Clay's Corner: Be Your Own First Responder
Chief among your rangers’ responsibilities here at the state park is providing you with valuable recreational and educational opportunities. North Carolina State Park rangers try to provide you with knowledge and experiences that will increase your joy and satisfaction long after you leave. We’d like to send you home with lessons that can be applied directly to your everyday life. Although park rangers don’t typically make it their practice to pass out medical advice, allow me to introduce you to a proven medical fact to remember: You are your own first responder, both in the park and at home.
In the lower 48 states there are few places you can travel where a hospital with advanced trauma care is more than an hour away. The vast majority of us will have police, firefighters or paramedics on our doorstep within 10 minutes of a call for help. As reassuring as that sounds, why would anyone put any effort or money into medical training and supplies? Along with quick access to the best medical care in the world, we also have quick and cheap access to more power tools, sharp cutting implements and firearms than ever before. These tools can cause serious injuries that won’t wait 10 minutes or more for help to arrive. Traumatic injuries can be so significant that the matter of life and death is measured in seconds, not minutes.
Like most law enforcement officers across the state, each park ranger carries an Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK). These kits contain supplies to assist in dealing with physical trauma to ourselves or park visitors.
The most important piece in this kit is a tourniquet, used to deal with severe bleeding from an extremity. Tourniquets have gotten a bad rap throughout the years, but in the past decade they have been proven safe and extremely effective. They are applied to the arm or leg just above the injury and tightened until bleeding is stopped. If you carry only one item that we cover here it should be a tourniquet, or maybe two.
The next gem in your kit should be hemostatic gauze. Treated with a chemical that encourages blood to clot quickly, it can be purchased either folded or rolled and is used to tightly pack puncture wounds or deep lacerations in order to stop blood loss. Hemostatic gauze can be used on most parts of the body, but is primarily used on the abdomen or joints where it is difficult or impossible to apply a tourniquet. It should be pressed deeply into the wound cavity using a gloved finger until the cavity is filled tightly.
Next on the list are chest seals; adhesive dressings used to seal a puncture wound to the chest cavity. When the chest cavity is punctured, air can be drawn in through the wound rather than through the nose and into the lungs, preventing the patient from breathing sufficiently. Chest seals function as a valve, allowing air to escape through the wound but preventing air from being sucked back in. Use direct pressure to control any bleeding and never pack a chest wound with gauze because you risk obstructing the lungs.
Your actions during the first few moments of a severe accident are critical in determining the outcome. Start with getting some training in basic life support and keep getting it updated. It’s a perishable skill and the science is constantly improving. You don’t need to be a doctor or even a paramedic to understand and apply the fundamentals of medical intervention. Buy proven gear and carry it on your person or in your vehicle. And remember, whether you are defending your home or patching up your buddy’s chainsaw injury, you are your own first responder.