-leading-children-to-safety-following-bombing/

Wanna bet your kids safety on some complete stranger coming to their aid? Because.....

"People are 'good' and would not leave children to fend for themselves." 

REALLY? How many other adults left children not of their own to fend for themselves in the middle of this situation......

First, have a talk with your kids. Let them know if they are ever lost, not sure where to go or do not know where you went, to find a police officer and ask them for help. This is not just for a terrorist attack. This covers normal days at the mall or a trip to the beach.

(just seen this skill in action today at a fair. little girl was separated from her family, asked for help when she realized she was alone. she was brought on stage, an announcement was made and her father was found less than 100 yards away)

Even if they are older kids, teenagers, have a talk with them and put these idea in their heads. Under stress they will remember what you told them. Even if your "terrible teen" doesn't remember odds are someone in the group will remember this.

This would be another tactic to teach your kids. Do not tell them it is a survival tactic, do not freak them out, but encourage kids to travel in groups to events like this, walking home, leaving the mall or any other time they are out. Of course if the crowd they are hanging out with is less then........ well..... if they are dirtbags, do not encourage them to hang out with that crowd. That is a discussion for another time. For this, encourage kids to move in groups.

Teach your kids to act when something bad happens. Acting being the opposite of just standing there frozen. Teach them what stops fragments and bullets, yes you can just have a discussion with them about what will and won't stop fragments and bullets! Because if things keep escalating one explosion will be followed by another! Just look to what happens in Israel, Syria and other places where bombings take place. These incidents will escalate to where the bombers set off secondary devices to catch first responders and others trying to help.

Next, teach your children first aid. As with everything we talk about here we try to cover as many situations as we can. First aid is a skill not just used if your child is caught in a terrorist act. They can use this ability when they get a paper cut or skin their knee.

Think about it for a moment, what if your child is caught in an event? What if they have enough training to seek help, find a safe position and administer first aid to themselves or others? This saying has proven true more times than I can remember; you only rise to the lowest level of your training during a bad day.

Just think how much better the situation is going to be for them!

Think about your child being able to fend for themselves during those moments of chaos. Think of the advantage you have given your child by having a few conversations and providing basic skills to them............

We can not always be there for our children. At some point we have to let them live their lives. As a parent of grown children I completely understand this, do not like it, but it is something we all have to go through as parents.

Actions taken in the first few moments and minutes after an event can make all the difference in who lives and who dies. This is especially true for medical issues. There is a "Golden Hour" talked about in medical training. If you have access to advanced medical care the first hour is vital. What your child does for themselves or others can make all the difference. Putting direct pressure on a wound, wrapping the victim or themselves in something to fight back shock and keeping a positive mental attitude sounds like nothing yet could be the deciding factor in an emergency.

Of course there is only so much we can expect children to do. We all know kids who are act like they are not listening when you are talking. They will resist any training or conversation which make them uncomfortable. As a parent still have the conversations, still have them take training or teach them ourself. We can not expect children to take charge of a scene or acting as medics. All we can hope for is to give our children tools, training, principles and ideas they can pull from is they ever need to.

Take the time to teach the children.............

As Always,

Stay Safe!

First Aid ABC's

One of the most important skills we can learn is simple first aid. Having the ability to deal with medical issues even at a very basic level can determine if someone lives or dies when there is a emergency. The knowledge you gain by attending even one class is something you can use and more than likely something you will use on a regular basis.

First aid is a subject you really need to sit in a classroom setting to learn. There is no way this post could cover every situation or impart the knowledge you would need to cover every situation you could encounter. What we will do here is cover a few concepts which can assist everyone when faced with a medical emergency. First and foremost, if you have medical emergency and have the ability call for help!! The sooner you call the sooner they will arrive! Weather someone has stopped breathing, bleeding badly or is unconscious minutes count toward what the outcome is going to be and you need to get help coming your way as soon as possible.

