Yes, you need it!

Most people that own firearms AND seek out training tend to only focus on training with their firearm. People that never seek out firearm training will be the subject of another post. As a full-time firearms instructor I’m all for anyone and everyone getting trained with their choices as nearly everyone overestimates their abilities! But, there is an important subject that EVERYONE should get regular training in and that’s Emergency First-Aid. There are all types of First-Aid training such as gun shot wounds, stop the bleed, etc. Before I dive into the various areas of first-aid training, here’s a question. How likely is it that you will ever have to use your firearm in self-defense? Now there is no way to definitively answer that question but I’m asking about the likelihood of said event. Now, how likely is it that you would need to know and use first-aid to help someone, save their life, patch a boo boo, etc? That likelihood is MUCH higher!

Here are some areas of first-aid I’d like you to consider seeking out: Patient Assessment, Traumatic Emergencies, Medical Emergencies, Control the Bleed, Restart the Heart, Treating gunshot injuries, Mass Casualty Incidents and Triage, and Developing your own First-Aid kits.

Patient Assessment

Learning how to quickly assess a scene and patient is really important. Is the scene safe to enter? Does the patient have a medical emergency or a traumatic injury? Is there an immediate life threat? Is there any risk to first responders when they arrive? Any assessment must consider a LOT of factors including both the scene and the patient. Here are some of those factors: 1) assessing the entire situation; 2) determining scene safety; 3) assessing and treating major life threats; 4) stabilizing any spinal injuries; 5) the ABCs – airway, breathing and circulation; 6) understanding signs and symptoms; 7) secondary vital signs; 8) rapid trauma assessment and 9) emergency moves of the patient.

Traumatic Emergencies

Many people bleed to death during mass shootings while waiting for police and EMS. If more bystanders are trained in bleeding control many more could be saved. But it isn’t just gun shot wounds we need to be thinking about. Musculoskeletal injuries such as fractures to the femur or pelvis, severe burns, head trauma, penetrating injuries to the torso and more are examples of serious trauma that can end someone’s life if bystanders stand by until EMS comes to the rescue. Do you know how to properly apply a tourniquet or trauma bandage? How about treating severe burns over a large part of someone’s body? Do you know the signs of head trauma? Do you know how to effectively estimate blood loss, etc and communicate that to EMS? The following items are what you should learn in order to save someone’s life: 1) effective bleeding control; 2) estimating blood loss; 3) compression bandages, tourniquets and wound packing; 4) penetrating injuries to the torso; 5) wound maintenance; 6) major burns; 7) musculoskeletal trauma; 8) femur fractures; 9) pelvic fractures; 10) rib fractures and flail chest; 11) head trauma and trauma to the eye. These injuries are often catastrophic but lives can be saved by responding with the right treatment until EMS arrives.

Medical Emergencies

If you spend a lot of time at the range like I do, what do you think is the most likely emergency you would face? If you said gunshot wound you might be surprised to find out that you are 5 times more likely to encounter someone in cardiac arrest! and 12 times more likely to encounter someone suffering from a stroke. And 1000s of times more likely to encounter someone facing a diabetic emergency. There are many medical emergencies that require immediate action from bystanders if the person is to stand a chance of living. Consider these: 1) cardiac compromise; 2) cardiac arrest; 3) the cardiac arrest algorithm; 4) diabetic emergencies; 5) stroke; 6) seizures and syncope; 7) abdominal emergencies; 8) anaphylaxis; 9) venomous snakebites; 10) hypothermia; 11) heat stroke; 12) airway obstruction; 13) shock; 14 choking; 15) broken bones; and 16) drug overdose. In the case of the latter, there are more than 700,000 deaths due to overdose witg nearly 50,000 due to opioids! You can learn to respond to these with nothing more than a pair of nitrile gloves, critical thinking and taking charge.

Control the Bleed

A lot of blood loss is something a responder has to immediate assess. After you get over the shock of the sight of all that blood you have to estimate how much the patient has lost, locate the injury, evaluate it and treat it. The average adult has between 4.5 and 5 liters of blood. Do you know how much blood someone can lose to start going into shock? It’s only 1 liter of blood! Could you correctly estimate how much blood a patient has lost? In order to locate the injury you will likely have to cut their clothes off to gain access. Once youve gained access you need to evaluate the source of the bleeding. Is it veinous or arterial? Then, do you know how to treat it? Wound packing? Compression bandage? Tourniquet? Chest seal? What can use in place of some of these things? What if the wound is in the neck area or head? For injuries such as these, it’s MUCH better to have some up front training in order to save the life of the person affected.

Restart the Heart

Did you know that a heart attack is different from cardiac arrest? The correct name for a heart attack is a Myocardial Infarction. Cardiac arrest is often preceded by a myodardial infarction. There are many symptoms of an MI. Most people think of a bad chest pain and radiating pain down an arm as the sign of an MI. But here are some others: 1) pressure, tightness or a squeezing/aching sensation in your chest or arms that may spread to your neck, jaw or back; 2) nausea; 3) indigestion; 4) heartburn or abdominal pain; 5) shortness of breath; 6) cold sweat; 7) fatigue; and 8) lightheadedness or sudden dizziness. Women, the elderly and diabetics often experience “silent MIs” which occur with atypical symptoms or no symptoms at all! Do you know when to use hands only CPR and what rate to do the compressions? Do you know the difference in what you have to do if you perform CPR with compressions and rescue breaths? Do you know how to correctly perform compressions? Have you ever been trained in how to use an AED? Thankfully many businesses now have AEDs close by for use in cardiac emergencies. And do you know what to communicate to EMS when they arrive? There is information they are going to want to know.

Treating Gun Shot Injuries

The good news is that gun shot injuries are very survivable and not a death sentence. It takes proper shot placement AND enough penetration to hit a vital organ. Don’t believe me? Go sit in any major city emergency room for a day. But, since this involves a penetrating wound to the body or body cavity, there are several things that have to be considered. Depending on where this injury is determines the strategy. If center of mass, you can’t apply a tourniquet or compression bandage. You may need to apply a chest seal or do wound packing. Chest seals are a little tricky. What if you don’t have a seal? What in your environment can stand in? If the injury is to a limb, do you know how to properly apply a tourniquet and where? Do you know how to apply a tourniquet to yourself? How about if the injury is to the neck or head?

Mass Casualty Incidents and Triage

While your likelihood of being in the middle of this type of incident is pretty unlikely it’s more about the stakes than the odds. Most people immediately jump to a mass shooting when thinking of this type of incident. But, what about a large scale natural disaster, fire, major traffic accident, train derailment, plane crash, etc.? A mass casualty event is where the number of victims needing immediate care is greater than the number of rescuers immediately available. Because rescuers are outnumbered by patients means the professionals cant provide everyone with immediate care, even those with immediate life threats. If you were in this situation, would you know where to start? Triage isn’t frightening. It simply gives you steps to follow to determine who can wait, who needs immediate care and who has needs beyond your capabilities. Triage uses a color system and you start with those closest to you. There are some things to help you code them such as respirations, pulse and mental status among others. Getting this kind of training could make the difference in many lives being saved if lay people started the process while waiting for first responders.

Developing your own First-Aid kits

Have you ever purchased what looked like a great first-aid kit with 100 items in it to find out it contained 98 bandaids? I have. Training on how to respond to the above topics is important. But, so is a discussion about the gear you need to respond. Preassembled kits may have some of what you need, but it’s incredibly unlikely it will have most of what you need. For example, your kit might have 4×4 gauze but not a compression bandage. Or it may come with a type of tourniquet you don’t know how to use or is more difficult to use. Most kits won’t come with a NuMask for rescue breaths and on and on. For the same amount of money you’d spend on a kit that sounds like it has it all, you can build one with exactly what you want in it. I have multiple kits assembled for various different activities. I have small kits, medium kits, auto kits, and a large very comprehensive kit for the shooting range (including a bunch of band aids which solves 95% of problems).

If you’re going hiking for example, you’d want to make sure your kit has moleskin patches in it as well as some splints for any kind of sprain or break. But a kit can’t be too big or it adds too much weight to your exertions during your fun hike. If you’re going to be away from home in a remote location, you’d want to have more emergency response items as it may take a while for first responders to get to your location. My truck kit has supplies for a number of people to be able to triage. What if I’m the first person to roll up on a bad car accident? One tourniquet or compression bandage likely wont be enough! Having the knowledge to understand what you need to buy and assemble your own first aid kits for every situation is a very valuable and vital skill ensuring you will have everything you need and prefer to use.

Where can you get this kind of training?

We’ve talked about many different types of emergencies that you are likely to encounter in the next year or few years. So, where do you get training like this? There are many places you can go. Most people think of the Red Cross and they offer great training. Lots of municipalities offer training as well. CPR certification is available as well but as you’ve learned, you need more than just CPR and bleeding management. There are many practical exercises in each category where you will learn to take someone pulse in several different locations, apply tourniquets and compression bandages, perform CPR and chest compressions for 2 minutes, evaluate a patient and keep them calm and much, much more.

First-Aid is such an important skill to possess. We encourage everyone to get training in this topic. This is training every single person can use, even older children. Tens of thousands of people have learned the Heimlich maneuver and CPR, but most people are much less comfortable dealing with a more serious injury or illness when seconds count and EMS are at least minutes or hours away. Don’t let that be you! Your life or those of your loved ones could be the ones you save.

Here at Southern Charm Firearms Academy, we offer the Emergency First-Aid Fundamentals course from the USCCA. Our lead instructor, Crystal Duke, has a certification for Emergency First-Aid Fundamentals. Our course takes at least 6 hours and you will learn about every topic above. We also offer the above topics one by one in mini classes. Don’t see what you want on our schedule? Please reach out and we will schedule one. Check our schedule to find this class in the Bastrop, TX area. Not in our area? I suggest you start on the USCCA website for in-person training. You can put in your zip code and it will do all the work for you locating someone in your area offering this class.