Allo boys, girls, both and neither. I’m Cyrll, yer maybe medical staff, depending on board decision. Until then, let me give ya’ll some simple, quick tips to keep YOU from being the next injury story we all tell after Campfire Tails.
For some personal background, I was nine years as a combat medic in the US Army, with three deployments. I hold NREMT-B, and EMT-B certification in Indiana. I’m trained in CPR, First aid, Wilderness First Aid, and Disaster Management through the Red Cross.
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DRINK WATER I cannot stress this highly enough. Most of us are, for lack of a better term, couch potatoes. Going outside to play in variable weather is going to be rough on the system. You’ll sweat. Sweat leads to dehydration, dehydration leads to a heat injury, a heat injury leads to the hospital, and a ruined trip. So, drink water. Drink even when you aren’t thirsty. A good rule of thumb is, watch the color of your pee. Anything darker than light yellow, you need more water. If it’s clear, drop off the fluids abit. Also, only drink water from approved, potable sources. Getting a case of the running squirts cuz you drank dirty water is no run. Remember, fish pee in streams.
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DON’T PLAY WITH THE CRITTERS I know, I know, the little 'coon/possum/snake/what have you is so CUTE, right? Don’t touch it. Don’t poke it, pick it up, pet it, molest it, anything. It’s freaking wild, man, and it’ll bite you. Then you get a trip to the hospital. A prophylactic round of rabies shots is no fun, let me tell you.
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IF YOU GET HURT TELL SOMEONE No matter how minor, let someone know. Small injuries have a tendency to turn into big problems in wilderness environments. There’s nothing at all more sexy than an infection because you didn’t get a scrape cleaned and bandaged, let me tell you. There’s folks on Taps who get worked up to it.
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BRING YOUR MEDICINE Do you take a medication? Bring it. Think about how much you’ll need for the trip. Double that. Now toss a few more pills/vials/what have you in there. Make sure it’s labeled too (with your real name please, the ER won’t know who Fluffy Foxiekins is). It’s also a great idea to let constaff know exactly WHAT it is yer taking, and why. Also, if you need to take a Schedule/Controlled substance (opiate painpills), I would HIGHLY recommend making prior arrangements with con staff for safe storage of such things. Also, if you are in an injectable, be courteous and bring your own sharps bucket please.
The best, and final tip of all, is use common sense. If you really have to think for more than 5 seconds about something, it’s probally not a good idea. Getting hurt is no fun, the hospital is far away, and noone wants to be the topic of discussion for an Oregon EMT team, when they come pick yer fursuit clad butt up after falling out a tree. Stay safe and have fun.