The next vital thing, as the person giving aid to someone you MUST remain calm! Yes you might be looking at a bloody mess but you cannot let the injured person know how bad the injury is!!!! By keeping cool during the situation you allow the injured person to remain calm or at the very least you do not add to their panic. When the injured person becomes upset their blood pressure rises, they are less corporative toward being helped and they can easy slip into shock. Even over a simple injury victims can go into shock if they “think” the injury is worse than it is. Even an untrained person can take action to help an injured person and one tool we can use is the ‘ABC’s’ of first aid.
If you come across an injured person follow these steps;

A – AIRWAY, are they breathing? If someone is not breathing all bets are off. It only takes a few minutes to die without air and permanent damage can be done to a person even if they recover from the lack of oxygen.

B – BLEEDING, after ensuring the person is breathing or at least the airway is open to allow breathing in the case of an unconscious victim you next want to deal with bleeding. In a lot of cases this is what you will be immediately dealing with. People cut themselves all the time while cooking or working around the house and you will quickly see they are breathing due to the screaming or cussing coming from them.

Bleeding looks bad and can cause people to freak out. In most cases applying direct pressure and elevating the wound will stop the bleeding. You would be surprised to see how much blood a person can lose before the loss has a really devastating effect on them. Direct pressure is the first step you want to take to stop the bleeding even if the pressure you are applying is just with your hand. The sooner pressure is applied the quickly the wound will stop bleeding. Now does this work for every wound you can come across? No, yet this will work for the vast majority of wounds you are likely to come across.

This is also the step where you would start CPR. If the person is unconscious, unresponsive and you cannot find a pulse this step becomes starting the flow of blood. Knowing how to do CPR properly is a very important skill and one each of us needs to take the time to learn.

C – CIRCULATION, this is the last of these very basic steps we are going to look at. Is the person in a position which stops the flow of air and blood in their body? In the case of CPR is it working? Is the air making it’s way into the lungs or gut? Are you doing the compressions properly? This also covers checking for shock. In most cases everyone will go into some form of shock over being injured but we want them to suffer from the lowest level of shock possible. Hopeful the level we can keep them at is “Man this hurts”. This might mean we have the person sit down, lay down and/or we elevate their legs to help the blood stay in their core areas. This is when you being calm has the greatest effect.

The ABC’s are just the starting point. This can be expanded on way more than what we can fit into this posting. Even if you are not trained but you can remember to keep your head about you and remember ‘ABC’ you will be of greater help to someone who is having a medical emergency than those people who have no training and panic when they see the injured person. The need for all of us to receive medical training by qualified instructors can be emphasized enough here!!!

Here is a link to the American Red Cross. I strongly recommend everyone take the time to find training in their own area!



As Always,

Stay Safe!!!

Medication

None of us are getting any younger, some of us have special needs and some of us rely on medications to keep us around. If you need medication on a daily or even a once in a while basis this is something you have to take into account when planning for emergencies. Be it an inhaler you use only once in a while or heart medication you need to take every day. Why? Because the day you are running low on medication or forgot to get a new inhaler is the day something will happen!!! (Murphy’s Law)

Some medication is easier to store then others and in rare cases you might not be able to store it at all. First thing we need to discuss is, do you really need it? What would REALLY happen if you did not have it? We all know people who take something or have some medical condition which really…… let’s just say they aren’t going to die if the condition is not addressed.

Ask your doctor if you can get extra. Tell the doctor what it is for “Doc, I am afraid if an earthquake (tornado, hurricane, insert disaster) comes I will be without my medication! What can I do?” Be honest with them, let them know you value their thoughts and honestly ask them to assist you in doing something to alleviate your concern. They can write you a prescription to have some extra medication. Heck this might even lead into a good discussion about planning for emergencies and having a doctor as a friend is almost always a good thing!!!!

Whatever you do, DO NOT cut your pills in half or some other scheme you think you will be able to pull. If you skip taking your pills or lower the dosage or whatever half brained idea you come up with, this will just cause you issues. Why? Because the doctor said to take a certain amount and now you haven’t. This means the day something bad happens will be the day you are weakened by not taking your pills and this puts you at a deficit right from the start of the emergency. Just ask your doctor.

