This Earth Skills Day was jam-packed with useful knowledge that prepares the girls to support others should an emergency arise while they are adventuring in the wilderness or elsewhere. We had so much material to get through that girls were limited to minimal story-telling during opening and closing circle, but that didn’t stop everyone from sharing ample hugs and side conversation throughout the afternoon. We covered so much during the day - below is an abbreviated list of the day’s activities:
First Things First: What is wilderness first aid, and how is getting hurt five miles down a trail different than getting hurt on Holly Street? Remote medicine is defined as an hour or more from definitive care.
- Something’s gone wrong! What do you do when you approach a scenario in which people appear to be injured? We deepened our understanding of STOP principles by evaluating the possible dangers of rushing into an emergency scene. What was the Mechanism of Injury (MOI)? Are there other victims? Could assisting someone possibly hurt me? A helpful thing we say to remember this is: # 1 - I’m Number One! (no more victims) / #2 What Happened to You? (MOI/obtain consent) / # 3 Don’t get any on me! (BSI) / #4 Are there any more? / # 5 Dead or Alive?
- ABCDEs: After we assess that the scene is safe for ourselves to enter, we check for a clear Airway. signs of Breathing, Circulation (signs of blood), Disability (how is the individual injured), Environment/Expose (get the injured individual warm/cool and comfortable as possible. Expose the primary injury to assess damage). Ask your girls for elaboration on the ABCDEs!
- We discussed the criteria for a possible Mechanism of Injury (MOI) for spinal injury, for example falling from a height greater than three feet, making impact at a speed faster than running, compression. We also learned that if you’re not sure if someone could have injured his or her spine—stabilize his or her neck until you can be sure they did not incur spinal damage!
- The crossroads: Is this a medical injury (for example altitude sickness, dehydration, ulcers) or a traumatic injury (broken bones, lacerations, etc)?
If it’s a medical injury, we discussed that taking a SAMPLE history, a detailed history of the injured individual, is the best way to get more information about his or her ailment. If it’s a traumatic injury, we learned that conducting a full patient assessment is the next step.
We practiced these skills by creating scenarios in which half the girls were patients and half were in charge of administering first aid. Between some giggling and plenty of requests for extra fake blood, both responders and the injured took their roles very seriously.
We did let the girls know that this foray into wilderness first aid wasn't an official training, and thus, we weren't able to provide training for treatment, but suggested they consider taking a Wilderness First Aid or Wilderness First Responder course - several GEC teens have taken these, leaving knowledgable and inspired. We'll be reviewing concepts and practicing more on our next outing!
It was great to follow the day with apple picking at Arden's for the Food Bank!
Check out the slideshow from our day here.
No comments:
Post a Comment