Emergency Prep Question

myheartwalking · #1 07/20/14, 04:56 PM

We live a good half hour from a "decent" hospital or even a clinic. At least an hour from a good hospital. How do you all prepare for emergencies? Snake bites, etc. we have young children and I'm always thinking "If someone choked or were injured, we'd never make it to get help..."

thekibblegoddes · #2 07/20/14, 05:12 PM

Do you have 911 service? We live in the boonies and granted, it would take them 20 min to get here, but we do have service. We are also 1 hr from a hospital, so it's God and 911 for life threatening injuries and Dr. Mom, the first aid kit and a hard ride to the hospital for everything else. Get the best first aid training you can, Red Cross does a good class. Especially learn how to do a compression bandage. Take a CPR class. Have regular 'fire drills' to keep your skills sharp. Assemble a worst-case scenario first aid kit and keep it where you can get to it. In fact, have multiple kits so you don't have to run from the barn to the house or from upstairs to downstairs to get what you need. Make sure your kids know what to do in a medical emergency, age appropriate, esp what to do if mom or dad are down.

And a tip from my vet, if you think you might have to stitch someone up and are worried you can't do it, buy a chicken from the supermarket and practice on that. It's dead and you can't hurt it, but the resistance and texture is about the same.

Maura · #3 07/20/14, 06:00 PM

Great advice from Kibble Goddess. When you call 911 an ambulance will arrive. They may be closer to you than a hospital. The care from a paramedic can mean life or death sometimes.

watcher · #4 07/20/14, 06:32 PM

First, learn 1st aid. Then take advance courses and buy the necessary stuff. Then work on your mental state. Without training most people panic in emergency, especially when a family member is involved. I've seen people with a lot of 1st aid training freeze when something happened to their child. But with the proper training you should be able to handle just about everything but a major medical emergency.

Its MUCH easier today with the internet. I just watched a couple of videos on how to do tracheotomies.

modineg44 · #5 07/20/14, 07:16 PM

About 3 years ago I call the ambulance which is from a town 17 miles away. It took over 90 minutes for it to get here because my house is not shown in the correct location on GPS. No one seems to know how to correct this. Any ideas?

Nancy

Wolf mom · #6 07/20/14, 07:32 PM

There are a couple things going on here.

First, the paramedics come from the fire dept usually, not the hospital so find out the closest fire dept. My hospital is 30+ minutes away, but the FD & paramedics 5 minutes. They will take you (or whomever) to the hospital & be in contact with an ER Doc all the time.

Are you clocking this as you are driving or the ambulance with it's sirens, etc.?

When you call 911 you can give directions and reinforce that your address shows incorrect on GPS. Rural 911 dispatchers understand this and I believe, listen better as they usually live in the general area.

And yes, learn as much as you can. Local FD sometimes give free first aid classes.

This is from someone who lives rurally (sp?) in Arizona, so it may be different in your area. Call & check.

**Shrek** · #7 07/20/14, 08:09 PM

Where I am at its a 40 mile drive to either of the nearest hospitals. When we call 911 a VFD EMT arrives in about 5 minutes after 911 dispatch tones them out along with one of the ambulance services stationed 10 to 15 miles away.

By the time the EMT has completed triage exam, the meat wagon has arrived to transport to the ER or helipad if air evac is required.

Brighton · #8 07/20/14, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolf mom

There are a couple things going on here.

First, the paramedics come from the fire dept usually, not the hospital so find out the closest fire dept. My hospital is 30+ minutes away, but the FD & paramedics 5 minutes. They will take you (or whomever) to the hospital & be in contact with an ER Doc all the time.

Not around here they don't, they come from the hospital, there may be first responders with the FD, but there is not a single Paramedic on our local fire department.

Harry Chickpea · #9 07/21/14, 10:43 AM

"I'm always thinking "If someone choked or were injured, we'd never make it to get help...""

If someone is choking, five minutes or twenty-five minutes may not make much of a difference. With many other problems, the wait in the E.R. can be far longer than the drive or ride. If there is an EMT in the area, or a member of the fire dept., you might be better off than some city dwellers. It does make sense to learn and know basic first aid on your own before something happens.

Vosey · #10 07/21/14, 11:01 AM

We are also at least an hour from a hospital, but have a similar set-up as many have mentioned above. Our volunteer fire department are all first responders, the chief and one other are paramedics. They respond with their ambulance to 911 calls, if needed they call in the ambulances from town or helicopter. The locals stabilize you while waiting for the others to arrive. Another town near us lost their volunteer paramedics they'd had for 18 years, it's now often an hour or more for help to arrive. The only hitch to our set up is many of our first responders are wildland fire fighters so they are gone in the summer and don't expect a response during Elk season!

