WhiteBlaze Pages 2024
A Complete Appalachian Trail Guidebook.
AVAILABLE NOW. $4 for interactive PDF(smartphone version)
Read more here WhiteBlaze Pages Store

Results 1 to 18 of 18
  1. #1
    Registered User DownEaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    03-15-2017
    Location
    Silicon Valley
    Age
    68
    Posts
    682

    Default First aid guides that are useful on the trail?

    I downloaded the Red Cross First Aid app on my Android phone, and it's largely useless for through-hikers. Nearly every set of instructions ends with "call 911". They have helpful questions and answers like "What if I don't have any ice?": "Use frozen vegetables instead". In short, its instructions require that you be in civilization with a phone signal, refrigeration, running water, and the like.

    Are there any first aid guides that are of use on the trail?

  2. #2
    Registered User
    Join Date
    11-01-2014
    Location
    Anchorage, AK
    Age
    62
    Posts
    2,500

    Default

    By far, the best first aid read I've has was "Wilderness and Travel Medicine" by Weiss.
    NOLES also puts out some very useful and more comprehensive books on wilderness medicine.
    I'm not lost. I'm exploring.

  3. #3
    Coach Lou coach lou's Avatar
    Join Date
    09-03-2011
    Location
    Madison, Connecticut
    Age
    66
    Posts
    4,788
    Images
    400

    Default

    http://www.ecsinstitute.org/courses/default.aspx

    Our trail crew has received training thru this agency.

  4. #4
    Registered User
    Join Date
    06-14-2016
    Location
    Oak Ridge, Tennessee
    Age
    67
    Posts
    14

    Default

    My wife and I recently took the NOLS Wilderness First Aid class sponsored through REI. You can purchase the NOLS Wilderness First Aid pocket guide that comes with the NOLS class, but it's very abbreviated may not be the best guide if you haven't recently had the training that goes with it. The American Red Cross has a free wilderness and remote first aid .pdf file that seems to have most everything you'd need.

    Best part about the NOLS class was the repeated practice with patient assessment, which gives you some confidence that you'll know what to do (and aren't going to panic) when you come across a severe injury in the backcountry.

  5. #5
    Flip flop, flip flopping' LASHin' 2000 miler
    Join Date
    12-18-2010
    Location
    Northern Michigan
    Age
    69
    Posts
    1,175
    Journal Entries
    1
    Images
    42

    Default

    I downloaded “NOLS Wilderness Medicine” in kindle format from Amazon, and loaded it on my phone. Used it more than once. Weighs nothing!


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
    L Dog
    AT 2000 Miler
    The Laughing Dog Blog
    https://lighterpack.com/r/38fgjt
    "The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness." - John Muir

  6. #6
    Registered User DownEaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    03-15-2017
    Location
    Silicon Valley
    Age
    68
    Posts
    682

    Default

    Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. I've now got the 2016 NOLS Wilderness Medicine as an e-book, and it'll be on my phone the next time I do the file update thingy. It looks good enough that I'll be deleting the Red Cross First Aid app.

  7. #7

    Join Date
    05-05-2011
    Location
    state of confusion
    Posts
    9,866
    Journal Entries
    1

    Default

    I can sum up my Wilderness first aid class this way:

    Make victim comfortable
    Stop any profuse bleeding
    Treat for shock
    Get help.

    Much centers on recognizing symptoms , and noting them so you can communicate them to Rescuers and medical personnel. There's very little actual first aid you're able to do for serious things, and you already know what to do for the minor stuff.

    Yeah there's exceptions like splinting a broken limb or a sprain. Injecting somebody with an EpiPen if you recognize anaphylactic shock and there's an EpiPen, checking them for a bracelet etc. Maybe administer CPR.

    Most of these things are things you do for other people that you come across that need it. It's not for you.
    Last edited by MuddyWaters; 03-15-2018 at 17:30.

  8. #8
    Registered User BuckeyeBill's Avatar
    Join Date
    12-18-2012
    Location
    Dark Side of the Moon
    Age
    64
    Posts
    1,445
    Journal Entries
    6

    Default

    Taking the Wilderness First Aide class is really money well spent. Dr. Weiss's book is also an excellent read. My background though includes Advanced Paramedic training I had prior to becoming a police officer. But when backpacking I won't be carrying a drug kit or IV fluids.
    Blackheart

  9. #9

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by BuckeyeBill View Post
    Taking the Wilderness First Aide class is really money well spent. Dr. Weiss's book is also an excellent read. My background though includes Advanced Paramedic training I had prior to becoming a police officer. But when backpacking I won't be carrying a drug kit or IV fluids.
    Curious...

    Do you carry a trauma kit whislt backpacking?



    Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

  10. #10

    Default

    Be prepared to walk 20 miles with an injury and just take care of it in the next town.

  11. #11
    Registered User BuckeyeBill's Avatar
    Join Date
    12-18-2012
    Location
    Dark Side of the Moon
    Age
    64
    Posts
    1,445
    Journal Entries
    6

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by fastfoxengineering View Post
    Curious...

    Do you carry a trauma kit whislt backpacking?

    Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
    I do have a couple clotting bandages as a just in case but that is about it beside my first aide kit. While on the PCT my friend and I came across a woman who had taken a header into a rather large rock. Head wounds bleed profusely because of all capillaries. A small clotting pad tied on to her head did the job. We stayed with her the rest of that day and night, then walked with her to the next trail head and some people there took her to a near by hospital. Steve and I decided to take a zero and check out how she was doing. It took about 20 small stitches to close the wound (done by a plastic surgeon to minimize the scar) and she returned to where we were and bought both of us a lovely steak dinner.

    There is one thing that upsets me and its people who carry hardly anything in their FAK or don't carry one at all and depend on others to pickup the slack. It's kind of like the hiker who doesn't bring enough money and bums from others and cleans out all the hiker boxes. Trust me I don't mind helping people out, but if they would just come to WB, they would know how much cash to bring in addition to properly equip themselves to make their thru-hike a success.
    Blackheart

  12. #12

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by BuckeyeBill View Post
    I do have a couple clotting bandages as a just in case but that is about it beside my first aide kit. While on the PCT my friend and I came across a woman who had taken a header into a rather large rock. Head wounds bleed profusely because of all capillaries. A small clotting pad tied on to her head did the job. We stayed with her the rest of that day and night, then walked with her to the next trail head and some people there took her to a near by hospital. Steve and I decided to take a zero and check out how she was doing. It took about 20 small stitches to close the wound (done by a plastic surgeon to minimize the scar) and she returned to where we were and bought both of us a lovely steak dinner.

    There is one thing that upsets me and its people who carry hardly anything in their FAK or don't carry one at all and depend on others to pickup the slack. It's kind of like the hiker who doesn't bring enough money and bums from others and cleans out all the hiker boxes. Trust me I don't mind helping people out, but if they would just come to WB, they would know how much cash to bring in addition to properly equip themselves to make their thru-hike a success.
    Exactly why I asked. She was lucky to have you guys come along.

    I have some training with modern TCCC. Don't have any trauma kit on me while backpacking. I carry a TQ, Chest seals, gauze, and a compression bandage on person daily off trail. Really don't ever want to come into a scenario that intense on the trail.



    Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

  13. #13
    Registered User egilbe's Avatar
    Join Date
    10-18-2014
    Location
    Lewiston and Biddeford, Maine
    Age
    61
    Posts
    2,643

    Default

    A throughhiker, Socks, or Sox, broke his leg last year just after Gentian Pond and was airlifted out. He was hiking with a nurse. Not sure what one could do in that case except call 911.

  14. #14
    Registered User BuckeyeBill's Avatar
    Join Date
    12-18-2012
    Location
    Dark Side of the Moon
    Age
    64
    Posts
    1,445
    Journal Entries
    6

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by egilbe View Post
    A throughhiker, Socks, or Sox, broke his leg last year just after Gentian Pond and was airlifted out. He was hiking with a nurse. Not sure what one could do in that case except call 911.
    Well if it wasn't a compound fracture, and the artery was not severed or punctured you can stabilize the leg with down tree branches about three inches thick and two or three bandanas. Check for a pulse at the ankle. Keep the victim calm and treat for shock. Someone will have to notify rescue service by phone if they have service. If not find the nearest trailhead and try to get someone to to stop so you get to a town.
    Blackheart

  15. #15

    Default

    For my 2 cents worth,one thing I won't go without is a tiny dental first aid kit. Of course I get a checkup before any long hike,but a toothache or a broken tooth from a fall can cause real misery.

  16. #16

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by DownEaster View Post
    Are there any first aid guides that are of use on the trail?
    No.

    I most emergency situations you only have time to react, rarely time to think. Any useful information would have to be in your head. The courses mentioned above would be helpful, but be prepared to retake the classes to prevent yourself from forgetting the details. Sometimes people are equipped, rather than prepared. It helps you very little to have a first aid kit full of items you don’t know how to use. I do keep phone numbers and a list of locally relevant ways to seek assistance in my first aid kit.

  17. #17
    Registered User DownEaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    03-15-2017
    Location
    Silicon Valley
    Age
    68
    Posts
    682

    Default

    I want a guide so that my rusty (and possibly outdated) memory of first aid courses (going back to Boy Scout days) isn't all I've got to work with. I don't want to do something stupid like start CPR without remembering to clear the airway first. Plus not all first aid is for emergencies. Poison ivy exposure requires treatment, but not emergency treatment (except in rare cases). The last time I was exposed to poison ivy the standard approach was to not touch it and thus avoid spreading it around. Nowadays we know that using soap, cool water, and friction to remove the urushiol from the skin can reduce the total allergic reaction. That's mentioned in the NOLS Wilderness Medicine book.

  18. #18
    Registered User BuckeyeBill's Avatar
    Join Date
    12-18-2012
    Location
    Dark Side of the Moon
    Age
    64
    Posts
    1,445
    Journal Entries
    6

    Default

    I have to agree with Highland Goat. You can have a squad full of equipment, but it is useless unless you know how to use it. The American Heart Association has been pushing "Hands Only CPR" It is simple to learn and easy to remember. Check the American Red Cross site for several apps that they have to guide you. The best advise is react to the situation, don't stand just there.
    Blackheart

++ New Posts ++

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •