!Establish Calm and Control When an emergency happens ------------------------- When an emergency happens, having a step-by-step approach to the problems facing you can help you think clearly and care for the most important problems first. 1. Take a deep breath. Emergencies can be scary. But the calmer you are, the more useful you will be. Being calm will also comfort and help the injured person or people around you. 2. Ask yourself: is this place safe? Move the person and yourself away from fires, busy streets, or other dangers. (If the person might have a neck or back injury, move him carefully so you do not move his neck.) 3. Treat the most dangerous problems first. No matter what caused the injury, check breathing immediately. It is the most important function needed for life. See about difficulty breathing. 4. After breathing, check for bleeding. Heavy bleeding can kill. Protect yourself --------------- Try to keep blood and body fluids off yourself when caring for people who are bleeding. Avoid touching with bare hands anything soiled by blood. * Wash your hands often. Also flush out any blood that gets in your eyes or into a cut in your skin to help prevent you from getting an infection. * Cover your skin and eyes. Wear glasses and clean gloves if you can. Plastic bags worn on your hands work too. 5. When the person is breathing and heavy bleeding is controlled, check the whole body for other injuries and broken bones. Start at the head and check every part of the body, front and back, down to the toes. Gently ask questions, look the person over, and carefully touch the body to see if there are hidden injuries that may be hard to see at first. It is common to have more than one injury. 6. Try to be as gentle and comforting as you can. Injured people are often scared and in pain. When a person calms down, this helps their fast-beating heart and fast breathing return to normal. Check breathing often and make sure bleeding is under control. Also check blood pressure, if you can. An injured person may seem fine at first and then suddenly get worse. Regularly re check these important signs until you are sure the person is OK. Keep talking to an injured person. This will help you see if they are confused or if their confusion gets worse. a woman speaking to a man in a crowd while she helps an injured man. Please keep the people back. I'll try to help him. The people who gather after an accident should be encouraged to help. Ask loud, assertive people to clear a space around you and the injured person. Tell someone to go for medical help and someone else to get supplies like cloth (for bandages), or blankets. Giving out tasks will keep people calm and help the urgent tasks get done. The injured person can also help herself. People can put pressure on their own wounds to stop bleeding. This can focus the person and allows you to check for other injuries or to care for other injured people. ------------------------ When someone needs help: ------------------------ ? Ask if the person has These are signs of pain, numbness, or ==> sprains, broken ribs or difficulty moving. broken bones. If there is numbness or difficulty moving the lower body or the whole body, there may be a spine injury. -------------------------------------------------------- ? Ask or notice if they The person may be are having trouble ==> choking if he cannot breathing. cough or talk. Stabbing pain with ==> breathing may be a broken rib. Shortness of breath and ==> wheezing are signs of asthma. Trouble breathing can also be caused by chemical poisoning or drug overdose. -------------------------------------------------------- ? Notice if they seem Many people become confused or have trouble confused after an speaking clearly. This ==> accident. But unclear can help you to assess speech, losing how badly injured they consciousness, and are. lasting confusion can be signs of head injury or intoxication from drug or alcohol use. Slurred speech can also ==> be a sign of stroke. Is one side of their face or body drooping or weak? Hospital treatment within a few hours is needed. Confusion or changes in ==> consciousness can also be a sign of a diabetic emergency. ======================================================== ? Look carefully: Is there Bruising, swelling, and bleeding, swelling, ==> redness can be signs of bruises, redness, or bleeding inside the disfigured body parts? body. Watch for shock. Compare one side of the body to the other. For example, if one leg looks shorter, it may be broken. ======================================================== ? Feel gently along the If you suspect there may head, face, neck, back, ==> be an injury to the front, arms, and legs. head, neck, or back, see Is there pain, numbness, the "Spine and Neck or bones out of place? Injuries" section before If there may be a back you move the person. or neck injury, feel every vertebra (the knobs of the backbone) from the head to the space between the buttocks. ----------------------------------------------------- from NEW WHERE THERE IS NO DOCTOR © Hesperian Health Guides 1919 Addison St Ste 304 Berkeley CA 94704 1.510.845.1447 hesperian@hesperian.org -----------------------------------------------------