Trained in the Heimlich or not, you acted and that is better than being a doctor and doing nothing.
Thought for the day:
Yesterday’ work:
Hotel gym. enough said about that.
Skills:
Range work.
Question of the day:
My sincere condolences to the victims and their families in the Gilroy shooting.
At least one gunman opened fire Sunday at Northern California’s Gilroy Garlic Festival, killing at least three and injuring 15, before being fatally shot by police stationed nearby who responded in less than a minute after the initial shot was fired, a police official said.
Great response time and the appropriate response in killing the coward. Notice with even the fast response time, the coward was able to kill three and wound 17. It does not take long to kill people, you must react as fast as possible to all situations.
Witnesses at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday when a shooting broke out on the last day of the event described a chaotic scene filled with panic and uncertainty.
At the start of this thread, I posted my thoughts on situational awareness in the terrorist age, maybe there are a few thoughts you could use in planning your next public outing.
Natalie Martinez, a Gilroy Resident, told the Mercury News that she had gone to get food and separated from her two daughters. "I ran to find the girls . and we basically ran into each other. I thought, We’re open prey. It was awful."
One of the things I talked about was not getting separated from your family. Looking for children or loved ones during a shooting destroys your ability to think and escape.
And yes, you are nothing but prey to coward with a gun. Think about that.
So, if you are planning on attending a large event, do you have a basic plan for survival? Does your family know what to do? Have something in mind, because, it only takes a few minutes to die.
This is an accurate summation of my personal thoughts:
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Hey all, I rarely (never) post in these forums any more, but this is one thread I follow on the regular and have learned a lot. Thanks to everyone for sharing their knowledge, but in particular to Idaho for starting and keeping this thing going.
In keeping with the Question of the Day theme, here’s one:
Your city loses power, water and gas for a week. Is your household prepared to survive? If so how?
Okay that’s 2 questions, sue me 
My answer is Yes, and I’ve basically followed the advice in Pat McNamara’s (ex Delta Force) excellent book “Sentinel”. Actually I’m probably good for only 5 days. Can provide further details if this question takes off.
Rob
When I was young, I think probably 11 or 12, I started choking on pot roast. Being baby sat by my grandmother who couldn’t resolve this issue, I used the back of my chair to perform the Heimlich on myself. I think I learned about it in health class at school or from my mom as a random statement one day. I’m still impressed at how collected young me was during that whole thing.
Yes, they are concrete piers l poured and used the forming tubes at the top to achieve level. First attempt at a pergola, so pretty simple design.
Needed an outdoor place, since l closed in 500’ of back porch into 2 rooms. That has been fun, working totally alone…
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Pretty sure it is leaning off to the left there mate
Just messing, looks great, buddy, would kill for some of that sunshine.
I questioned the level a couple of times myself, but too chicken to hang a plumb bob and check for certain! 
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I did the Heimlich once on an older gentleman in a hospital cafeteria. There were literally dozens of nurses, nursing students and a scattering of doctors, all sitting there watching. The place got very quiet, but nobody moved. He was a very large fellow, I couldn’t even find his ribs, so I kind of guessed where his diaphram was, and said a quick prayer. I also got the hell out of there pretty quickly after the fact, lest I get sued for a broken rib.
This brings up another point about people freezing. Being an EMT first responder, I’ve noticed that some of the worst people to encounter on scene are nurses, probably because they are out of their element, and don’t have any of their equipment or other doctors or nurses coming to help.
Treco, they may have dragged that victim/patient from the wrecked car because they thought it was on fire. People often mistake the steam from a busted radiator, or powder from the airbags for smoke. Sometimes the most important thing you can do to help is save the patient from another good samaritan who is overreacting.
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I’m hearing more and more from SAR teams and WFR instructors that immobilizing the victim of a possible spinal injury is super overrated. I guess the very large majority have stable injuries, and even if unstable the local musculature typically stabilizes the injury site. It’s typically much more important to get the injured party out of harm’s way and to medical facilities asap especially of other serious injuries could be present eg internal bleeding, serious head injury etc. That said, it’s obviously very situation dependent.
I bet the guy moved the victim in the immediate aftermath to prevent him getting hit in his car again.
It is weierd to see how people react in emergencies. Some franticly panic, some freeze, some get calm and deliberate.
