Someone else may be better informed about how to deal with an open sucking chest wound. Saran wrap and petroleum has been stated as an option. Others insight is welcome.

Totally agree. After I took the 2 day Wilderness First Aid course at a local REI, I had the opportunity to assist with cleaning and dressing a wound. Learning in a classroom is a good start, but even the WFA and WFR scenarios are staged. They walk you through scenarios and you work out the issues, but there are no real open wounds.

A while after I took the WFA course, I had a real test when an older lady had a rather large flap of skin ripped open on her forearm. I cleaned the wound and a former RN who was also there applied a non-stick pad and self-adhesive wrap (coban) to hold it together. It was very illuminating. Gauze was a non-starter, because the flap of skin would have stuck to it. I learned more in 10 minutes... After that I bought more non-stick pads and coban.

One thing I like about WFR is that while they do a very thorough job of covering trauma, they also put a good deal of time into common medical issues ("acute abdomen", infections, fevers, bladder infections, intestinal issues, insect bites, etc etc). In the days following a major disaster, medical problems will often be more of an issue than trauma.

I absolutely 100% agree! A well designed hands on scenario will stress you out, and get your pulse elevated. By doing it in practice, you learn to cope (to some extent at least) with that stress. That helps when faced with the real thing.

A friend of mine was out skiing, and suddenly had to respond to a real avalanche incident. She later commented that it "...felt so much like the scenarios we ran!" When faced with the real thing, she kept her head, did not let the stress overwhelm her, did the right things, and the story had a happy ending. Good practice scenarios are a crucial part of learning emergency response skills of all kinds.

WFR instructors put a lot of art into good moulage. Using various make up items, wax, fake blood, and sometimes ready made latex injuries, a good instructor can make a very realistic wound. Some outfits will give classes to instructors on how to simulate gore.

Other things can also make it very realistic. Once in a WFR class I was doing assessment on a non trauma patient. She suddenly barfed all over me. Turns out the instructor gave her a mouthful of oatmeal, told her to keep it in her mouth, then "throw up" on me at just the right moment. What was even more interesting was that the instructor was filming this scenario. Made for an interesting debrief, watching the look on my face when she "barfed"! There is a reason they tell you to wear old clothes to WFR scenarios!

Back when I was a paramedic, Saran Wrap or thin flexible foil was used. Never heard of petroleum being used (I assume you mean petroleum jelly, like Vasoline). Have patient exhale as forcefully as they can, slap your Saran Warp patch in place as they're fully exhaled, tape it down on all four sides (have the tape pre-applied to the patch). Then as the patient exhales again later, release one side and tuck the tape under so it is left open. The fourth side being left untaped acts as a valve - as they inhale that side is sucked down, as they exhale air can be forced out of the open side. You initially tape all four sides down so that you can get the patch on quickly, without fiddling with an open side, during the initial exhale so that you can exclude as much air from the chest cavity as possible. Open this fourth side as a valve later, at a more leisurely pace.

At least this was the training decades ago when I was an ambulance attendant. I never actually ran into a sucking chest wound during my entire career.

If you have zero supplies, seal the hole with the palm of your hand, again, applying your hand after they forcefully exhale. But then you're kind of stuck in that position until help arrives or some Saran Wrap and tape magically falls out of the sky.

I have that as well.


Jeanette Isabelle

Good hands on practices are very helpful, but nothing beats real,inthehowlingwilderness experience. I got decent training, but actual operations as a SAR volunteer advanced my ability, such as it was, considerably. A highlight was the thoughtful monitoring by James Wilkerson as our team treated a pulmonary edema victim on Denali - this was an outstanding experience even though it screwed up our summit attempt. Wilkerson is senior author of [/u]Medicine for Mountaineering and Other Wilderness Activities[u] which is a superb guide, especially the 6th edition.

Because Mom is an officer in the gun club, I asked her if there are any near by first aid classes. There aren't.

I looked online. Even the American Red Cross does not have anything for individuals at this time.

Jeanette Isabelle

I appreciate the feedback on my first aid preps, thank you. Something else I wanted feedback on is how am I doing in other areas such as food and water.

Jeanette Isabelle

a suggestion on food storage... if you are looking at long term storage the Wendy DeWitt (LDS) food storage seminar on youtube is a must...I went with vacuum sealed quart canning jars, sealed with a vacuum food saver......store what you eat... my short term emergency foods are stews and chunky soups that can be heated in their can if needed, but typically over noodles or rice..., I would suggest that you move your pantry to an open stand alone rack, where you can see everything at once...with access to the open back, you can replenish from the rear, and use oldest first.. for power outage, a lot depends on your cooking method, I have switched to propane, but have several grill options as well as a Coleman fuel/unleaded gasoline backup... use cooking methods that limit the amount of hot water needed for clean up

for stored water I have a couple of the 20L Scepter military style cans and a couple of AquaTainers, but depending on your strength, may be a little heavy to transport... commercial water cooler carboys can be delivered filled to your location as well as being available at box stores... gallon jugs for me have a limited life span...a couple of cases of bottled water is always a good option

don't overlook water needed to shower and flush toilet (practice first... flushing by pouring, slowly, directly into the bowl)a 33 gal plastic trash can sitting in your shower is convenient, and allows access to the shower drain

don't overlook the need for a couple of good 5-7 day coolers for any perishable foods you have on hand... one to store food, one to transport ice... freeze gallon jugs of water prior to an event