So first let me start by saying that I believe that everyone should at least have a basic understanding of first aid and what to do when certain life/health threatening situations arise and it needs someone to respond quickly. Some people might think that the first person to respond in a situation like this would be a firefighter, a paramedic or even a police officer. However, in reality, the primary responder is generally a bystander or pedestrian. This is why I think it is so important for someone to have the knowledge of knowing what to do so they are able to help out, even in the very least, in a problematic situation whether it be having to do CPR because you’re fully certified, or even just something as simple as comforting the victims after the most has been done. It’s a team effort.
I have a story about something that happened not too long ago. Anyways, I was with a group of friends fooling around when one of my friends books off in one direction in a full sprint. It was dark out, and all of a sudden we see him flip and he’s on the ground. We rush over to see what happened and he’s sitting there and it looks like he is in a great deal of pain with his leg. So I get my phone out and turn the flashlight on and sure enough it’s totally broken. A full blown compound fracture. For those who don’t know what that means, it’s basically when the bone breaks and is sharp enough to pierce through the skin. I did not have my first aid kit with me (which is why I carry one most of the time now) so I had to make do with what I had. None of my other friends except for one other knew what to do. So anyways, my friend and I got to work and ended up getting him to the hospital safely. He is now fully recovered. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to do something like this. Even on strangers too.
Now imagine what could have happened if none of us knew what to do. Compound fractures generally bleed a lot. It could have been fatal if the bone went through a main artery and ambulance response times can be long. In my city the average time is about 11 minutes. That’s enough time to certainly bleed out (Depending on your size) or come close. This is why I urge people to learn first aid and take initiative in these kinds of situations. It could literally save a life if you even just know the basics.
That’s why hopefully in the next few weeks or so I’m going to be posting just basic tips and guidelines of what to do in certain situations. That being said it’s not going to go into much depth such as CPR, oxygen masks or abdominal strokes because that too can be fatal if not done by someone who is trained. I’m am just going to be going over the basics such as; what to do in the event of a major bleed or dealing with someone who is in severe shock. I want people to be educated!

If you have any questions or comments leave them below and I’ll get back to you

That's an excellent initiative . I do know the basics of CPR (but I'm due for a refresher) and how to stop/slowdown bleeding, but I'm still far from being a paramedic,

I think people should know at least a few things about first aid or at least have the ability to MacGyver something on the spot. i.e. belt for a sling,napkin and duct tape for a bandage.

Oldschool777 : Any bit of knowledge helps in those situations!

It know it helped me a few times. Especially where I used to work when some dumba-s would throw a delicate salad plate in the sink and then proceed to dump everything else on it. Pro Tip: Try super glue for a cut.

I'm glad that someone else made a post like this! I think anyone should be able to do basic things like give CPR, bandage up a cut at least temporarily and use an AED just at a minimum. Really people should take it upon themselves to learn these very useful skills that you might need in life. Always be prepared to only have yourself to depend on!

Even as a first responder, I have used first aid training more on friends and family than strangers.
So, it can't be stressed enough how important getting properly trained is for your loved ones.

While I like the idea of this thread, it is not by any means a substitute for training by a certified instructor. Make time to get trained. Check with a local ambulance corps or fire department if and when they offer classes and sign up.

Like Jordan said, you need to be prepared in case a life depends on you.
And you never know when it will happen or who it will be whose life you might need to save.

MoblinGardens : I'm curious.  You made do with what you had.
Can you please, in detail, describe how you handled a compound fracture of someone who is screaming their fool head of and now they let some perfect stranger, a high schooler no less, come and save them?

I dunno.  I've been in enough situations to understand that unless you train regularly, you often forget everything and end up doing more damage than good when you're a responder to an emergency situation.  The blood, the violence, the noise, the confusion, it's tough to deal with.

Let me be the first to say compound fractures are better left to professionals.  There are Good Samaritan Laws in the U.S. to help people who do catastrophic damage while trying to 'help' so they don't get their butts sued off.

If you really did save the guy, good on you.  That's something almost no one can say.

But tell us more, what'd you do?  I'm a student of response to emergency situations and I like to hear all I can about the experiences.

Ghostbear1111 : I'm actually a university Registered Nurse student from Canada

There was a couple things that you missed in the story I told that can clear some things up for you. I may or may not have included some of this in there, I don't quite remember but he was one of my friends and he was actually quite drunk at the time so he didn't react quite the same as a sober person would have (ex. "screaming their fool head off"). I also tend to handle these kinds of situations quite well, you just have to clear your head and focus on what you're doing I might add.

