CAMP BOFFIN

Accidents happen, which is why it pays to always be prepared. Here’s what to do in case of an emergency at the campsite.

Camping is about getting away from the urban hustle and bustle, and leaving behind your daily responsibilities. But one important aspect of your camping preparation is making sure that at least one person in your group has enough basic first-aid training so you don’t get caught out by an unforeseen mishap.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

You’ll want to identify possible threats to your safety, but also consider the safety of the victim. Of utmost importance is getting the victim away from the threat of danger. Always wear gloves to protect yourself and the victim.

CPR

This is when you’ve checked a non-responsive victim for a pulse (pressing your index and middle fingers next to the throat and feeling for a heartbeat) and are certain that there isn’t one. Essentially, you’re trying to get the heart to beat on its own again.

Once the victim is laid out and you’ve established that there’s nothing blocking an airway, you breathe into the victim’s mouth twice using the pocket mask in your kit. This fills the victim’s lungs with oxygen for when you perform the next step of chest compressions. When you perform the first compression, the blood gets a chance to move through the pulmonary veins, and through the second compression, oxygenated blood flows to the heart and the rest of the body. This shouldn’t be a daunting task if you follow these instructions.

“Place your one hand on the chest over the bottom half of the sternum. Place the other hand on top of the other and lock the fingers by pulling the bottom fingers up,” says medical audit control officer Andrew Fortuin, who is also a paramedic for the City of Cape Town’s Fire & Rescue Service. “Lock the elbows and compress

the chest, ensuring that you press hard enough to get approximately 4-5 cm deep. If you’re not an experienced medic, stick to at least 100 compressions per minute. Do this until help arrives or until the patient regains consciousness. Every two minutes, stop and check for a pulse for at least 10-20 seconds.”

RESTRICTED AIRWAY

Someone might just take a bit too much of a mouthful or has laughed with a full mouth, causing a solid object to become lodged in the throat. The patient is struggling to breath, and the skin darkens.

For everyone older than one years old, you can perform the Heimlich manoeuvre by standing behind the adult or kneeling behind the child. Place one foot (in the case of the child, a knee) between the victims leg, make a fist and position the thumb-side against the victim’s abdomen (just above the navel, and grab your fist with your other hand and start performing abdominal thrusts by pulling inward and upward firmly.

“You’re basically forcing the body to perform a strong enough cough to bring the object back up through the mouth,” says BLS Paramedic Ryan Harrison.

BURNS

All it takes is a little forgetfulness that the number 3 pot has been resting on red-hot coals for someone to get a nasty shock. Whether you’ve tried to pick it up by hand or kicked over boiling water, you need to get to a water source or tap immediately and run cold water over the burned skin for at least 20 minutes.

Use the Burnshield dressing from your kit to cover the affected area. If severly burned, also wrap a wet bandage over the Burnshield patch. If the burned flesh doesn’t blister over a surface area bigger than your palm, it’s treatable at the scene, but any larger patches or in a case where skin is completely burned off, and the patient needs medical attention.

“Don’t try to remove any skin and or open any subsequent blisters,” Andrew says.

Even though the burned area might be small, and you treated it immediately, be sure to keep an eye on it. “Keep this injury clean and sterile as far as possible as burns get infected very easily. If you think the burn could be infected, seek medical attention,” adds Dianne Silva, Centre Manager at St John Ambulance Foundation in Johannesburg

BROKEN BONES

This can be an especially horrible sight, not only for the victim, but for onlookers as well. The most important thing is to get the victim in a rested position or lying down.

“Next, you’ll need to splint the limb. If it’s a lower leg, then bear in mind that you have two shinbones, so it’s preferable to do it twice. One splint on each side. If you don’t have a splint in your kit, then search the area for the straightest branches you can find. They need to be thick enough to keep the leg straight after you’ve bound it,” says Ryan.

If it’s a forearm, then you can splint it, and use triangular bandages to create a sling.

Drive & Camp says To make a splint more comfortable, you can use a clean bandage between the splint and the victim’s limb.

ANIMAL BITES

Make sure that it’s safe to approach the victim for removal, but if it’s a relatively small creature like a feral cat and you can scare it off, then that’s fine too. “Take note of the colour of the blood. Dark red blood is indicative of arterial bleeding and a bright red colour indicates venous blood, which moves just below the surface of your skin,” Andrew says.

Apply a wound dressing after you have cleaned the area with sterile water or the Savlon in your kit. Contact emergency services, as the patient will require a tetanus prophylaxis injection – and possibly stitches.

