20
THE SOUTH SHUSWAP SCOOP
NOVEMBER 2020
First Responders
First Aid Tips for Bleeding By Sandra Reutlinger "What a bloody mess." No, that's not just Uncle Rodney speaking with his British Accent about the state of your mud room. He's talking about the blood gushing out of your hand and making a mess all over the kitchen counters and floor. Here you thought you'd just wash the dishes really quick and that drinking glass broke right in your hand. The gash may or may not be deep - hard to tell with all the blood. Start by grabbing something clean. Yes, clean. Not your 3-day old dish towel. Infection is not something you want to end up getting and so grab a clean towel or the like and then put it on top of the wound and apply pressure. Any kind of material
you place over top of a wound to cover and protect it is called a 'dressing' and hopefully what you are using will help to absorb the blood. Some people at this point are really tempted to keep lifting the dressing up to just gaze at their open wound and marvel at the flow of blood spurting out. Resist the urge. If you can keep steady pressure directly on the wound your body's clotting response will usually stop minor bleeding within 10 minutes. Those 10 minutes may seem like a long time but somehow that time can fly by when you're playing Candy Crush or online poker or whatever your particular game may be. If the blood soaks through the dressing, just apply some additional cloth or dressings right on top rather than
pulling off the first layer of dressing. If the wound is serious and the blood was spurting from the wound (not flowing out at a steady rate but actually spurting) and direct pressure is not stopping the bleeding, then you will need to seek medical attention. Make sure you sit down and if the wound is on an arm or leg and you can, position it above the level of the heart. When do you require stitches? If the wound might now otherwise heal cleanly with a butterfly bandage (those cool small band aids that pull the skin together like stitches would) then consider stitches as they help prevent infection and reduce the appearance of scars. Also go in for stitches if the wound has very jagged edges or is very wide, more than 2.5 cm long, is on your face or head, if it's quite deep (like the muscle or bone are showing) and for sure if it is hemorrhaging (bleeding lots and won't stop) and also go get checked out if the wound is from a bite (human or animal). If your wound is minor and you know you have cleaned it well to prevent infection, then you are good to go and hopefully you have a good story to tell about it. If the wound is hard to clean, infection is not nice to deal with later and so it's best to have it cleaned well by a medical professional. Puncture wounds, even if they seem minor, need to be thoroughly cleaned. What about impaled objects or when something is actually still in your wound? If it is something small like a sliver or a fish hook, you can usually remove them carefully and then clean the wound really well. If it is larger, like a stick that's still stuck in your leg, a shard of glass or piece of metal, then you should leave them right where they are. (Continued on page 21)
