Date:         Fri, 3 Jul 2009 12:57:56 -0500
Reply-To:     Chuck Mathis <cvmathis@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Chuck Mathis <cvmathis@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: How goods the firstaid kit in your Westfalia?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

David,

I have a mouth barrier widget that was issued in a first aid training
class
I went through a few years ago.  I keep it in my backpack computer bag
that is almost always with me or in my camera bag when the backpack is
not.
It was explained as a way to prevent direct transmission of germs and
bodily fluids.

In 20 years in the Coast Guard I was only 'involved' in one CPR
incident -
I was the in port OOD aboard the CHEROKEE in Little Creek, Virginia
when a small boat pulled
up with an older gentleman having problems breathing.  We directed
them to the amphib ramps at the head of the pier and my JOOD and an
EMT trained deckie jumped in the boat to help.  The JOOD started doing
mouth to mouth on the guy who, after three or four breaths, barfed big
time.
At that moment I am certain Steve would have paid serious money to
have had a barrier.

The gentleman was fine, Steve never came down with anything and the
incident
became a shipboard legend retold over countless beers from Halifax,
Nova Scotia to
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  I still get a chuckle when I think about the
look on Steve's face.


Chuck
'85 Wolfsburg Westy - 'Roland the Road Buffalo'

On Jul 3, 2009, at 12:13 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> Date:    Fri, 3 Jul 2009 12:40:36 -0400
> From:    David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
> Subject: Re: How goods the firstaid kit in your Westfalia?
>
> At 01:14 AM 7/3/2009, craig cowan wrote:
>> Things would have been all that much less worrisome if I had a good
>> firstaid
>> kit in my Vanagon. Be sure to get a mouth barrier device, should
>> you ever
>> need to do CPR (and they are currently teaching just chest
>> compressions
>> though....).
>
> I was involved in four CPR incidents back in the '70s (one
> successful, IIRC) and while an Ambu bag (hand-operated ventilator)
> was a nice thing to have, there was never any hesitation about doing
> direct mouth-to-mouth until one arrived.  Is this barrier a response
> to real risks, or is it an aesthetic matter to increase people's
> willingness to do CPR?  If the risks are real, do you have any
> figures on just how risky it is?  Likewise on the compressions-only
> -- is that based on outcomes or aesthetics?
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>  --
> David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
> '89 Po' White Star "Scamp"