@bobjonkman asks:
Q6. What should a cycling first aid kit contain? Anything special not found in other first aid kits? What about a first aid kit for group ride organizers?
P.S. Photos of your first aid kit encouraged!
#BikeNiteQ #BikeNite #BikeTooter #Cycling #MastoBikes cc @bikenite
@ascentale @bobjonkman @bikenite
#BikeNite A6.
Various gauze
Various bandaids
Self adhesive bandages
Triangle bandage (good for broken clavicles)
Nitrile gloves
Kerlix
Gultose (for treating a diabetic emergency)
Elecrolytes for mixing into water
not shown: benadryl (just added thanks to BikeNite)
Hand sanitizer
@ai6yr @ascentale @bobjonkman @bikenite
wth dude, where's the tourniquet??
@ai6yr @ascentale @bobjonkman @bikenite
depends on how stretchy the tubes are.
you may be twisting until your face turns blue before you stop the blood flow.
@MsMerope @ai6yr @ascentale @bobjonkman @bikenite if you have a handkerchief/cloth strip & you have a long thin object like a pen you can improvise a tourniquet by tying one lace somewhat loose upstream of the bleeding & then using the pen to spin in a small loop in the cloth until it is tight enough to limit bloodflow, which is REALLY tight. It will of course come loose if you let it go so it needs to be either held in place by hand or fastened with the second cloth.
Edited for bad info.
@MsMerope @ai6yr @ascentale @bobjonkman @bikenite A tourniquet should only be used if losing the limb entirely is acceptable, such as an egregious wound that has caused life-threatening bleeding, & it can be very hard to get the tightness needed to cut off this severity of bleeding without this setup. Seriously, it needs to be FUCKING TIGHT & is incredibly painful, but can save lives.
Of course if you just need a tourniquet for injections this isn't an issue, but i assumed street medic stuff.
@MsMerope @ai6yr @ascentale @bobjonkman @bikenite so just carrying some extra handkerchiefs would be good & maybe some strong thin objects that won't bend or break under pressure, maybe titanium straws might work since titanium is hella strong & super lightweight. They're a bit expensive tho so steel would probably also be fine. Idk i'm just spitballin here, use whatever long thin thing won't break with modest pressure, even a good stick from the ground in a pinch.
Edited for bad info.
@MsMerope @ai6yr @ascentale @bobjonkman @bikenite King Cage is incidentally a bike rack maker who also makes titamium straws out of the 1/4 inch titanium tubing that's leftover from making the racks! These ones are quite cheap actually.
@itsmeholland @ai6yr @ascentale @bobjonkman @bikenite
improvised tourniquets should be ~1.5 - 2 inches wide. with a thinner material you run the risk of digging into the skin or as we call it "cheese slicering" the limb. Likewise the windlass should be at least an inch in width of sturdy material that will not break under the strain.
The American College of Surgeons - the STOP THE BLEED® people - do not recommend the use of improvised tourniquets unless one has been trained in their use.
Yes, I am a StB instructor.
@itsmeholland @ai6yr @ascentale @bobjonkman @bikenite
there are STOP THE BLEED® courses that you can take online
@MsMerope @itsmeholland @ascentale @bobjonkman @bikenite LOL I once watched a TV news story where somebody had pot shotted some people with bird shot in the butt at a mall, and people were attempting to put their legs in tourniquets (no bleeding apparent, mind you). I was yelling at the TV the whole time.
(almost as bad as me yelling at people dragging people out of cars that have gotten in an accident, and the cars are not on fire."YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE THEM A QUADRAPLEGIC PEOPLE! DON'T MOVE THEM! !! C SPINE!!! CSPINE!!!")
@ai6yr
when we teach Basic - and our first aid classes we call out our "yelling at the tv moments"
you don't shock asystole...
don't put severed body parts directly on ice
or omg that one Chicago Fire the other week where the firefighters were slowly passing out and I'm yelling at the tv "PUSH THE ORANGE BUTTON!!!"
(fire service 800MHz radios have an orange "firefighter down" button on the top. radios are assigned to a rig, or a person and dispatch knows immediately that someone is down and needing assistance. There were FOUR of them in that truck and nobody thought to push the orange button?!?!? wth is your training??)
/rant off
@itsmeholland @ai6yr @ascentale @bobjonkman @bikenite
the last time we had a training with a trauma surgeon [pre covid so it was awhile back] he was telling us that vascular surgery has come so far now that a tourniquet can be left in place for 6-8 hours without losing function in the distal portion of the limb.
@ai6yr @itsmeholland @ascentale @bobjonkman @bikenite
not that the person would be diaphoretic or anything.
CATs come with a little velcro dohicky to secure the windlass that has a place for the time to be written. We teach put a T on the person's forehead. In simple terms: most tourniquets are black, people wear a lot of black clothes and a tourniquet might be missed.
[In our lay classes we don't teach "expose"]
@itsmeholland @ai6yr @ascentale @bobjonkman @bikenite
he was a UC Davis trauma dude, at a level 1 trauma facility so his skills were probably tops in the field.
........Or he was the bumbling boob they wanted to get rid of for an afternoon.🤔
Phil (ascentale)
AI6YR Ben
MsMerope
✨buff dog himbo✨
David Dunham