A pharmacy in town wants to donate a 'first aid kit' to the Ermelo Mountain Club.
We are super psyched, but not quite sure what to ask for.

The idea is to make it more of a 'first responder' kit, seeing that we are quite far away from mountain rescue etc. So the idea is to (in a worst case scenario) keep a patient as alive as possible until help arrives. I expect a lot of our activities will be away from the normally frequented places.

The idea is to keep the kit in Ermelo, or at base camp during a weekend, not to carry it all with us (except bare necessities), and it should be easy to use. So we want to be prepared to deal with a situation where a patient cannot walk himself out of the crag, and where the paramedics will need to come to him.

With that in mind, I think we should plan / be prepared for the following:
- spinal injuries
- broken limbs
- snakes / spiders / scorpions / bees
- severe dehydration

So, after a few calls, the bucket list looks like this:
- 'bucket type' spine board
- neck brace
- lots of triangular bandages
- electrolyte powder (like Rehydrat)
No snake bite kit - this is specialised. In case of a snake bite, the patient will be carried out of the crag.
This kit will not cater for headaches, minor cuts and bruises, etc.

I would like to invite those with medical / emergency related wisdom & experience to add / change this lists above.

Humble request: no guesswork please, having the wrong kit can have less than positive results.

Hi

My advice:
1: stay away from the stokes basket stretcher, they are heavy and awkward to use and provide little in the way of spinal immobilization. Rather get a Scoop stretcher and a Kendrick Extrication Device (KED). Much lighter and easier to use. If your fairy grandmother is very generous get a Traverse Rescue wire basket stretcher, the steel version is about R15000 and the titanium one is about R35000.
2: Get plenty of trauma management stuff. Bandages, gauze swabs, disinfectant and sticky plasters. Most of the disinfectants require dilution so pre-dilute them and put the solution into a squishy sports drink bottle, this makes it easy to wash wounds with the disinfectant.
3: SAM splints are the best type, though anything will do in an emergency. Duct tape and cable ties are essentials for splinting.
4: You are right, forget the snakebite kit, they don't work. Snakebites are all treated symptomatically anyway.

_________________
Happy climbing
Nic

thanks Nic, valuable beta

The list has been delivered to our benefactor.
Lets hope that it finds him in a good mood, and with an open wallet

Agree with Nic. As a qualified medic I would firstly ask what level of emergency medicine you guys are trained in, as it would determine what you can use...for eg oxygen, tract3 for the mid femur fractures. Although, I must say this, and the HPCSA and anyone else would probably hang me in the public eye for it, but I reckon if you are far out, with very little extra training, I would say consider oxygen, or even get the DAN oxygen administrator qualification (for divemasters). The benefits would outweigh the risks and is a primary survey and CPR wonderfuel.


I like the kramer wire splints and yes, a scoop stretcher. If there is helicopter support relatively closeby you may consider what Nic had for air evacuation. One thing Nic mentioned that I could highlight is the KED. It is small and great to move a patient and immobilises well enough for spinal injuries especially in hard te reach places.

If you are somewhat trained, an SPO2 (pulse oximeter) can be of great use, but watchout for misinterpreting the readings. Bag valve mask maybe depending on training? BP cuff, glucometer, stethoscope? But now I am starting to really daydream.

If you can get a sponsor, I would DEFINATELY add an AED (automatic external defibrillator). It's a shocky thingie that can be used by lame person easily without hours of training. you may not wanna carry that all the time, but helpful if you canget to it in the car and back at the pt at least within 10 minutes (perhaps a bit longer if it is combined with hypothermia.

JUST do not start cutting and sucking on snakebites, common myth.

I am not sure of Nic's medical qualification, and I am happy to defer to him, but I am quite happy to help you with a list of contents for a medical bag if you pm me your number/email. I have an excel list of the contents of my medical bag if it will help and maybe reduce it to a FA level 3 bag for you.

