While I am not a doctor, nurse nor EMT, I have been receiving first aid training for about 45 years through Scouting, scuba courses and as a police officer. So I have been around the block a time or two. One of the best new things I learned at the BSA Wilderness First Aid Instructor Course taught last week at the Florida Sea Base is to administer 50 mg of Benadryl® if someone is using an epipen® for anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is a serious concern at all three National High Adventure bases due to our remoteness. Of the three, the Florida Sea Base is probably closer to professional medical care. However, it is not unreasonable to expect a delay of four hours or more even when trying to receive medical attention in the Keys. PLEASE CLICK ON READ MORE.
Weather Underground
Posts Tagged ‘first aid’
Today was day two of the first ever BSA Wilderness First Aid Instructor Certification Course. It was a LONG day at the Florida Sea Base. In addition to the WFA course, Captains Jeff Peacock and Alex Bergstedt drove the BSA Scoutmaster from the Florida Sea Base to Fort Lauderdale. The boat will be hauled out and repowered (new engines installed). Ellen worked on summer scuba medicals all day. Capt. Dennis flew back to Lady Lake to work on the new house he and Ellen recently purchased.
If I understood the forecast correctly the low temperature tomorrow morning is forecasted to break the record low temperature for 05 April that was set in 1934. Where’s the global warming? I am still thinking about moving to Tobago. It was 93 degrees there today. Plus, they are below the hurricane belt, meaning they are rarely hit by hurricanes and on the few occasions that one comes close they are on the weak side of the storm. I know I sound like a broken record, but it is TOO cold and TOO windy here this winter. The diving is good in Tobago (manta rays are common) and the cost of living is fairly reasonable. The fishing is also good (especially subsistence fishing). The proper name of the country is the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago; the two islands comprise one country. The country gained it’s independence from England in 1962. The primary language is English and their currency is called TTs (which makes me giggle). How many TTs does that cost?
I have a homework assignment to complete for the BA Wilderness First Aid Instructor’s Course. I hope it’s not as cold as forecasted tomorrow morning.
The Florida Sea Base is the FIRST location to host an Instructor Certification Course for the new BSA Wilderness First Aid course. I am one of 22 persons soon to be certified BSA Wilderness First Aid instructors. By this time tomorrow ww will be prepared to start offering BSA Wilderness First Aid certifications. Yahoo!!
The “mild” cold front I commented on yesterday grew a bit overnight. I was up around 0300 adding lines to the boat. The wind is still howling from the west and it is very chilly on the dock. Still, we are better off than much of the country. EVERYONE I have talked with says this is the coldest winter they can recall in the Keys. Brrrr.
Milly McCoy put in another day at the PADI Instructor Development Course at Flakeys. And GREAT NEWS — Ellen and Capt. Dennis Wyatt are back at the Florida Sea Base. I am SO glad they are here. Ellen and Capt. Dennis keep everyone laughing.
Speaking of laughing, I would like to share an experience from this evening’s BSA Wilderness First Aid Instructor Training Course. Tonight we were doing CPR. They had 10 adult dummies one the floor and 10 infant dummies on a table. So half of the class were on their knees working with adult dummies while the other half were standing working with the infant dummies. You had to be there to appreciate this part, but our good Divemaster friend “Ranger Joe” kept ripping the head off the infant dummy while performing the choking hazard skills. That was funny but this part is better. I am fat and old and have a bad leg. So kneeling on the floor is very difficult for me. But it was time to cowboy up and save a dummies life so on the floor I went. I tried to get on the back row but wound up on the next to the back row with another rescuer right behind me. I was okay in the compression position, but I had a little gas so everytime I leaned all the way down to give rescue breaths I farted. So it went like this: compressions 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-30, FART, 2 rescue breaths, compressions 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-30, FART, 2 rescue breaths, etc for five cycles. We are lucky that we didn’t have to do a real resuscitation for the poor person behind me. Because we were doing these skills in unison, every time I was bent all the way forward farting, the person behind me had their face very close to my ”gas producing area”. It was sad, but I was about to pass out from trying not to laugh. The instructor said to have fun, but I don’t think this is what he meant. At my age we were all lucky that it was only gas!
With that said, it is very much past my bed time. Good night.