A blog that I read a lot but I shamefully admit give little advertising.
This morning Greg Ellifritz posted an article about the Ross Township shooting in Pennsylvania. A reporter at the scene said that some of the people were off to the side throwing up. A comment to the blog expressed concern that one might find himself in a similar position if forced to deal with a mass shooting type of situation and having to face the sights and sounds of the carnage going on around them instead of responding or helping.
How do you prepare for that? How do you ensure you aren’t the one curled in a ball and expelling your breakfast or passed out when you should be seeking cover or fighting or helping? Is there a way?
via Limatunes’ Range Diary: The Sights And Sounds of Trauma.
I am pretty much immune by now at the sight of blood and internal organs out-of-body containment although smell might get me, specially rot. My immunization came about by father’s printing business…. yep. His biggest client was this small but very busy emergency-only hospital that was the go-to for a population of over 500,000 in my early years. Many times I went with him while he was delivering printed goods (Later on, I was making the deliveries and strolling through the place) and I got to see people in different states of hurting. Car accidents, major falls, shootings and my personal less-than-frigging favorite: machete cuts… I have seen them. I am still amazed that a human body can receive so much damage and somehow keep going even if for a little while.
One thing I have not seen is serious burn victims. I have no idea how I would react to a 50% or more burn victim. I had a neighbor who suffered partial face, partial chest and arm burns for screwing with a welder next to a unnoticed spill of gasoline and I was the one that had to prep him and take him to the hospital.
The other thing that has helped me is the attacks of klutziness I had through my life. Not very many, but I have cut, burn, pierced and smashed myself enough times I am not scared at the sight of my own blood, but I will become a big baby if I get the flu.
The last thing that helped me has been learning & training First Aid/First Responder. Just having the knowledge about what to do will help you take control of yourself and the situation at hand. If somebody goes down, doing something other than calling 911 and gawking uselessly makes for better stomach fortitude….at least while the S is hitting the fan. You can puke on yourself after the fact all you want.
I’d say if you want to get over any possible squeamishness, learn First Aid and you may also want to volunteer at a hospital with an ER even if it is some simple stuff. It is amazing what you can pick up by just observing professionals in action and/or listening to their comments. That is not to say that in a months time, you’ll be delivering babies, but learning some basic things that may help somebody survive till the Pros get to the location is not a bad thing to acquire.
Experiencing Trauma.
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