- First Aid - most first aid along the coastal US is good but with the internet...only a click away. Things like paramedic skills are great but hard to fit into an already busy schedule and hopefully with the click of an EPIRB....the USCG will be there within the hour. From 35 years as a first responder on the water...buy an AED and learn how to use it...CPR is overrated to the max on the water (read wilderness)
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I've had the unpleasant opportunity to perform CPR multiple times. It is never like it looks on TV and patients never cough and wake up after it. But CPR does something critically important - it keeps the patient alive until more definitive care is available. The main issue with cruising is that the medical response time increases from under 10 minutes on land to 30-45 minutes on water (and even longer). 50 miles out to sea, yeah, CPR won't matter - the patient is going to die. But that's quite a rare mode of cruising for most of us. For a significant amount of our time on the water, we're within VHF response to some fire department. You'd be amazed.
This is one of the reasons why it is so important for a significant other to be able to operate the boat and keep it moving and in safe water. It's got to be near second nature because they might be having to render emergency care at the same time during a very, very stressful situation.
Bottom line - learn CPR now unless you've had a course in the last 2 years. It is not a waste of time at all and it's not something to ignore. It's simple and it will save the life, probably of someone you love.
When I posted my list, I kept it very broad and First Aid can mean many things.
I have had First Responder training in two states and my CPR certification is kept up to date. The wife will need to take some classes before we go.
I don't think I have ever had more than two, maybe three, CPR classes that were the same. Seem like every couple of years the training changes slightly. The course changes are usually by being simplified but also there are new techniques to use or NOT use. Having CPR training is good but it is better to maintain CPR certification. The last few cycles have incorporated AED usages which is very important and CPR itself was simplified again.
When people say CPR, they always are thinking of breathing and chest compressions, though with the latest training, it is all about compressions, compression and compressions. Frankly, in the past, the more important part of CPR class is the choking training. CPR does not have a high success rate but some chance of success is better than no chance. I would think the odds of being brought back from a heart stoppage on a boat on the water would be even smaller than someone in a house with EMS service a few minutes away.
Today, the other important part of CPR training is in the use of AEDs. These things are pretty full proof, they are designed for anyone to use them, and they have a higher success rate than CPR alone. I looked up the cost of an AED on Amazon and they started at $1,100. I would think that an AED on a boat would have a better chance of bringing someone back to life than plain old chest compressions. I don't think most people are going to be able to do chest compressions for the time it takes for rescue services to get to the boat on the water, at least in the places we intended to go.
Thinking about places we were cruising in FLA, I would think most of the time the boat could get to shore quickly but if there were only two people on the boat, getting the boat to land means no CPR.... One of the various LE agencies MIGHT be able to get a boat on scene but that could take some time. Flip side, is that other boaters could board and lend a hand....
Chest compressions just move blood to supply O2 to the dead person's organs to buy them time. The person is dead. Breaking their ribs ain't gonna hurt them. They are dead. You buy the person time until better equipment arrives to revive, but it is doubtful CPR will revive a dead person, however, some chance is better than no chance. I doubt my wife could perform CPR for more than 20-30 minutes and she works out...
I just had a class on about tourniquet usage which has greatly changed that what was taught in the past. In the past, I was taught to never completely tighten a tourniquet to stop blood flow. The latest training is to stop the blood flow and there are tourniquets out there that can easily be used on handed. Of course, you can get these on Amazon. It seems that it is far more likely to have to use a tourniquet or other first aid techniques on a boat than CPR compressions or AED usage. Choking would be at the top of my list of most likely to used rescue skills.
Having said all of this, I feel like a dunce. I have a list of emergency equipment we should have on a boat and I DID NOT have an AED listed! I do now.
Later,
Dan