Despite having some Israeli wound bandages in my range bag in case of emergencies, I had a woeful lack of training in how to actually, you know, use them. My gunshot wound self-care plan was basically "rub some dirt in it and walk it off."
This morning, I am going to remedy that, because knowing is half the battle! (Not setting yourself on fire in the first place is the other half.)
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I thought the other half was 25% red lasers and 25% blue lasers?
http://shirtoid.com/7732/the-battle-2/
Excellent! AAR?
And I am stuch at home sick. Yuck.
Damn good idea! In the only serious injury I was aware of there was a doctor present. Most likely kept the guy from bleeding to death.
Merle
Hope you never have to apply this training and the bandages their "use by" date.
Good for you, Tam!
I took an entry-level combat medicine block as part of a longer weekend course a couple of months ago, and it was life-changing, as in, easy to learn and retain; and now the usual hemostatic/chest seal/compression/CAT-Twithglovesnasalthingy kit rides in my driver's side car door. Everyone should take a quick course on the basics, shooter or no.
Smart. Very smart.
If I've learned anything vis-a-vis first aid, it's that there's no such thing as too much gauze.
When the cost of Israeli dressings became too dear, I began the practice of putting up "expedient" field dressings consisting of:
o 4x4 gauze pad
o sanitary napkin (maxi, natch)
o ACE wrap
All of these can be had at the Dollar store for less cost per-unit than an Israeli dressing.
The only thing that needs to be sterile is the thing going against the wound (the gauze). And since the wound itself isn't sterile, an argument can be made that the dressing itself need not be.
What's more, if you're putting it up as a blow-out dressing SPECIFICALLY for gunshot wounds, put two each gauze/pads in per ACE wrap in a ziploc baggie and you have a dressing for both entry and exit wounds - something the Israeli dressing, for all its capability, cannot address on its own.
But yeah, there's no such thing as too much gauze. EVER.
gvi
"rub some dirt in it and walk it off."
Ah, yes, a modified DEA agent leg wound response. In his defense, I'm sure the indoor setting was the reason for his lack of dirt application to the wound.
Not setting yourself on fire is always a good plan.
Couldn't do Indy this year because of other committments, but I'm making hotel reservations for Nashville 2015 as we speak (type?).
If AD is willing to do it again next year in Nashville, I'm on board.
"This morning, I am going to remedy that"
I see what you did there.
Great to meet you at the self care class this morning.
Regarding "it's just the internet" I would reply (or would have if I thought faster): "you can't stop the signal Mal".
I need a refresher; it's been too long.
On the subject of sterile, at a fun show a while back a emergency-supplies dealer had two boxes of Israeli bandages, about five dollars difference between them. I asked why, answer was the cheaper ones were past their expiration date. My first question was "How does a bandage expire?"
As Global noted, if you need the damn thing it's not liable to be in sterile circumstances, and stopping the bleeding is the important thing. So I got a couple. They're in one bag sealed inside another bag, so I'm not too worried about contaminatation.
Man, that's a HECK of a deal for that kind of training. Dark Angel medical runs courses at Scottsdale Gun Club out here, but they're 500 simollions and i just can't justify that right now.
Heck it'd almost worth it to fly out there and back!
Israeli dressings are great stuff; though as noted above you can do "field expedient" anything that doesn't violate the First Rule is better than standing around or panicking.
Our Command Surgeon was a big fan of the IBD but did NOT like the "Quik-Clot" versionss at all.
I'm sooo envious. I waited a day too long to double check with the S.O first and missed the cutoff for that class. Hope he does another some time.
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