To climb or not to climb with a First Aid Bag? That is the question....

[DJP Arb]

I also did some research on cellox type blood clotting agents a while ago when they first started becoming readily available on the market. There was various references to the fact that a lot of the agents didn't actually stop blood loss effectively without stemming tge blood flow first. There was a lot of info available at the time from military medics suggesting this was the case. I'm sure things have improved since as this was a good five years ago.

 

Regarding spinal injuries I don't carry a spinal board on me and I'm pretty sure not many people do. I guess if someone on the team suffered a bad spinal injury at height best practice would be to try to keep the casualty as still as humanly possible and keep still once in the deck by which time hopefully someone with far more training than I have would be on scene??

 

Maybe Katie can assist here??

[fen01]

DJP, you're had on one celox had been applied pressure on the wound should be applied for at least 2 mins. I would also use a CAT or apply pressure to a pressure point to try and lessen the bleed.

[John Shutler]

celox gauze is better than celox powder, it can be packed into a wound then covered with and Israel bandage the additional Israel bandages can be applied if it bleeds through

[Dan Curtis]

I ditched carrying a first aid kit when the little clip on bags wouldn't last more than a week before bursting their seams. Since then I've always carried a large wound dressing in my pocket.

 

When I actually needed to stop a serious bleed whilst aloft, I tore the sleeve off my shirt and made a tourniquet/pressure pad. To my mind, it was the quickest way I was going to slow my bleeding. Getting a dressing out my pocket, unpacking it and unravelling it would've taken much longer. Perhaps my sleeve wasn't very clean, but neither would a bandage be after I'd fumbled with it with dirty hands.

[Katie at FoxMedics]

Celox gauze definitely as the powder can easily blow into your eyes or be breathed in by mistake and absorb moisture as it is intended to do, far more controlled on the gauze. As for spinal injury, yes keep the person as still as possible not forgetting that it is suspected and if ACTUAL problems occur then they may take the lead over a suspected problem.

As for an improvised tourniquet-PERFECT! No environment is that sterile in the pre hospital setting especially in your environment, as long as it stems the bleed then fantastic!

[agrimog]

tourniquets are great, but learn how , and more importantly where to apply them, they were frowned upon for a long time, but with the increased trauma effects being seen in various military theatres are coming back into use,find a first aid trainer who is familiar with there use, and the various haemostatic compounds (celox) and geat some training in there use, you never know when you might need to use them. I really think the introduction of the EFAW+F course will prove invaluable in getting more of our trade up to a higher level of first aid ability than was generally avaiable with the old "green box course", there are some even better courses out there, but these start going to levels close to trauma treatment, hopefully no-one should ever need these, but do your research, remember it might be you requiring the treatment, so dont scrimp on your first aider training

[Daythe trees]

Being of a military background I insist people spend ten minutes on the first time of working for me learning how to use a cat and how to carry it. You can have it in your pocket set up for one handed application. I am sure google or you tube will provide the tutorial and practice will solidify the methods. Maybe speaking to a serving military individual may yield one or two cats for a pint if you can't afford/baulk at the price of the orange civilian ones.

[woodyguy]

£15 that will save your life. Money well spent imho.

 

By the way, anybody who thinks they can descend a 60 foot tree and control that descent whilst they spray paint 6 pints of blood on the rope and pass out after the first 10 foot is dangerously deluded.

 

You only need to see one person with major arterial bleeding to understand how many lives have been saved by tourniquets. With most ambulance response times outside cities being over 8 minutes, so say 15 minimum in country areas, you are on your own with only your tourniquet for company.

[Hobbsurf]

All of the pre mentioned trauma clotting / tourniquet field dressings, but realise x 1 is just the start. For a big bleed you'll need to keep applying layers without removing the previous.

 

Tourniquet application is frowned on & goes in and out of official procedure but hey, it's your blood and at least know what you can achieve by applying one.

 

My climbing bag has a Israeli Dressing / proper sharp Leatherman Blade / and a very much over looked steel whistle. Also have back up dressing in leg pocket.

 

Most important, a groundy with a phone that has network coverage and more dressings for layers.

 

No lantern swinging or sandbag pulling up to the campfire - but in my early HMF days I was part of two realtime scenarios with high velocity round traumas and the amount of blood loss in such a short space of time is a memory that will always be with me. Layers, layers, layers.

 

 

Russ

[Katie at FoxMedics]

Tourniquets are used in the ambulance setting now so the word is spreading. I was in a team of specialist Paramedics called the Hazardous Area Response Team and all major trauma exercises involved the use of tourniquets, celox gauze and blast bandages. Once you have the training they are all easy to use and that's why I involve them in all of the Arborist First Aid courses I deliver, all invaluable pieces of kit... Like you say £15 is not a lot in the grand scheme of life.