Locally I have been speaking to a few climbers with FA 1 - 3 about a group therapy session with a climbing injury slant, by looking at some practical rescue techniques and share ideas. As with many things, there are so much friggin red tape and bullshit so anything like that would be unofficial and not a first aid recognized refresher course (for those coming up to 3 years).

_________________
Strangers have the best candy!

Hi Bennie,

Thanks for the beta!

I have a very expired mining 1st aid level1, and has been in charge of a first responder volunteer team on avery remote chrome smelter a couple of years ago, also went out on call with the team. We were the only emergency response in a 80km radius. The closest other response units were 100% government funded. My experiences there inspired me to get our club on some level of preparedness.

We also have a qualified private hospital nurse in the club, but she can seldom join us on our trips.
The rest, well, at the moment I doubt if most of them know how to do CPR.
Depending on what we get I will arrange some sort of training (as official as we can afford).


I wish we could have all those toys, but I doubt if our benefactor can foot such a bill.

In our area, if we can just get the patient safely out of the difficult access areas, then help is (somewhat) readily available. [Touch wood]
The main idea is to deal with the immediate need of a patent with a typical rock climbing injury, considering that 'golden hour' that emergency crews regularly refer to, get in touch with paramedics / hospital trauma units via phone as soon as possible and be guided by them while preparing the area for their arrival. Also giving them detail info on the condition of the patient, access to the area, etc which saves time and lives.

I am sending you a pm with my email adress.

Hi

@Fungye: I've got a lapsed level 3

My recommendations are based on several years doing mountain rescue. Your main requirements are to stabilize your patient enough for them to survive transport to a hospital where they can be treated. It is almost impossible to safely move severely injured patients over long distances by stretcher at least not without highly experienced and trained medical personnel on hand to assist. That is why all my recommendations are based on stabilization rather than treatment.

For severely injured patients the best means of evacuation is to fly them out by helicopter. Seeing as you are in Ermelo, I'd suggest that you contact the Mountain Club of South Africa, Jo-burg Section as mountain rescue is their responsibility in Gauteng. They can give you lots of advice as to how to prepare a stretcher for hoisting and what helicopters require in terms of landing zones. Contact DeanVDM on the forum http://www.climb.co.za/forum/memberlist ... file&u=338

_________________
Happy climbing
Nic

our idea is to get the kit, then find good samaritans to teach us how/when to use it.
I will definately ask mountain rescue to teach us how to use it. or any other skilled people.
Basically we will be making the life of a rescue team easier, and increase the chances of a patient.
We will not reserve it for our own club members only, and will surely help out the community too if required.

Maybe some of our club members discover a passion for emergency response and go for more formal training in the future...

Its like buying a fire extinguisher in the hope that you will never need it.

Haha ye that darn 3 year refresher is a bitch for first aiders. I also have in excess of 7 years rescue experience, but not mountain rescue, but I don't believe we have fundamentally different views and it would make for an interesting discussion. Then again CPT doesn't really have an issue, too many rescuers per sq km .

I do however believe that some rules are there for a reason, but I also believe some rules are not black and white, and in this case specifically to remote areas and treatment, which may be out of protocol and WILL make a huge difference. Even on FA 1 level. (Which is one of my big gripes with the HPCSA and this whole new drive to stop all BLS and force them to upgrade to ECT or N.Dip - ILS or ALS - but that's a whole new bottle of brandy and another forum).

Franz, Although your FA 1 has expired, I admire that you still remain on the bandwagon every human being on this planet should be on. If I still lived in Ermelo! I would have set up a session with you guys. I haven't gotten to my home pc yet, but got your e-mail addie and will send it soonest. It will be a good idea to get in touch with MCSA as well and if nothing else, set up a line of comms with them.

_________________
Strangers have the best candy!

thanks for all the beta!

Monday I'm dong my follow up with the pharmacy to see if we have any luck yet.
Once we got some stuff, I plan to tie in with MCSA rescue.

Peace