SNAKE BITES

“It’s good if you can identify the snake, possibly by taking a photograph from a safe distance, but that’s not of the utmost importance,” says Johan Marais of the African Snakebite Institute.

What’s most crucial here is to get the victim to the nearest emergency room. In the cases of puff adders, Mozambican spitting cobras, stiletto snakes or night adders, there’s absolutely nothing you can do other than to rush the individual to hospital. The venom from these snakes is cytotoxic, which causes much pain and swelling, blisters and tissue damage.

The only thing you can do while moving the person, if they’ve been bitten on the hand or foot, is to keep the bitten body part raised slightly above the heart. “If you’ve been bitten on the hand for example, and it’s resting at your side, you’ll feel every heartbeat quite painfully,” says Johan.

According to him, the only two exceptions here are the two snakes that cause most of the deaths in South Africa – the black mamba and the Cape cobra. “Of the 10 to 12 deaths from snakebites per year, these two are usually the cause, because of their neurotoxic venom that affects the nervous system, and in bad cases will stop your breathing.”

Other than getting the person to hospital quite quickly, you can also use what’s known as a pressure bandage to try and stop the spread of venom through the lymphatic system. This will buy you some time. And if the person stops breathing, you’ll have to apply mouth-to-mouth to keep a supply of oxygen to the brain.

STINGS

The kids kick a ball straight into a hive of bees who are understandably quite angry and want to start stinging. Bees or wasps are an especially dangerous hazard when provoked, so of prime importance is getting the patient away from the bees. If they linger, distract them with something sweet.

“Do not waste time on scene. Try as quickly as possible to get the emergency services there or the patient to hospital. While waiting for the emergency services, use a tweezer or a bank card to remove the stingers if you can still see them. Keep the patient calm at all times,” says Andrew.

If you’re uncertain about a spider bite or a scorpion’s sting, then heed Andrew’s advice, don’t waste time at the scene and head to the hospital.

DEEP WOUNDS

With a deep cut, you’ll need to immobilise the limb immediately. Also, it’ll help to elevate the affected area (if it’s a limb) above the heart and then check to see exactly how deep the wound is. If there’s a layer of fat visible (yellowish in colour), the victim will require stitches. Cover with dry gauze and bandages and seek medical help immediately. The stitches will need to be performed within two days of the accident

“As a note, wounds that are deep are often quite difficult to stop bleeding, if wounds are more than 5cm long, or 1,5 cm deep, the victim should be seen by a medical professional. Any wound that won’t stop bleeding or leads to lack of sensation around or below the site, or loss of function must be seen by a medical professional,” says Dianne.

In the case of a stab wound, especially if the object is still imbedded, it’s important not to remove the object at the scene – this needs to be done in an operating room where professionals can deal with possible internal bleeding.

“Leaving the object in will naturally stem the flow of blood. Stabilize the object as much as possible by packing and securing soft material around it and get to hospital quickly,” says Dianne.

BLUNT-FORCE TRAUMA

The bike trails near your favourite campsite are tempting and some routes are more technical than others. Someone hits a stump and goes flying into a tree: head first. Unfortunately, their helmet wasn’t tightened properly.

If there is any bleeding, try to stop it with bandage or a clean cloth. Keep the patient’s head in a neutral position and check for a pulse and for breathing. “If the patient has a pulse and is breathing, remain calm and contact the emergency services,” says Andrew.

“Blunt-force trauma may not necessarily result in a wound, but there could be signs of a mild or heavy concussion such as momentary memory loss – when the victim doesn’t remember their name or what day of the week it is. Keep the patient calm and wait for emergency services,” Ryan adds.

SEVERED BODY PART

Not all of us are dexterous with tools, and an axe is something that could very easily claim a digit if not handle with care.

If a finger or toe is hanging by skin, then you can push it back onto its base and strap it appropriately using the gauze and bandages in your kit and apply ice to the affected area.

But it depends on what you’ve lost. You might be able to transport a little finger wrapped up in a clean plastic bag and nicely packed with ice, but remember that if it’s something that’s a lot more complicated to ‘put back’, such as a foot, for example, they may not be successful. In any case, make sure that you do not use dry ice, lest you damage the already weakened severed body part.

Seek out emergency services immediately.

Drive & Camp says It’s a good idea to call a private ambulance service. To reduce the response time, especially when you’re far away from town, meet them halfway, provided the victim can be moved safely.