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.

 

[Jones the Paint Magnet]

I've done a few years of lifesaving at Uni (up to distinction) and now have a St John's Ambulance First Aid at Work certificate which covers 4 days of training and scenarios. I think basic resuscitation and treatment for breaks should be essential items of basic education - even for minor injuries, appropriate treatment can cut the recovery period significantly.

You may have felt helpless not knowing what to do, but at least you didn't try and do the wrong thing in an effort to help, and almost always the best thing to do is the simplest - call the ambulance!! That said - first aiders are often the worst at taking their own advice. Twisted both ankles in the first game at the weekend and played on until I went and sprained one of them! Ouch.

BTW, following a friend's husband having a seizure with no previous history of epilepsy, I was told that it was very likely that all males would experience at least one seizure in their lives - often a petit mal whilst asleep, so no ill effects are remembered. This seems to be a one-off, and doesn't re-occur, although your mate should obviously get a full check-up - hope he's feeling better soon.

 

[Billy No Mates]

just a thought

im not trying to say that having some form of knowledge is bad. but a the same time, have you ever been on a plane and heard the cabin crew ask if theres a doctor onboard??

wel my dad works in the medical industry and knows doctors who have responded to that call. The problem is, if anything goes wrong, ie someone has a heart attack, and u try and do cpr, but the person later dies, you could be held responsible for it.
Trained doctors have been sued for helping people. and many trained first aiders and medics will not jump to help people under some circumstances because of the huge risks.

if that doenst make too much sense. imagine billy joe bob falls over on a paintball field and complains about pains in his foot. you try and move him to the safe zone so he can relax, and take off his goggles. If later its discovered that he had a broken bone, and you moved him, which lead to loss of earnings or something like that, it can come straight back to you.

its al a matter of deciding if its worth the risk to help someone.
im not heartless, ive just seen what can happen to FULLY trained people who have helped out.

 

[Billy No Mates]

im sure scribble could give an informed view on this idea though, cos of his background.

 

[Jones the Paint Magnet]

Sad reflection of a litigious society, I'm afraid. I was told during Distinction Lifesaving that one could also be sued for ignoring a situation that you had actually been trained to deal with - case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. The flip side is that if I had to jump into some water and pull out a guy, then I could charge them for any clothing or watch etc that got ruined as a result. "Yes, I was just trying on the fourth Rolex when I heard this call for help . . "

Fortunately I've not had to deal with anything that could have serious consequences, but I generally find the victims are more grateful to have someone take charge and offer help, rather than stand around & stare, or ignore them completely as they are "too busy". I'd sooner try and help than have someone on my conscience permanently harmed or dead because I didn't try - but I can see that for professionals this is a real risk. What can they do? Ask a bleeding, confused or arresting casualty to sign legal disclaimers before treatment?

 

[Billy No Mates]

i understand that, but i was just pointing out the flip side of the coin if something was to go wrong and you used your training to help someone.

but it is very sad, as you say, that someone could turn round after youve helped them and demand money for something that didnt run perfectly.

well ive had my little say now. just thought someone had to mention it before everyone goes off and starts being the action hero.

 

[crom-dubh]

As a trained first aider I have to agree with a lot of points here. It can be quite daunting when you think that if you do cock up when helping someone, you could be held responsible for their deaths. I have heard some rather sad stories from other guys I know who have performed first aid on someone and have got into a world of **** for it. What is even more worrying is the fact that some first aiders do not have a clue about what they are doing. Whern I was at work we had an old guy who was in a really bad way. As soon as I got to the scene his heart stopped.
And low and behold, someone with first aid experience was trying to get him into the recovery position. After a polite "f@ck off" I managed to bring the guy around. I also know first aiders who cannot stand the sight of blood.
On a paintball note, is it not mandatory to have a trained medic on site? I would assume site owners insurance policies would demand this.

 

[big kev]

i am pretty sure that the law states that if you are an organizer of an event which holds X amount of people then you must have the relevant amount of emergency service cover at hand.
i know that if i was to get hurt or injure myself seriously at a tourney and there was no medic there or even a semi decent first aider then i would be mighty pissed off .....