Can you save a life? Fix a hangnail?

[Manning26]

A pal of mine passed out and went into seizures right in front of me at work today. I was stunned, at first I thought he was messing around, but I quickly realized that wasn't the case. Thankfully there were other people around who quickly got hold of an ambulance and did whatever it is you're supposed to do in such a circumstance. I felt so helpless, It was a horrible feeling, and still feel a bit bad about it now. After the medics came, fixed him up and carted him away, I wondered what the hell I could've done better. I wondered how everything would've gone had we been at the field. I've read tons of articles regarding first aid for paintball fields, but how many people actually have the means to do anything at their respective fields? A bit of a tip to all, be sure your field has, at the very least, a telephone, 'cause if there ain't a doc' in the house, you may have Billy Joe Bob trying to straighten your broken leg, or possibly givin' a little mouth to mouth. All I wanted to do here is to get everyone up on safety, there's a lot more to paintball safety than goggles and barrel plugs. Take care of yourselves, especially you renegades, just remember the old boyscout motto, "be prepared."
>>BE SAFE!<<

 

[Darkwerks]

About a two years ago, I found a young girl who had been badly beaten up in Soho squarein London's West End. She had cuts and bruises all over her and had been kicked in the crotch. I was very unsure of what to do, but I managed to get her an ambulance and looked after her as best I could until they arrived.
I felt very useless. I decided to do something about it and took a First Responder course, including a Wilderness first responder as I'm out in the woods playing paintball. I'd recommend it to anyone who is likely to be involved in outdoors activities.
On a similar note, a player twisted his ankle at Campaign last year. I had to treat him as none of the staff had any training and there was no first aid kit available. Paintball marshalls should really have mandatory first aid training, and fields should be equiped to deal with any emergency.

 

[Manning26]

See Andy, that's the type of stuff I'm talking about, I really do need to take a First Aid course, it's so easy for us to just figure on someone else to know what to do should an emergency arise. As far as that goes, we all know it'll never happen to us.

 

[TheRo0sTer]

Thankfully there is one thing that in the past 11 years I have recieved while in the military. Self-Aid and Buddy care a yearly refresher. I am glad that my team mates are in the same boat. Yeah I know were are a bunch of maintenance guys but we have been taught the basics for as many years as we all have been in. Good stuff to know!

Just think Manning it was just a friend what if had been a family member? In the US American Red cross offers classes for free or a small fee. Which if you think about it would be nothing if you saved the life of a loved one. Good thing you brought this safety thing to light! As for a phone at the local field... I think just about everyone in the UK owns a mobile!

 

[Manning26]

Thanks Rooster, I was curious whether or not that class taught how to handle a person having seizures. I felt helpless because my friend was still breathing, don't get me wrong, I was glad, it's just my CPR wouldn't have been too useful to him at that time. If he's back Monday, he'll definitely get a lot of crap about all of us trying to give him mouth to mouth.

 

[TheRo0sTer]

Originally posted by Manning26
Thanks Rooster, I was curious whether or not that class taught how to handle a person having seizures. I felt helpless because my friend was still breathing, don't get me wrong, I was glad, it's just my CPR wouldn't have been too useful to him at that time. If he's back Monday, he'll definitely get a lot of crap about all of us trying to give him mouth to mouth.

Damn a seizure... Has your friend experianced one or more of these in his life? I know from a past experiance someone put a wallet in this doods mouth to keep him from Biting his tonge off!
The Red Cross offers 1st Aid and Buddy care as well. The books we use to teach it come from them! Hope you buddy is ok!

 

[Manning26]

Originally posted by TheRo0sTer


Damn a seizure...

Yeah, didn't ya' read the original post!?! LOL!

I'm sure he's fine, and he just transferred into my department a couple months ago, so I really don't know a lot of background stuff on him. I suppose I was surprised in part because he's ripped, he's built like a bulldog, in excellent shape, you just don't figure someone in such fine health would have any hidden problems. It's all perception, obviously.

The other thing is that he waited 'til the end of the day to do it, we only had an hours work left. Poor timing on his part. Crap Rooster, now you're going to have me worrying about him, I keep picking on him on the forum here, and I haven't even seen him yet!

 

[Tortoise-Licker]

Originally posted by TheRo0sTer


Damn a seizure... Has your friend experianced one or more of these in his life? I know from a past experiance someone put a wallet in this doods mouth to keep him from Biting his tonge off!
The Red Cross offers 1st Aid and Buddy care as well. The books we use to teach it come from them! Hope you buddy is ok!

Speaking from experiance the only person who can afford a wallet in p8ntball is the site owner. And as everyone knows that getting a wallet of a site owner is impossiable and even if you could get it out of thier claws, the damn thing is to stuffed with 50 squid notes to fit in anybody's mouth.

JOKING ASIDE every site should have at least 1 fully trained first aider and yesrooster everyone in the u.k has a mobile. I even take mine in to the field just in case

 

[TheRo0sTer]

Originally posted by Manning26
Yeah, didn't ya' read the original post!?! LOL!

I did but I didn't put 2 and 2 together. I was thinking more along the lines as what could have caused the seizures! Not the seizure being the main source of your co-workers problem! Sorry bout that!

 

[Smokin']

Great post

This is a great post. Thank you so much for bringing this up. Everyone and thier sister should at least know CPR and have a pocket mask (think protection). The classes are cheap or free. Every minute a person is not breathing the chances for survival drop dramaticly. After 6-8 minutes of no CPR the chances of survival are almost 0. The average response time for the Fire Department is right around 5 min. Go now! Take the class!

Bystander CPR does work. I dispatched a call to a bowling alley for a man down. The Medics got there in 4 min. The guys friends started CPR right away. After treating the guy on scene they had a pulse and was trying to breath on his own. He was admitted to the ICU and when the Medics stopped by the next day he was sitting up in bed. His biggest complaint was his chest hurt from the CPR and defib.

Manning26, you did a great job. Calling 911 right away is very important. Most 911 dispatchers can give you instructions over the phone. Not to much you can do for seizures. Just protect them from hitting the things near them. Also never try to shove or put anything in a persons mouth. That can cause the airway to be blocked and cause much more serius problems.

Stay safe
Steve