Passes & Canyons Blog

The previous posts in this series are here: First on the Scene. Safety First. What Next?

OK, help has been sent for and no one is likely to be injured by passing motorists. Now you need to do something to help these people or this person while waiting for the EMTs.

The first question you need to ask is, is the person breathing? If they’re not breathing nothing else matters. You can lose some blood, you can lose an arm, but if you are not getting oxygen you’re going to die. Or worse, your body may survive but your brain will not. Irreparable brain damage starts to occur at the five-minute point.

Often it is easy to detect breathing. If it’s not then things get trickier. You will want to look at the chest to see if it is rising and falling. Put an ear near the mouth and listen for breathing. Feel the chest for movement and feel at the nose and mouth for the movement of air.

Realistically, if the person is not breathing they may already be dead. But we don’t know that. So you’ve got to give them oxygen non-stop until the rescue team arrives. Also realistically, they may have injuries that may kill them even if you do give them oxygen. You might find yourself needing to apply a tourniquet at the same time you’re giving them oxygen. Nobody said this was going to be easy.

If you need to give oxygen, and the person is wearing a helmet, you will need to remove it. There is a danger here of causing additional spinal injury but that’s the chance you’re going to have take. Presumably it’s better to be alive and paralyzed than to be dead. If there are two of you then one should stabilize the head and neck while the other removes the helmet. Then stuff anything handy under the head and neck to keep it in the position it was already in. If it’s just you you’re going to have to try your best. But try.

In the training session they talked a lot about barriers and other devices to protect yourself from potential disease. Unless you’re one of those well-prepared types who carry first aid kits you’re not going to have any of those and you’re just going to have to go with regular old mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But first you’ll need to ensure that the tongue is not blocking the air way.

There’s a move called the jaw thrust where you place your fingers behind the jaw, kind of below the ears, and shove it forward. This separates the tongue from the throat enough for air to pass. Then start breathing into them. You should see the chest rise and fall if you’re doing it right. Keep that up every six seconds (three seconds for a child) until help arrives. This is going to be work and you’re going to get tired. But you need to keep it up unless you reach the point where you absolutely can’t do it any longer. Obviously, if there are others at hand you can trade off.

Bleeding is next. Pressure is always the best way to stop bleeding. With a more serious injury, such as a limb ripped off or an artery torn open, you will need to use a tourniquet. Otherwise this person will bleed to death. Do not apply a tourniquet unless it is absolutely necessary because it may result in the loss of the limb. But it’s better to lose your arm than die.

Often the visible injuries are nowhere near that severe, but that does not mean there are no serious injuries. Internal injuries are harder to detect but can be just as deadly. All the more reason to keep the person right where they are.

And internal injuries are not obvious even to the injured person. One helpful hint from one of the experienced members of the class was that he who screams the loudest is usually the least hurt. But do everything you can to keep someone who says “Hey, I’m fine. Let’s go” from going anywhere for at least 15 minutes, because it could take that long for shock to set in, after the adrenaline fades.

And shock will kill you. You need to keep the person flat, with legs elevated to get blood to the head. Don’t give them anything to drink because that will be a problem if they need surgery. Look for restlessness or irritability; confusion; pale, cool, and moist skin; rapid breathing and/or pulse; nausea; and excessive thirst. Cover them to keep them warm.

Then wait for the rescue guys.

Clearly there’s a lot more, but I can’t begin to cover it all in a few blog posts. That’s why it’s a good idea to take one of these courses yourself.

And clearly it’s not all a simple one, two, three. Everything will vary based on how many people are injured and how badly, how many people are there with you assisting them, and so many other factors. All you do is the best you can do, and that could mean, in a worst case scenario, doing triage and ignoring others who are badly injured while working to save just one or two. You can only do so much.

But at least if you have some idea as to what to do you’re likely to provide more help than if you’re totally clueless. Take the class. And encourage your friends to take it, too. Someone’s life may depend on it some day. Maybe yours.

Biker Quote for Today

It is one of the illusions, that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. — Carlyle

I recently took an Accident Scene Management class. Here are the first two posts. First on the Scene. Safety First.

OK, presumably no one is now in danger of getting killed trying to help this injured person so what comes next? You need to assess the situation and figure out what needs to be done to help. Then you need to contact emergency services.

These days it is nearly always possible to call 911 for help to be sent. If you don’t have cell service you can try texting 911 and that sometimes will be successful. If calling is not possible and you are not the only one there, send someone for help. This may even just be another passerby. It is important, however, to instruct that person to return to the scene after they have put out the distress call so that you will know for certain that help really is on the way.

If you are the only one there and you must go for help, this is when you would position the person in the “puke and drool” position described previously before you leave.