While talking about medication and emergencies we also have to address the elephant in the room. Some of us cannot live without modern medicine. I hate to bring this up but some of us will die if we cannot stay connected to modern medicine. Of course we will try to go to any lengths to reach modern medicine but there could be situations where we cannot, people will die. If you are one of these people who are alive only because of modern medicine you have a duty to your family to try and learn what was done for people with your condition before electricity. In a lot of cases people lived long and happy lives before what we would call ‘modern medicine’. If there are treatments for your issue learn them now! Ask your doctor what used to be done. You have an obligation to your family and loved ones to learn now what could keep you alive later.

Ask your doctor, see if the can help you. Have some extra medicine on hand. Say a weeks’ worth or even a months’ worth. Just enough in case the "big one" does hit or your home suddenly becomes an island. Remember in emergency situations you are responsible for you………..

As Always,
Stay Safe!!!

First aid starter kit

We all need a general purpose first aid kit we can use to build upward from. The concept is for each of us to have medical supplies to take care of minor issues and be able to start treating major issues until help can arrive. We need to be able to take care of the most common issues, splinters, minor cuts, scrapes and burns. These are easy to treat if we have supplies on hand. In some situations these minor issues can become major issues if we do not take care of them properly.

107 Piece Outdoor First Aid Kit

This goes for around $15.00 on Amazon and is a great kit to get you started. Almost every minor situation can be handled with what is included in the kit. Here is what the kit includes;
(20) 3/4"x3" Adhesive plastic bandages (10) 3/4"x3" Fabric bandages (5) 1"x3" Fabric bandages (2) Knuckle fabric bandages (2) Fingertip fabric bandages (2) 2"x4" Elbow & knee plastic bandages (10) 3/8"x1-1/2" Junior plastic bandages (2) Butterfly wound closures (4) 2"x2" Gauze dressing pads (2) 3"x3" Gauze dressing pads (1) 5"x9" Trauma pad (1) 2" Conforming gauze roll bandage (2) Aspirin tablets (2) Ibuprofen tablets (2) Extra-strength non-aspirin tablets (6) Alcohol cleansing pads (6) BZK antiseptic towelettes (2) Antibiotic ointment packs (2) Insect sting relief pads (2) First aid/burn cream packs (1) 1/2"x5 yd. First aid tape roll (1) Sunscreen pack (1) Lip ointment pack (1) 2"x2" Moleskin square (1) 6"x11/16" Finger splint (1) Medium #2 safety pin (10) 3" Cotton tipped applicators (1) 4-1/2" Scissors, nickel plated (1) 4" Tweezers, plastic (2) Exam quality vinyl gloves (1) First aid guide Kit dimensions: 7-3/4"x5"x2-1/8"

Add a few items to this kit and we will be heading in the right direction;
Pain and fever medicines, such as aspirin, acetaminophen or ibuprofen. (Note: Do not give children and teenagers aspirin, because it has been related to a potentially serious disease called Reye's syndrome in children younger than 18 years of age.)
Antihistamine (one brand name: Benadryl) to treat allergies and swelling
Decongestants to treat nasal congestion
Anti-nausea medicine to treat motion sickness and other types of nausea
Anti-diarrhea medicine
Antacid to treat upset stomach
Laxative to treat constipation
Bottle of iodine
Bottle of hydrogen peroxide
Bottle of calamine lotion
Neosporin

With this kit you can clean, cover and treat most issues we might have. These items will also give you something to work with as you are waiting for an ambulance or driving to the hospital.

When you start putting together a kit I suggest you do not include anything you are not trained to use! If you do not know how to insert a chest tube I suggest you do not include one. This way you do not think about trying to do something which could hurt someone. Keep your kit to your level of training. Then go out and get some training to allow you to expand your kit and help those around you more!!!! There are plenty of places to go pick up a class or two. If you have not had a class on basic first aid and CPR I strongly suggest you take one.

At the end of the day you can have all the equipment in the world but if you are not trained on how to use the equipment...... you have wasted resources and your time.

I want to thank 'Cat' for his help with this one. Everyone should have other people they can turn to for information and help on things. Cat is my go to guy for medical issues and anything Irish!!!!!!!! As always;

Stay Safe!!!