First Aid

 Most professional trainers will bring up first aid during any tactical firearms training course.  Each shooter and instructor is a momentary brain fart from being involved with a life-threatening injury.  Any activity that deals with potentially lethal force has the potential for injury.

But, you say, I’m just bow hunting on private land.  I’m just bulls-eye shooting with other people on the line.  I'm just…

I was present when a nationally sponsored team competitor discharge their weapon sideways.  The round went through the gun box next to them and passed behind the backside of another shooter before burrowing into the ground.  I’ve seen a highly trained shooter accidentally discharge their AK-47 into the ground 16 inches in front of their partner's foot.  So don't think of telling me accidents can't happen to you.

Shit happens, to you, to the guy next to you...What are you going to do?

You need a first aid kit, but what?

ANSI (American National Standards Institute) defines class A and B first aid kits for industry.  Class A is defined as the treatment of common injuries in the home, office, or church.  These would be minor cuts, scrapes, small burns, or splinters, essentially an ‘ouchie!’ kit.

Class B is defined as for activities with a higher risk of serious injuries, life-threating injuries in environments where damage to the physical kit is likely.

Class B is divided into four levels based on location, potential kit damage, and portability.

Level IV is the highest for harsh, dangerous environments with a high potential for physical damage to the kit and is fully portable.  That's the kit you want, right?

Maybe not.  I looked one up and found it contained three amputated parts bags but no tourniquets.  You should think about that implication.

The January/February issue of ‘Hunting’ suggests a list of preparedness products for first aid emergencies.

Communication: Radio, signal flares, flashlight, whistle/foghorn.

Medical Items: Medical kit, tourniquets, chest seals, pressure and gauze bandages, cravat, splinting device, emergency Mylar blanket, trauma shears.

Survival Items: Shelter systems (tarps, poncho), waterproof fire starter/tinder, water container, food, protective clothing, knife, cordage (511 cord), headlamp.

Many items are an excellent idea, but all of it?  I don't know the value of a foghorn at my local range.  But ‘Hunting’ is a sales promotional magazine for the industry.  That puts that lot in perspective.

There are an assortment of websites and organizations, some more useful than others. 

I liked https://www.emergencyprepgear.com/first-aid and have liberally stolen form them.

I have a friend whose relative was able to send him an emergency first aid kit used by military contractors in Afghanistan.  People were leaving and simply discarding the heavy packs and equipment.  His relative took out the drugs and mailed the pack and equipment home.  I got to see it.  It was terrific.

The question then becomes, do you know how to use an airway?  How about a cervical collar?   Do you know how to reinflate a collapsed lung?  What does blood pressure tell the first aider?  If you don't know, then what is the value of having?

One school of thought says only carry what you are trained for.  The other school says to know what you are trained for, but carry more in the hope of finding someone who is trained to use it.

I know basic first aid, CPR, bleeding, shock, so should I carry airways in the hope of finding someone trained?  I suspect you'll find someone in downtown Cleveland, but significantly less likely to find that resource at your cousin's unofficial shooting range.

Basics  Do you know how to use them?

It isn’t likely you could buy a prepackaged kit with the tools you need without getting scads of less useful items.  The better option would be to develop your own kit.  How do you choose how to equip your kit?

Here are some thoughts.

1.       Location - Consider where you'll be and what resources are available there.  This is perhaps the most important consideration.

2.       People and activity - Who are you responsible for?  What are they doing?

3.       Training - How much first aid training do you have?  Does anyone in your group have advanced first-aid training?

4.       Mobility - Is your first aid kit with you?  Or is it in your car or mounted to a wall somewhere?

Example:

A river guide in West Virginia told me what happened to him.  At lunch, one of the rafters built a sandwich that had a bee in it and was stung in the mouth.  The rafter went into anaphylactic shock.  The rafting company's first aid kit had an epinephrine injection pen, but it wasn't enough.  Fortunately, one of the rafts had several nurses carrying Benadryl.  They took over care and kept his airway open while waiting for a life flight helicopter to arrive.  Things worked out.

This is a case where fortune smiled on them, but on a different day, it would have been a different outcome.

Emergency Prep Gear's website suggests,  "If in doubt, buy a first aid kit with more supplies than you know how to use.  Once you receive the kit, do some research or ask a medical professional to get additional training.  More preparedness is always better.”

Choose your First Aid gear based on your level of training.  Here are a few levels.

Level 0 - First Aid Rookie:  They may know how to apply a Band-Aid to a simple cut, recommend asprin for a headache, or clean a scrape.

Level 1 - Boy and Girl Scouts: Scouts are trained with basic to standard first aid.  They can deal with mild to moderate bleeding, know CPR, and can prepare a splint or sling for a broken limb or sprained joint.  They have life-essential skills and can administer the appropriate aid.

Level 2 - Military/Police: Military basic training adds skills focused on the traumas experienced in the field, like gunshot wounds, concussion injuries, explosion injuries, and such.

Level 3 - Doctors/EMTs: Medical professionals are the elite in first aid training.  They go to school for years to learn how to repair the human body.  We will only get to this level of first aid skill with advanced schooling.

What level are you?  What level do you want to be? 

We can obtain specialized training, learn to utilize an Israeli bandage, AKA a hemorrhage control bandage, a tourniquet, quick clot gauze, how to stuff a wound and splint a limb.  Learn CPR and treatment for shock and recognize the signs of diabetes problems.

Then, build your personnel kit and the one for your home, car, and Götterdämmerung go-bag kit.