Before the person you’re sending for help departs, ask them if they know for sure where you are. “Back up Highway 20 somewhere” is not good enough. Find a mile marker or a physical landmark or something so the rescue crew will know as precisely as possible where they need to go. And if you have choices it is better to send a bland-looking person rather than a big hairy tattooed biker type who some timid people might refuse to open the door to.

Starting out, you need to presume the injuries are bad until you can determine otherwise. Assume the worst. Determine, to the best you can, the extent of injuries. If the person is conscious and can talk you also need to ask their permission to assist them. Yes, it’s a CYA but if they say no and you try anyway and end up injuring them further the Good Samaritan law will not protect you. If they are unconscious consent is implied.

Sometimes at least some of the injuries are obvious. If there is a lot of blood and visible open wounds, those need to be addressed. But don’t forget that there may well be internal injuries that are not immediately obvious, either to you or the injured party.

Oftentimes a person may be conscious and initially unaware of how badly they have been hurt. Try very hard not to let them just get back on their bike and ride away. After the adrenaline subsides they may find themselves going into shock or worse. Better to keep them on the ground for at least 15 minutes and see what happens.

One approach here, as offered by one of the EMTs in the class, was to say, “You just sit here for a couple minutes and meanwhile I’ll go take a look at your bike and see if it’s badly damaged and whether it’s rideable.” Then take your time doing that.

Also, use this time to gather information for the emergency response team. While the person may initially be conscious, that could change. Ask their name, where they hurt, whether they have allergies and what medications they take, when they last ate or drank and what, any pertinent medical history, and if they know what happened to cause their crash. Write it all down, or record it with your phone.

If they are unconscious, look for medical alert bracelets on their neck or wrist.

The experienced people in our group stressed that it is important that you stay cool and act competent, even if you don’t feel that way inside. The injured person is much more likely to panic if you are acting in a frantic manner. Be calm and project that you are in control of the situation.

Biker Quote for Today

Two priests were riding very fast on a motorcycle.
They were promptly stopped by a policeman who says, “What do you think you’re doing? What if you have an accident?”
The priests say, “Don’t worry, my son. God is with us.”
The policeman says, “In that case, I have to book you. Three people are not allowed to ride on a motorcycle.”

If your buddy goes down or you just happen upon a crash scene, and you’re the first one there, the number one thing you need to do is make sure no one–including yourself–suffers further injury.

I recently attended an “Accident Scene Management” class and all this information comes from that.

The first person you’ve got to take care of is yourself. You’re not going to help matters at all if you get hit by a passing vehicle and end up needing assistance yourself. So park safely, with your flashers on, and then go to assist. When you park be sure to leave room for emergency vehicles when they arrive. If there are other people in your group, designate the one with the most training or experience to be in charge. If you have flares or lights or anything to catch attention, deploy those things.

If there’s more than just you you’re going to want to control traffic. Station someone at least 100 feet up the road in each direction, and if you’re at a curve make sure that person is around the curve enough to alert other drivers before they come screaming along. Same with a hill. In town, have them go to the two intersections ahead and behind.

The next part of the training talks about protecting yourself from disease transmission. They say to put on gloves and a face mask. If you’re on your bike you’ll probably already have gloves and helmet on so it would make sense to leave those on. Frankly though, if I see someone bleeding profusely I doubt I’m going to take the time to struggle to slip on some latex gloves.

We’re proceeding now in terms of a motorcycle crash. If the bike is laying on the person you first want to get it off. Besides the weight of the bike and the injury that can cause, they might have their leg pinned against the blazing hot exhaust pipe. Get that thing off them. I won’t waste space here telling you how to lift a bike; you should already know how to do that.

Do you move the person? That depends on potential danger. If you move them there is the possibility you will cause further injury. But if they’re in the middle of the road and you’re the only one there and there is traffic on the road you’ve got to get them off the road. Be aware that every state has “Good Samaritan” laws so don’t worry about being sued for trying to be helpful. But if you don’t absolutely have to move them, don’t. Emphatically, don’t.

If you do have to move them, your method will depend on how many others are there to assist. If you’re alone, reach under from next to the head, grab them by the armpits, cradle their head and neck with your forearms, and pull. If you have assistance you can support their head and neck and roll them over enough to slip a blanket or something under them and them pull on the blanket. The blanket makes it slipperier. The key is to support the head and neck and try not to move the spine. That’s the really big thing, the spine. And that’s why it’s best not to move them at all unless you have to.

Especially if you’re the only one there and you have to leave to get help you will want to–if it’s safe–put them into a position so if they puke–a definite possibility–they don’t suffocate themselves doing so. You’ll want to roll them onto their side with an arm under the head and one leg extended as a “kick stand.” With the person facing downward, any puke will pour out their mouth rather than filling their throat and suffocating them.

