Kommander wrote:I posted about it here. I have some updates but I don't know if I should post them here or there as I don't want to hijack this thread.CombatController wrote:Is there a thread about your co-worker? I am interested in the story...
Some of you know I am the Guncounter mole in the Sierra Club. A few months ago I had to undergo leader recertification, which involved retaking an afternoon class with the Red Cross in CPR and Basic First Aid. The two classes take about 4-5 hours depending on how fast the instructor talks and whether he has a heavy date after the classes. CPR has practice sessions with dummies in addition to lecture, and is valuable. The first aid portion can best be summed up with "stop the bleeding using direct pressure, immobilize the limb, call 911." Compared to even BSA First Aid merit badge, it isn't worth the $60 fee.Kommander wrote:I am having some difficulty finding a decent class that teaches what I want. I recall one first aid class I took in High School essentially taught us to do some piddly common sense stuff (run burns under cold water) and then call 911 and I would like to avoid a repeat of that.
And people look at me funny because I take a first aid kit along!Kommander wrote:Lastly here is an awesome discussion about why you should have a GSW kit with you when you go shooting.
If you have any first aid/CPR training at all, I don't recommend those types of courses. You'll be beating your head against a wall. And from experience, you will probably end up with some...not so bright people in there. If you're really interested in garnering some medical training, look at the local community colleges. Also, if there's a volunteer fire or rescue place around you, they generally run continuing education classes to keep their member's certifications current. Just a warning. It gets addicting.Termite wrote:I'd like to take the 40-52 hr Emergency Response/First Responder course, if I can find a provider/instructor that can work around my 14/14 schedule. I emailed my local Red Cross unit, but they are calling an 8 hr/Saturday course "First Responder"; but it sounds more like advanced first aid to me.
Chem Lite, where did you find the Online EMT-I course? I've got all this advanced EMT training from the army, but if I were to use any of it on a civilian I might be going to jail. I imagine it's a National Registry course, and not a state level though, right?chem light wrote:If you have any first aid/CPR training at all, I don't recommend those types of courses. You'll be beating your head against a wall. And from experience, you will probably end up with some...not so bright people in there. If you're really interested in garnering some medical training, look at the local community colleges. Also, if there's a volunteer fire or rescue place around you, they generally run continuing education classes to keep their member's certifications current. Just a warning. It gets addicting.Termite wrote:I'd like to take the 40-52 hr Emergency Response/First Responder course, if I can find a provider/instructor that can work around my 14/14 schedule. I emailed my local Red Cross unit, but they are calling an 8 hr/Saturday course "First Responder"; but it sounds more like advanced first aid to me.
The more you get into that stuff the more classes you feel like taking. I took EMT-Basic night classes at the local community college for funsies. Liked it, but was like, what the heck. All they really taught me was stop the bleeding, start the breathing. I can't even do i.v. sticks. So I found a EMT-Intermediate class that did the didactic portion online and you only had to come onsite for skills, testing, and of course do your clinical hours. But now I'm like, so I can intubate and stick people now, but I'm not allowed to do needle decompressions. And so on... Most classes like these are free if you join a local volunteer place. It's a pretty good deal. Go to school for free and get live experience.
That's been my limited experience with them. IIRC from opening one of each to fiddle with, the Oales comes with plastic for sealing a sucking chest wound & extra gauze, while the Izzy just has the plastic. Also, the Oales' velcro is easier to deal with than the plastic hook thingy on the Izzy. Only one I've used for real was an Izzy, and it was overkill on the cut, but nothing else I had in my kit at the time would work for where it was. I was at a mumble year class reunion in a bar, and a chick (not with us) passed out, knocked her head on the pavement, and had a nasty cut on the corner of her eye-socket. Main useful thing I did was keeping her drunken friends from taking her home to sleep it off before the EMTs got there. I've since added more gauze pads of various sizes to my kit since then.Kommander wrote:I honestly only have experience with the Izzys. I have heard that the Oales are better, but are also bulkier. Next time I order some medical stuff I will get a few to play with.