Anyways, I was sober, my other friend was sober (Who is also very trained, more than me, he has a certification of a "emergency first responder", where in Canada that's practically just about a step down from a paramedic which he is currently in school for). We ended up immobilizing his leg (We didn't have a lot so we had to actually just hold it so it wouldn't move and potentially cause more damage). We also didn't want to touch the bone but we had to try to stop the bleeding. It wasn't a super bad bleed but we wanted to do something for him. We actually had paper towel in the glove compartment of the car we had there so we rolled up a bunch of them into the "log cabin" kind of bandage where you build the walls up around the object penetrating the skin and then you place some just over the top. We got one of our friends to run back to the house (which was very close) and got us a thick blanket kind of thing so we could make the stretcher kind of thing where you fold it in half and then roll up the ends just a little bit. We got him onto it, and then four of us carried him into the car and we drove him down the road to the ER. The driver had nothing to drink, don't worry. I feel like I was all over the place explaining that. Sorry if it's confusing.

By no means am I calling myself a professional. The ambulance times in my city are ridiculous (It was right in the middle of budget cuts for them) and we got him to the ER faster than an ambulance could have. We knew what to do to make sure he was safe as well. If it was the case of a spinal injury or something like that, we would have called an ambulance. That's a completely different situation all together though.

Vanelan : No, not at all. This should not be used as a substitute when I post it. I just want people to get a basic idea of things they could do (That won't cause damage) in an emergency situation. The best thing you can do however is actually going to get trained.

UPDATE: I should hopefully have this posted soon. I'm just about done exams

Really I don't know how to do CPR... I think I probably could do it though because I know the basics... though I want to take some kind of class sometime so I can actually learn how to do CPR... Great thread btw.

MoblinGardens : Just to be clear, I wasn't saying that was your intention in this thread, but rather to the readers so they understand what we say here is not to be intended as training.

Bintsy : See if there is something available. Typically you can find CPR and first aid classes together.

Vanelan : Oh yeah It's all good, I understood. And yes, that would not be good. This is not training haha XD

Did anyone else have CPR and First aid included in their P.E. class at highschool?

If you are around babies (babysitting, younger siblings or cousins, etc.) then it's worth taking a certified babysitting course or infant CPR / first aid. I took a course like this in order to babysit my younger siblings.

Annette : I don't think they do those courses are part of PE anymore.
I think I got it once as a freshman then never again.

Definitely a great reason to get training. if you are baby sitting, small children especially, CPR is very important.
Young children tend to put anything they find in their mouths and cuz of that, have much greater potential of choking.

I'm not certified, but I have a basic understanding of first aid.

I'm not going to lie I will learn how to d this because like mothers need to at least. Even if they are not a nurse. Its better you learn it so then when something happens you can fix it in a way.

It is as Tesco says Every little helps and it does by a long way. ^^

You bring up some valid points. We actually had practical first aid training and a theory exam when we were prepping for our drivers licence exam(still can't believe I got all the answers right).
We were taught how to give CPR properly, what to do when we see a person lying unconscious on the ground, what to do in case of one injury or another, stuff like that...
When people see a person lying somewhere (at least where I live) they usually just walk past him, dismissing him as a drunkard or another nutcase. The best thing to do here is to just carefully approach him, wake him up and ask if he's alright or not, because even if you try calling ambulance form a distance and he just gets up and walks away before they arrive, you'll have to face consequences for making a ''false call''

Wow after hearing that it really persuaded me, I mostly want to learn it so I can help people when they need it however I am able to muster, since it could be very bad if something bad were to happen and I didn't know how to use a First Aid Kit.....jeez I'm scared just thinking about it.

I've had minimal training in first aid, but that was so long ago, I need to go over most of it again. It's awesome to see you taking an initiative like this. Who knows, this post may one day save someone's life. Way to put the information out there and get people thinking about these kinds of things. In a dire situation, you may be all that separates someone you love or yourself from imminent death.

I really hope everyone in this thread really does go through a CPR class now!  Even if it's just a friends and family CPR and not a health care professional CPR certification, it will go a long way!

To those who worry they might screw up CPR, don't hesitate with compression only CPR:  Hard and fast on the center of the chest.  It's enough to extend life a few crucial minutes.  In fact, every four second delay in compressions has been associated with a seven percent reduction in survival rates. This four second window is so crucial we're even working on ways to do CPR through AED shocks.  It's not standard yet, but it's likely to drastically improve CPR. I work in my local ER and also  volunteer as an EMT in my home town, and we're never on scene in less than 5 minutes- sometimes it's closer to 12.  Add that to the delay in dispatch times, and there is NO way we can do it on our own.  Just go hard and fast on the center of the chest and we'll be there to take over soon.

And if you do train, make sure to retrain. Practice makes perfect. Also, CPR guidelines are updated every five years or so.  The new guidelines in the US came out just this year!

As for other aspects of first aid,  sure, you can do some damage if you're not trained, but they even train boy scouts in handling limb immobilization and emergency transport.  You don't need a fancy commercial splint handy to make a successful transport. A nursing student like MoblinGardens sounds like the coolest hero/friend and is likely more than qualified to move someone with a compound fracture (as gross as they are...)  So, Kudos Moblin, and good luck with the nursing program!  I hope you're looking into ER!

-Andrew