Obviously, all these movements are based on your assessments of the situation. If the person is conscious and can talk and they’re moving themselves you have a lot more assurance that the neck and spine are not at issue so you can be freer in what you do. If they’re unconscious you just have to do what seems to make the most sense.

There’s a lot more and I’ll get into that in my next post.

Biker Quote for Today

I got a motorcycle for my wife last week. Best. Trade. Ever!

You never want to be in that position but sometimes it happens. When it does, will you know what to do?

I’m talking about a crash, and really, it doesn’t matter if it’s a motorcycle, a car, or what have you. Whatever it is, you’re the first one there. What do you do?

In order to have an answer to that question I recently took an Accident Scene Management class. This particular class was put on by a group called Road Guardians, and the sign-up cost was kept low thanks to a supplement from Rider Justice. It cost me $40 and was well worth it. Just FYI, the next session will be on March 26.

It was a full house at the session I attended and a good mix of people. There were a couple who had been the first to arrive at crash scenes, a couple of EMTs, a nurse, a bunch of us who just wanted to learn, and one guy who said he had been in four pretty bad crashes and figured he wanted to pay forward to others for what other people had done for him. This brought some really good first hand perspectives into the very lively discussions we had all day.

Before we got started, though, the main topic of interest was the closing that day of Rocky Mountain Harley-Davidson. Several of the people in the class were company employees and nearly everyone had some relationship with the dealership. One person in particular seemed to feel especially betrayed by the corporation’s harsh treatment of this family-owned dealership and I had to wonder how he was feeling about the Harley-Davidson tattoos he had all over him.

Through the course of the day the one thing that really struck me about this group was how totally sober they were about this training. I don’t mean sober in the alcoholic sense, but in the serious, very purposeful sense. Another word would be earnest. We had a lot of fun and there was plenty of joking around but this was a group of people who were there for a reason.

It is my intention in my next several posts to talk about the things I learned that day. Looking at the brochure we were given I see where it says “All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission . . . ” and I hope the simple citing of some of the things it talks about doesn’t cross some line. If it does let me know and I’ll make whatever adjustments are needed.

Biker Quote for Today

I just got a wooden motorcycle. It has a wooden frame, wooden handle bars, wooden wheels, and a wooden seat. Guess what? It wooden start.

Every time we ride we know there is at least the possibility that things will turn ugly. On the vast majority of days it doesn’t happen, but then there is that one day.

It happened with the OFMC last year down in New Mexico, when Friggs, for no reason he understands, crashed on a perfectly smooth, clear road.

We had just gotten past a rough, torn up for chip sealing stretch of road, and stopped at the top of Emory Pass. Moving on again, the road was practically new and you could not have asked for better.

I was in the lead, with Bill behind me. Friggs was at the very rear, in back of Dennis. As I cruised along I noticed I had not seen Bill for too long so I slowed down. Bill caught up with me but had his turn signal on, so I pulled over at the first opportunity. Bill had not seen the guys behind him in too long a time.

A lot of things go through your head in a situation like this. First off you assume everything is all right and there’s a good explanation. Someone had to stop to pick up something they dropped. Someone realized they had not sealed one of their bags. There are any number of things that could cause a delay.

But you also worry it might be worse. What if someone went down? What if they went down and are seriously injured? How would you even deal with that? I don’t think any of us have First Aid training and where we were it was unlikely that there would be cell service. Would you be watching your buddy bleed to death waiting for an ambulance to finally arrive?

These are not pleasant thoughts to entertain so we focused on the more benign likelihoods. Still, after waiting about five minutes for the others to catch up, and not seeing anyone, we headed back.

Bill and I talked later and confirmed we had both been thinking the same thing, that we would come around a bend to see a disaster strewn out in front of us, with someone badly hurt. Each twist in the road offered that possibility afresh. We were figuratively crossing our fingers and hoping not to have something really ugly burned into our memories.

It was with great relief that we saw Brett and Dennis going the other way and they gave us the OK sign. But where was Friggs? Bill and I kept on until Friggs also went by and then, with relief, we turned around and caught up with them all at the same place Bill and I had pulled over. Friggs had gone down and was miraculously uninjured. His clothes were ripped and torn, his helmet scraped horribly, and there was damage to the bike but Friggs was somehow OK.

Wow. Such a good outcome when it could have been so bad. His angels were definitely watching over him that day.

So anyway, this has got me thinking, and I’ve decided two things. First, before this summer’s trip I’m going to take a First Aid/CPR class. And then, next chance I get, I’m going to take an Accident Scene Management class as well. The unfortunate thing is that these are not offered frequently and I just missed one because we were in Europe. That’s why I say “next chance I get.”

I’ll let you know how these go. Maybe you might consider getting some training, too. Couldn’t hurt and you never know when it might help–a lot!

Biker Quote for Today

If I hadn’t laid ‘er down , I would have wrecked.