Hey guys,
I was recently first on scene to a possible spinal injury in the mountians, but luckuly we were very close to a ranger station, so I had help within 10 minutes. But it made me wonder, what i could have done to be more prepared. Obviously I wont be bringing a C-collar, or a spine board or a stokes, but all I had was a sleeping bag (even though i was on a day hike, I always have one in winter), and a small first aid kit with one roll of gauze and a couple of 4x4s. I also had a thermarest and a pair of nitrile gloves. This was taking place in the snow, and so one of the people who was working in the nearby building rushed out a synthetic bag (helpful because I was still doing a initial assesment) and a pad that I could kneel on while holding c-spine. Ive been thinking of other things that I should have had for this, or possible a worse injury in the mountians. Im thinking maybe a cpr mask, and MAYBE a set of the most common sizes of OPAs but am not sure on the OPAs. Is there anything that you could think of that would be useful in an emergency situation that I don't have?
Thanks guys!
-CS