Mastodawn

McNadoMD Jan 24

If you are going to a protest where shit may get real, here’s (part) of my med kit I carry to these:
1. Nitrile gloves
2. NAR CAT tourniquets
3. Roller gauze and/or wound packing
4. Chest seals
5. Blister treatments (molefoam, cloth tape)
6. Clean water in a bike squeeze bottle (for eye irrigation)
7. Trauma shears
8. Surgical masks
9. Safety glasses
10. Snacks
11. Tampons and pads
12. P-100 respirator with vapor cartridges
13. Shop towels

I also carry a helmet.

If someone is shot in front of you, first of all, seek cover. If it is safe to render aid, your first order of business is hemorrhage control. Bleeding extremity? Tourniquet now, re-asses later. Extremity wound you can’t tourniquet? Wound packing. Chest, abdomen,or neck wound? Chest seal/occlusive dressing.

The key to combat medicine is speed. Act decisively, then get the casualty out of the hot/warm zone and to somewhere you can re-assess them.

McNadoMD Jan 24

If you want to be able to help people with asthma/reactive airway conditions who can’t breathe after tear gas, Primatene Mist inhalers are available over-the-counter and are better than nothing.

If you want to stop extremity hemorrhage, read up on CAT tourniquet use, get some, and practice with them a bit (don’t tighten the windlass, or they won’t work as well next time).

If you want to get irritant agents off of skin/eyes, use plain tap water, lots of it. Do NOT add anything to it.

McNadoMD Jan 24

If you want to treat cold injuries (frostbite), you need to know if you can get the patient off scene and into long-term warming. Do NOT thaw someone’s frozen hands/fingers if they are going to immediately freeze them again. Repeated freezing causes far more injury.

Wrap frozen fingers/toes in a clean dressing, and protect them.

For warming, use lukewarm water or body heat if possible. Hot air can cause burns if you aren’t VERY careful. Rewarming is extremely painful. Be ready.

Celeste Ryder 🐾 🐀🏳️‍🌈Jan 24

@mcnado I used to do it in steps: start with cold water (which feels hot anyway), then move on to warm. Dry well.

@mcnado I got severe frostbite when I was 13 on my knees. Indianapolis dress code for girls was skirts and dresses. They didn't care if it was -43. I was hospitalized and put in a tub of warm water for quite awhile. It did the job. After that I wore pants in cold weather and my Mom threatened to sue the school if they didn't like it. School board changed the dress code since I wasn't the only girl to get frostbite that year

McNadoMD Jan 24

@FaithinBones that story is so deeply fucked…

Goddamn.

RiaResists Jan 24

@mcnado Thank you 🙏🏼

@mcnado if Primatene Mist inhalers are useful, how good are expired albuterol inhalers? Any difference if they're the aerosol form or powder form?

McNadoMD Jan 24

@sysop408 if they still have propellant and deliver drug, probably pretty good. There are differences is where in the airway the drug lands depending on the method of delivery. What is good/recommended, and what is possible in a pinch are not always the same for sure.

@mcnado OK, so from what you said, I'd presume that the aerosol spray would probably be more effective? The powder inhalers seem to have less propellant.

Of course I see that there's the powder delivery inhalers require someone to draw breath upon them to trigger the delivery so the person would have to be coordinated enough to use it.

Thanks! This is good to know. I'm sure everyone else like me who has inhalers also has a bunch of old inhalers that they haven't discarded yet.

Earthshine Jan 24

@mcnado buy two tourniquets. One gen 7 CAT from a reputable supplier, and one cheap knockoff, in different colors. Use the cheap one for practice, save the real one for real emergencies. A good tourniquet is expensive but worth it. A cheap one works just as well for practice, though.

MsMerope Jan 26

find a STOP THE BLEED® class near you:

https://cms.bleedingcontrol.org/class/search

Class Search

FeloniousPunk Jan 24

@mcnado So much this. Also many organizations offer “Stop the Bleed” training, which is first aid for gunshot and knife wounds. If you have the opportunity to take it, do so asap.

I have undergone that training and it was well worth the time invested.

Lstn2urmama 🇨🇦Jan 24

@mcnado Make sure YOU WERE NOT SHOT from same event and then HELP THOSE SHOT...

Carina C. Zona Jan 25

@mcnado you know who would have been invaluable to have at this morning's scene? An intensive care nurse. Alex Pretti was exactly that, at the VA, until ICE murdered him this morning for observing them.

Ericka Simone Jan 26

@cczona @mcnado girl shut up you’re the one who put them there in the first place.

Mirishuli Jan 25

@mcnado McNado, describe how to seal a chest wound for us please.

Edit PS.@. I’m old enough to have been taught to get the cellophane off a pack of cigarettes to use on a sucking chest wound. 🤷‍♀️.

McNadoMD Jan 25

@MiriShuli best option is a commercial chest seal. Second best is taking something sterile and occlusive like a foil/plastic bandage packing and taping the sides down. Venting a corner by periodically lifting it up is a good plan if transport isn’t readily available.

The reality is that most medical tape won’t stick to a sweaty, bloody chest anyway. The adhesive on chest seals is very thick, strong, sticky stuff.