Another thing I'll add, make sure you and your kids have primary care providers. Medical offices all have someone on call in the evenings and weekends for more minor things and can help you decide if you need to call 911 or go to the hospital.

ksfarmer · #11 07/21/14, 11:25 AM

A few years back when I had a heart attack it was over 4 hrs to get me to our small hospital 15 miles away. It was the middle of a full-blown blizzard. Neighbor farmers made a road with their tractors, 2 guys hiked across the field , put me in my 4x4 pickup and followed them out to the blacktop road. The ambulance arrived in time to follow my pick-up to the hospital. I am glad to report that luckily I survived with only a little damage to my ticker.

watcher · #12 07/21/14, 11:28 AM

I'm still going to beat the learn to treat major medical issues yourself drum. True emergency treatment is not really that difficult IF YOU HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE.

The rule of thumb is you can last 3 weeks w/o food, 3 days w/o water but only 3 MINUTES w/o air. And if you cut a major blood vessel you may only have 3-5 minutes to do something. Not to scare you more but there are some injuries which you don't even have time to call 911 much less wait for someone to get to you.

Plus if there a storm or something which limits access to you or has produced so many casualties the powers that be can't get to you in time.

7thswan · #13 07/21/14, 11:53 AM

I just got an Epi pin for bee stings because I allergic,tho I haven't been stung in years even tho I'm always barefoot. Had gotten stung by Wasps(14 times) couple years back and the hosptial bill was 1000.$ Allergys like this can come on by supprise, so maybe it would be wise to talk to your Dr. about it.

anniew · #14 07/21/14, 03:18 PM

Pay and get an EMT course after the initial first aid course unless you belong to a fire dept that will pay for the course fee for members.

karenp · #15 07/21/14, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by modineg44

About 3 years ago I call the ambulance which is from a town 17 miles away. It took over 90 minutes for it to get here because my house is not shown in the correct location on GPS. No one seems to know how to correct this. Any ideas?

Nancy

Explain that the GPS is wrong when you call 911 and have a good set of direction including mileage "On Oak Rd 2 miles South of Elm Rd or 1/3 mile north of Maple Rd" not "next to farmer Jim's house, everybody knows him, you know across from where the barn fell down in the blizzard". Have your house number clearly visible by the road, not on the house, coming from both directions. The ambulance may not travel the same route as the mail man.
A previous poster is right, some things like an airway obstruction won't wait for an ambulance, learn first aid.

Danaus29 · #16 07/21/14, 04:10 PM

I agree with learning basic and advanced first aid. When I took my park ranger training we had to have first aid and CPR certification because of the remoteness of many parks.

Just slightly OT but dd had to go to the ER a few days ago. Thank God it wasn't a true emergency (dr told us to go to the ER) because when I pulled into the emergency section of one of the local hospitals the security staff told me I couldn't park there and gave me directions for a parking garage quite a way away and which happened to be closed. We ended up at another hospital 5 miles farther away.

I would advise anyone to learn where the closest hospitals are and how to get there. I drive past one on the interstate which has no directions on how to get into it.

Grandmotherbear · #17 07/24/14, 10:26 AM

What Danaus 29 said and the other poster said about multiple first aid kits. You can get a good first aid course, then take Wilderness Medicine course. Always have benedryl (diphenhydramine) on hand. I had a father who had bee sting allergies on one of my wilderness canoe trips with BSA, we had taken seaplanes out to the remote canoe base in Manitoba and were 4 days out, and 2 lakes away from one that could have a seaplane land for evac. The man s luggage went to Seattle instead of Bisset. Of course he got stung. He took a handful of Benedryl and I sat with him allnight to make sure he didn't go into anaphylaxis after the Benedryl wore off.
I realized, and spoke with some of the more mature young men, that there is an irreducible amount of risk in living daily life. You make your choices, prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

notwyse · #18 07/24/14, 11:06 AM

Learn CPR. Learn interventions for the choking person. Learn how to put pressure on a bleeding wound. Learn signs and symptoms of a head injury. If you have an underlying medical condition follow the rules. Learn about venomous snakes in your area and current treatments so you know how to handle the bite. Don't deliberately put yourself in harms way.