April 16th, 2010 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
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I’ve posted previously about Global Rescue (GR), a company with deployable field rescue teams that can be hired to extract persons who are injured or ill from anywhere in the world.
The company provides medical consultative services, evacuation and extraction services, security advisory services, and other services such as emergency message relay, telephonic interpretation, visa and passport services and local legal referrals. I’m writing now to thank Global Rescue for helping me out in Haiti. Read more »
This post, Hats Off To Global Rescue, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
March 27th, 2010 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
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In a recent issue of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine (Volume 20, Number 2, 2009), Thomas Welch and colleagues have written an article entitled “Wilderness First Aid: Is There an Industry Standard?” The purpose of their inquiry was to determine if an “industry standard” exists for wilderness first aid training and certification of outdoor adventure and education leaders. To attempt to answer the question, they queried regulatory authorities, national organizations, and school/college groups with regard to their requirements for first aid training of their wilderness trek leaders.
They discovered that 10 or the 22 states with guide licensure programs required any first aid training as a condition of licensure, and none specified a specific course. Of the programs requiring such training, the requirements ranged from a 6-hour standard first aid course to more structured “wilderness first responder” (WFR or “woofer”) certification. Read more »
This post, “Backcountry” Injuries and Wilderness First Aid, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
March 21st, 2010 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, True Stories
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Last spring there was a news story about a man who said he saved his dog’s life by sucking venom from a rattlesnake bite out of the animal’s nose. After he performed this lifesaving feat and took his dog to a veterinarian, he reportedly began feeling ill himself.
It is further reported that he went to a hospital and received four vials of antivenom. The dog reportedly had its head swell up to three times its normal size and it also was administered antivenom. The man and his dog recovered. Read more »
This post, Snake Bites: Should You Suck The Venom Out Or Not?, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
March 15th, 2010 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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There are rules that have been advocated for doctors to use to determine the need for x-rays (radiographs) in the setting of a possible ankle fracture (broken ankle). The purpose for using rules is to avoid unnecessary exposure to radiation. In the wilderness, there is not likely to be an x-ray machine available. Therefore, the rules might be useful to give the rescuer (or a parent) more confidence about what clinical presentation is likely to be or not be a broken bone. This would be important in terms of deciding whether or not to allow weight-bearing, such as would occur if a victim needed to walk out under his or her own power. Read more »
This post, How To Tell If A Child’s Ankle Is Broken, was originally published on
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February 27th, 2010 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Uncategorized
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When I was a medical student, I served a summer externship in 1975 with the Indian Health Service at Fort Belknap in Harlem, Montana. On some hot summer evenings, I went fishing at a place the locals called “Snake Lake,” which was loaded with cutthroat trout, and surrounded by rocky outcroppings that were home to scores of rattlesnakes. I was advised to stay away from the rocks, and to always wear long pants.
In the December, 2009 issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine (Ann Emerg Med 2009;54:830-836), there appeared an article reporting a study by Shelton Herbert, PhD and William Hayes, PhD entitled “Denim Clothing Reduces Venom Expenditure by Rattlesnakes Striking Defensively at Model Human Limbs.” The purpose of the study was to determine whether ordinary clothing (denim material from blue jeans) interferes with the kinematics of venom delivery, thereby reducing the amount of venom injected by a typical snake into a (model) human limb. Read more »
This post, Blue Jeans May Offer Protection From Rattlesnake Bites, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
I’ve posted previously about Global Rescue (GR), a company with deployable field rescue teams that can be hired to extract persons who are injured or ill from anywhere in the world.
