Nerves

I use my intuition alot and refuse to give up!

That's a good thought. I would suggest confirming that with your spouse or significant other to be sure that's what they want too. I've had patients who had both a wife and girlfriend (some with children by both) each of whom didn't know about the other. Friends were contacted during an emergency and notified both women. That created quite a dilemma especially during visiting hours. We had to get security on more than one occasion.

Something similar happened when I took a newbie out to geocache except that it was HER that slipped and landed on her back. So, now that I've fractured my leg while geocaching my friends remind me that "see, we told you that geocaching was gonna hurt you!"

I live in New England and last winter I went caching in the snow alot. My occasional caching friend had snowshoes, trekking poles and a shovel. He was well prepared. I had heavy, insulated boots, gators, ski pants and coat. He was able to get around much better than I although that didn't stop me from going out on trails with 3 or more feet of snow. I just seemed to sink way down with each step and expended alot more energy. I swore that this year I would get poles and showshoes and carry a shovel. Unfortunately, I've broken my leg so I won't be out on the trails until spring. It's actually alot of fun to cache in the snow. Try it - I think you'll like it.

That's a bummer RastaDave! Hope you're not off your game for long. Sometimes those darned sprained ankles can be as bad as a break. On a lighter note, at least you didn't land in the bag of turds. Take care and get better soon!

Can you come up with some sort of plan with the babysitter?

My EMT friend tells me she lets the cops check the pocket and wallet while she checks the neck and wrist. If the cops don't respond to the call, she will look in the wallet. One thing that clearly drives her nuts as well as the other EMTs in our area are people that don't know their meds. She really wishes everyone had a medical ID card.

Recently, I've been interested in geocaching injuries and accidents and spoke with an attorney friend about GC.com's waiver. This information applies to the US legal system. The GC waiver can be argued in court. That includes those medical consent forms that you sign prior to procedures even though you state that you understand the risks. The fact that GC.com and the reviewer have to approve a cache puts them at some risk for liability. Naturally, their lawyers would argue this in court - that is what they are paid to do. I would hope the reviewers can afford their own lawyers. While everyone can say "no, I'm not responsible and we have a waiver" when you finally get to court the matter is often determined by how the laws will be interpreted, which lawyer makes a better argument and who has the better, more credible experts arguing for their side. The person, state, association or whoever owns the land can be held liable for any accident, injury or death resulting from any activity on their land. If the land owner really wants to confirm the limits of their liability they need to contact a lawyer for advice.

Was the story also in the newspaper? If so, can we have a linK? Luckily, meth hasn't saturated the market this far east like it has out west but we do have some meth labs here and there. It's only a matter of time... Edited: Never mind - I found lots of articles about this subject. Too many to list.

OK folks - you've heard it from the EMTs that the medical ID card is important to have. A friend's brother died of cardiac arrest on a sidewalk the day before Thanksgiving. Everyone thought he was drunk or homeless. He didn't have any medical info on him. Ideally, I think the card should be worn on a lanyard or dogtag around the neck with another card in the wallet.

Thanks for the comments. I'm glad you'll use the card. I emailed Groundspeak about getting something like a TB tag that attached to the Medical ID Card but never heard back from them. Although I'm sure they get alot of emails I've had a response to another unrelated query in the past. How about taking a lunch with you on your hunt? That way, you get to do the caches and eat while you're at it Good suggestion to put this on the downloadable documents list. Anyone from GC.com listening?

Well, now you've gone and done it...you've joined the exclusive Gimp Club. We're a special group - with our xrays and geo-scars to prove it. The old cliche "everything happens for a reason" keeps going 'round and 'round in my head but I still can't quite think of the reason why I've had an injury. Maybe I needed to slow down cuz I sure have! I recently had Gimp Night with an old friend who, unbeknownst to me, happened to be two rooms down from me in the hospital after fracturing his shoulder. We injured folks need to stick together ya know. The heads are cut off to protect the innocent. Anyway, so sorry to hear of your accident and subsequent injury. Get better soon. Hey, how about some pics?

I'm curious...as an EMT, where would you look for someone's medical info - around the neck, the wrist, wallet or pockets?

Thanks, wreckelite. I'm going to find out if the other ERs in the state are familiar with this.

Yeah, I don't like the log about the dead animal wrapped in the tarp. That's awful! I'm sure some scumbag dumped the poor things there. So, maybe you should move it somewhere interesting...

I spoke to a local EMT and ER nurse and neither had heard of ICE. Would someone explain again the procedure for entering this on your cell and how emergency personnel would access the info? Thanks.

Great...NOW you tell me! I'm going to have to check your profile Auntie to see which of your caches I've done. Aren't geocacachers sometimes "loners"? How would we know which person is a real geocacher and which is a murderer? They both dress rather oddly with furtive behavior around other people. Did the perp kill the person there or elsewhere and transport the body to the park? Cheesus....now my anxiety level has gone up a notch and I"ve got nothing better to do than worry and listen to squirrels! Criminy...maybe you can save me the bother and just let me know which infamous park it was. As to your cache, suz55tbird, I'd be glad to know the history, relieved that the murderer is in prison and probably hunt for the cache with another person. I say, 'don't delete or edit the log'.

I'm sorry - I didn't quite understand your post. Would you please explain?

I really urge geocachers to fill out and print these cards. I recommend putting one in your wallet and hanging one around your neck like a dog tag. Give them to your friends and loved ones too. You can make the card a "personal TB" and log all your miles that way

I am going to close this topic in favor of opening a new discussion devoted to the geocaching medical ID card. I feel that the medical ID card is vital to carry with you at all times and would encourage everyone who reads this to type your info and print out the card. Thanks to everyone for their excellent suggestions and input.

Yuck. Luckily we don't have this in New England but we do have plenty of Lyme disease. Looks like blastomycosis is a fungal pneumonia that can also affect the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) as well as other organs. Men - be aware it can affect the epididymis and prostate gland so if you have symptoms in THAT area bring it to someone's attention. So, should we add a mask to the safety list if you live where this fungus is prevalent?

I also have two types of shoes for my hikes. As I was leaving for my infamous hike, I thought - hmmmm....should I wear the high top hiking boots? Nah....it's just a quick hike in the woods and it's warm today....think I'll wear the hiking sneakers. Bad choice. Maybe if I'd had the ankle support from the high tops my accident wouldn't have happened.

Those are some good suggestions for carrying a knife although I hope to never have to hack off a limb. I used to camp alot for weeks on end when I lived in the northwest and always carried a knife with me. Since I've been geocaching I haven't had much use for one but you never know...A multitool is sure useful especially when prying micros out of a hidey hole.

At the risk of sounding completely ignorant, under what circumstances would you use a knife?

OK - so our gc safety list goes something like this: 1) cell phone - check coverage 2) medical ID card 3) whistle you can add to this...