I absolutly agree that having non-skilled use equipment on hand for the bystander to use is helpful. For the moment, setting aside from the issues raised by Matt re: the legal ramifications of enlisting bystanders, anyone is qualified to take out a stack of sterile gauze and press it on a flowing wound to stop the blood, most would be competent in deploying flares to signal for help or direct traffic, many would be able to make the appropriate calls on their cell phones. If you are not a certified EMT and you enlist individuals to provide this type of first aid along with yourself while you await the EMT's then you are probably also covered by the good samaritan laws. OTOH, if you are certified and you enlist non-certified personnel there are BIG VERY BIG liability issues for everyone. Further if you enlist their aid in performing treatments that are restricetd by lisencing or certification (Airway management, CPR, administering drugs) for which they don't carry the credentials then you or they or both will end up owing people a bunch of money if not in jail.

That said.

In a true disaster survival situation where the EMT may be days away or not available at all and you have some training then you are operating under Mass Casualty Incident [MCI] rules of triage and if they won't make a day without intervention they probably won't be getting more than a minute of your time anyway. Under those rules many uses of bystanders are acceptable that are not normally. I'm sure that Matt can relate some stories about how the MCI rules were applied / ignored and the consequences to the involved individuals from his experience with 9-11.