Remote Emergency Care - REC 2 / The Program

From the very beginning of the course it occurred to me that first aid, adventure and being prepared are all inseparable, plus an excellent program idea source if I have ever seen one!

They say adventure starts when your plan doesn't quite pan out as expected, not to tempt fate but this does sound pretty much spot on.
First aid also starts when the unexpected takes a turn to the worst and being prepared is not so much about being a prophet but accepting that this can happen and plan for it.

I've once heard that you prepare for the rain by taking an umbrella, no reason to spend to much time preparing for a lovely sunny day is it? (Do wear your sunscreen!)

So week in - week out, in scouting, we help young scouts to have this outlook over things... So if we aim to help them learn First Aid just by doing the DRsABC(DE) and highlighting the use of the necker as a triangular bandage we might miss the opportunity to make it a more holistic experience. After all lessons in scouting become knowledge out there in the field when we do scouty things, not in an academic way or by sitting in a class.

A Short Story

When the hiking party got caught out in the rain, a couple of scouts felt a bit tired and the moral quickly started falling. Hypothermia was high in the leader's worries and it looked like they had to decide; Do we keep going or do we stop here?

The young leaders immediately saw the opportunity; Set up a tarpaulin, look for dry space to light a camp fire, make some hot chocolate and get us all warmed up. Then we go over our maps, maybe have a team go find a phone signal up the nearby hill, see what needs to be done as we have enough time to alternate the route but if we all feel strong and in high moral 2 hours ahead is the shelter, easy to reach if we are all up and happy again...

Soon enough, the rain stopped, the group packed their stuff and they all got ready to move on, two hours later they arrived at the shelter, didn't even register they did something extraordinary, extraordinary people as scouts are.

The Program

I can see a program stemming from the above case, and it all hinges around First Aid Training without a triangular bandage in sight although By all means do incorporate more calamity if you wish.

Scouts should know what to do with just a simple "let's stop here and put the kettle on!". Soon a couple will set up the tarpaulin, another the fire, the kettle and at the same time they can all chill with a few silly songs, thinking about backtracking or going ahead based on what is happening now and not underestimate the condition of the one or two fellow scouts.

If you are prepared for this scenario, aren't you prepared for an adventure?

As a first aider and Leader I can see the benefit of assigning jobs to scouts who are prepared to do them.

It raises morale, gives me time to deal with the casualty and have all the help I need looking after the group as a whole.

A scout program must incorporate all the elements and activities that help to achieve this level of readiness.
To put it another way, my first aid pack is one side of the equation, the group's readiness is the other.

Remote Emergency Care - REC 2 / part 2

Sunday 8:30 in the morning we are on our way to day 2 of training, it should be the one step up from module10 and REC1. It was clear and cold, a fantastic day for outdoor activities, we expected a lot of training scenarios and we got them.

There were people with embedded glass in their hands, cuts, burns, sprained ankles, broken legs, fell climbers on top of each other, epileptic seizures, chocking, hypothermic and a lot of shouting for help.

"I tried to pick the pot up to move it..."

It was all enhanced with the make-up of realistic wounds, blood flowing and things sticking out... Oh we did enjoy today's training!

Each one of us would alternate between casualty and first aid crew. We all played our roles without trying to laugh it off as "not real" and the weird thing is that in my mind I can only describe what we did based on what the scenarios were staged and developed as and not as a bunch of role playing acting exercises. I felt that we were making first aid efforts and decisions. Now that builds confidence!

Time to put together a simple first aid kit, something that will easily be expanded for a group of 10 and it will have scope for a 1h or more emergency care. This must be coupled with prepared and trained scouts, if one scout needs care the whole group will need to adapt their roles to assist evacuation, on that we can be trained to a high standard. In fact this might even make first aid programmes fun to run, I bet young members love bloody and gory details in their first aid training. Add to that bevy bag casualty lift and move, you got a load of fun first aid achieved!

If you are an adult or young leader in scouts, guides or any other youth based organisation, do seek and get trained in REC2, you'll love it!

Our training course was organised by Berkshire Scouts and run by the very competent and herself an explorers scout leader, Julia Pich. If you scout anywhere near Hertfordshire Do contact her!

Her services can be reached at www.juliapichtraining.co.uk

Now, where do they order that badge from...

Remote Emergency Care - REC 2 / part 1

Live from the REC2 training weekend, this is part one of the two 8h training course in First Aid, where Aid comes First!

This is as close to a log diary as it gets, I do not want to forget some thing so i make notes of some stuff that were discussed in today's session.

REC is a first aid course that trains you to be prepared and equipped for when the emergency situation occurs in a remote location, where the ambulance is not likely to be there on time, a considerable longer time from an urban environment.

It also seems that the position of the body will be in a more random or awkward place. Getting there, assessing and caring for the casualty is a challenge. I guess in an urban setting, most casualties tend to be flat, on their backs one swing away from the recovery position, just about enough time for the ambulance to arrive.

Oh wait, we dont call it the recovery position any more, that assumes too much, that the casualty will recover for starts... We call it assisted airways position, basically we make sure that if there is a breath in their body, there's more chance for another one...

I won't go into the technicalities of "how" and "what" you do or "why"; do the course to get them from the horse's mouth. I will write a couple of ideas, especially the scouting aspect of it.

When we hike, we tend to use dirt tracks, the ones that go bit off the back of farms and through little copses, some woods, over another farm or field, we still hear the car noise from the nearby A or M road, right? We are in the nature but not off the grid, safe in the knowledge that if the ambulance won't come on time, the helicopters will! Can you tell I was a cubs leader?

The 7 to 15 minutes that it would take for an ambulance to go where the postman can deliver post, becomes... 45 minutes? Maybe less provided you can move the casualty closer to the main road but do you move casualties? Not in the emergency first response context. Thats a long way around of saying; REC2 is much more basic that you think, much more common and close to familiar scouting grounds.

With a group of scouts, ramblers, walkers, tourists, call it how you want, it's not only the casualty you will need to care of but everybody else, you don't want more casualties under your care because while you are tending the wounded scout the others may get wet, cold, scared, even suffer from hypothermia feeling horrible and helpless! So you might need to know how to set them safe and ready for a long night till help arrives.

Get your patrols to practice a first aid program or activity that one or two "casualties" are cared for by the first aider but everybody knows how to react, e.g. where the first aid kit is, how to call for help, how to prepare a shelter and a brew and how to evacuate. This will help moral and keep spirits high as everybody has a job, while the patrol or troop is stranded waiting for help to arrive.

Got ICE number and name on your mobile phone? I let you google this to find out what it is.

And finally, do you know where you are going to be and how it's called or how to reference it on the grid or post code address if you have to call for an ambulance or mountain rescue or coast guard?

When you prepare a hike get those things in with your first aider, they will love you when you tell them exactly where they can find you. 

Oh there's more than this but I won't script the whole course here now, am I? For starts, I got one more day to go through tomorrow...