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Fwiw, this guy was in a bad spot b/c he was 73. He got stuck 14 miles from a highway, knew his way back but collapsed on the way. Yes it was hot, no he didn’t have much water, but a decently fit person should be able to walk 14 miles without passing out.
That said, lack of water is a big reason why I’ll never live in a desert environment, and why I try to avoid bike/backpacking in areas without consistent creeks/rivers and lakes. I’ll be good for a long while out in the wilderness as long as I have access to water.
When out in the BC the rule is that my contact back home isn’t allowed to call SAR until a full 24 hours after I’m due to call in. Screwups, mechanicals, injuries happen. Sometimes it takes a little while to get yourself out, and I’d rather know I have the time to get out the safe slow way than have to gamble to try and beat the clock.
True, there has been a lot of literature about immobilization not improving patient outcomes. However, many regional authorities still haven’t removed spinal immobilization from the protocols, probably out of fear of lawsuits. Depending on the circumstances, like traffic, location of the vehicle, and line of sight, it may well be a better idea to set out road flares, or direct traffic, rather than pull somebody out of a damaged vehicle.
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This was his reason, according to a man translating (couldn’t comprehend his words on my limited Spanish). EMTs didn’t use a backboard, but did stabilize head to put on neck/chin collar brace.
I’m not much of a prepper, but I’ve een working on increasing my on stock piles of certain items. Nevermind the zombie apocalypse, you don’t won’t to have to go out foraging on day 2 after a major natural disaster.
I recommend start by buying extra of what you already eat. For example, if you eat a lot of oatmeal, take a look at the “best by” date. It should be good for 18 months, so buy a few extra tubs, maintain the stock pile, and rotate through your supplies. If it takes you a month to eat a tub, you should be able to maintain a supply of 6 tubs and never get close to wasting any.
Proteins and fats are trickier. Aside from eating clean Spam just sucks. Buying foods you hate and would never ordinarily eat isn’t a great idea for several reasons: you’ll let it spoil and won’t replenish your supplies, and if you actually do have to eat it during an emergency it could cause major gastric distress. Canned chicken isn’t bad, you can make stir fry or chicken salad with it, and Coconut oil has a great shelf life.
You need to be able to cook. Camp stoves are pretty cheap, but I would only cook in a well ventilated area.
Tap water is stays good for up to six months when stored in a clean container. You could always get a few BPA free 5 gallon jugs, date them and refill them every few months. Depends on how much storage space you have. I make homemade wine and I keep the carboys and demijohns I’m not using clean, sealed, and full of tap water. It’s good to have alternatives, like filters and purifiers, but if you don’t go camping, will you ever practice using it? An emergency is not the time to figure stuff out.
A great rabbit hole to go down for information are the prepper/survivalist forums. Most of those folks seem like really nice, decent people, even though they may have a very pessimistic world view.
What happens to tap water eventually?
I remember a traffic accident happened just about 50 metres from where I was walking down the street.
2 women were in the front of a small car that hit a pickup that was pulling a left from a side street. I went over, as did several other people, and noticed the car was giving off steam or smoke, maybe both.
Both of the women were making a wincing noise if that makes sense because they were in pain. One man opened the driver’s door, and I immediately thought to mention that it wasn’t a good idea for any of us to try and move them, might be dangerous. So they were left there for the short term.
I made it home nearby and called it in, and when I was on the phone looking out the window the police had already shown, so I didn’t complicate things and stayed in. It happened behind my view so I wasn’t really a witness.
I don’t know, I just know that as treated with chlorine, it is considered safe for 6 months. If you look at your bottled water the “best by” date is usually at least a year out. “Best by” isn’t an expiration date either, the manufacturer is saying they’re not responsible after such and such a date. After that you takes your chances.
If one were to leave an open topped container such that it off gassed for a while, and then closed it off, might it keep for whatever period of time?
I know I learned Heimlich a number of years ago, I just need a refresher.
What I understand is if the person is down, make sure they are on their back. then, perform a forceful down and up just below the plexus which will force a contraction of the chest cavity and make air force its way out of the lungs and trachea and eject the blockage.
If the person is more standing, get behind and close both fists together in the same position on their body as above. Do the same forcefully pulling back and up for the same effect.
they might barf afterwards.
If someone disagrees, please educate me.
I don’t know, but I doubt it. What would be off gassing would be the chlorine, which is kills all of the various microbes that are trying to make your water go bad.