Hiker Death

[+Criminal]

There is a brief mention of the death of a hiker here who was going up to Mailbox Peak. Anyone with a better link please post.

 

I think I need to look into a CPR class. I probably know enough right now to be dangerous...

[+Renegade Knight]

If it's been that long since you had CPR then you will be in for a real treat. They changed all the numbers you memorized.

[+rusty_tlc]

Sounds like a good idea for an event cache. You could get a local EMT group to give a class on CPR. Passing the class would allow people to log the cache.

[+LindaLu]

Just a note to say that if you click the link to nwsource.com, it will attempt to load spyware from AvenueA onto your computer. My spyblocker caught it....

 

More to the subject, I need to renew my cpr training too. Good reminder...

[+webscouter.]

Hey if you all want to pick a date to come to Kansas City I will teach all of you CPR. You will receive an American Red Cross certification.

 

As far as all the numbers changing they are being standardized for all the national instructors. That way you will learn the same thing if you go to an American Heart Association class.

 

Also some of the training for unconcious choking victim has been changed. We no longer teach abdominal thrust to lay persons. It has been found that chest compressions are almost as effective and less chance of injury, it also helps to only have to learn one technique.

 

As a real aside a study done by a British medical group has found that the most critical component of CPR is the breathing. They had paramedics evaluate the technique of lay persons doing CPR when they arrived and followed up with the survival rates of the victims. Those who performed the breathing correctly had a higher survival rate than any other single component of the process.

 

Any way enough rambling. Time to go cache.

[+rusty_tlc]

Hey if you all want to pick a date to come to Kansas City I will teach all of you CPR. You will receive an American Red Cross certification.

 

As far as all the numbers changing they are being standardized for all the national instructors. That way you will learn the same thing if you go to an American Heart Association class.

 

Also some of the training for unconcious choking victim has been changed. We no longer teach abdominal thrust to lay persons. It has been found that chest compressions are almost as effective and less chance of injury, it also helps to only have to learn one technique.

 

As a real aside a study done by a British medical group has found that the most critical component of CPR is the breathing. They had paramedics evaluate the technique of lay persons doing CPR when they arrived and followed up with the survival rates of the victims. Those who performed the breathing correctly had a higher survival rate than any other single component of the process.

 

Any way enough rambling. Time to go cache.

How would I find a local instructor?

[+webscouter.]

You can call the local American Red Cross chapter. Or you could call your local hospital. Most American Heart Association classes are taught through hospital extensions.

[Mr. E.]

How would I find a local instructor?

Also many Fire deparments offer free CPR training.

Edited April 20, 2004 by Mr. E.

[+evergreenhiker!]

I'm very, very familiar with the Mailbox. I've scaled it from the backside/scramble and via the usual, steep trail. The last few hundred feet is super-steep straight up to the mailbox.

 

I always have to slow down at this part...take a few short water-sip breaks. There is a geocache up there. Going to put 1500 on that one I think.

 

It is not a hike to take lightly if you are out of shape.

[+Criminal]

I'm very, very familiar with the Mailbox. I've scaled it from the backside/scramble and via the usual, steep trail. The last few hundred feet is super-steep straight up to the mailbox.

 

I always have to slow down at this part...take a few short water-sip breaks. There is a geocache up there. Going to put 1500 on that one I think.

 

It is not a hike to take lightly if you are out of shape.

Let me know when you're ready to head up, I want to go just to see that slowing down thing going on.

 

Seriously though, I wouldn't mind tagging along on that hike.

[+Wienerdog]

I'm very, very familiar with the Mailbox. I've scaled it from the backside/scramble and via the usual, steep trail. The last few hundred feet is super-steep straight up to the mailbox.

 

I always have to slow down at this part...take a few short water-sip breaks. There is a geocache up there. Going to put 1500 on that one I think.

 

It is not a hike to take lightly if you are out of shape.

Let me know when you're ready to head up, I want to go just to see that slowing down thing going on.

 

Seriously though, I wouldn't mind tagging along on that hike.

"Tagging" ??? Doesn't that mean to be attached to something?

 

Maybe you meant 'TAG'. Which is a game where you try to catch someone.

 

Sorry John! Crim and I have both been hiking with you and we are still getting a lot of miliage out of our experiences of trying to keep up!

[+Criminal]

I'm very, very familiar with the Mailbox. I've scaled it from the backside/scramble and via the usual, steep trail. The last few hundred feet is super-steep straight up to the mailbox.

 

I always have to slow down at this part...take a few short water-sip breaks. There is a geocache up there. Going to put 1500 on that one I think.

 

It is not a hike to take lightly if you are out of shape.

Let me know when you're ready to head up, I want to go just to see that slowing down thing going on.

 

Seriously though, I wouldn't mind tagging along on that hike.

"Tagging" ??? Doesn't that mean to be attached to something?

I want to be attached to his pack.

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

CPR is a must. Your skills get rusty fast. At the dive shop I work at we offer a course a couple of times a year. I take it every time.

 

Wouldn't it suck if you had an opportunity to save someone, and you couldn't?

[fallout4x4]

http://www.rainier-redcross.org/Educate/FA_CPR/aci_cpr.htm

 

is for the tacoma area

[+Byron & Anne]

Check with your local fire department. Down here in Oregon many fire departments give first-aid/CPR classes.

[+evergreenhiker!]

I'm very, very familiar with the Mailbox. I've scaled it from the backside/scramble and via the usual, steep trail. The last few hundred feet is super-steep straight up to the mailbox.

 

I always have to slow down at this part...take a few short water-sip breaks. There is a geocache up there. Going to put 1500 on that one I think.

 

It is not a hike to take lightly if you are out of shape.

Let me know when you're ready to head up, I want to go just to see that slowing down thing going on.

 

Seriously though, I wouldn't mind tagging along on that hike.

"Tagging" ??? Doesn't that mean to be attached to something?

I want to be attached to his pack.

LOL!!! Come on guys! Seriously though, Chris...it's a great hike and there's a cache up there. At the top is a mailbox that has a Dr. Suess book...Green eggs and ham. The official logbook. the cache is lower down in the rocks.

[+The Jester]

CPR isn't the only thing you might need in the wilds. I'm an instructor for the Mountaineer's MOFA (Mountaineering Oriented First Aid) program. It takes the Red Cross basic course and adds 30 hours of extra info (cold/hot illness, high altitude, what to do when help is 8-24 hours away). Good training for anyone going away from civilization. Hope you never have to use it.

[+evergreenhiker!]

CPR isn't the only thing you might need in the wilds. I'm an instructor for the Mountaineer's MOFA (Mountaineering Oriented First Aid) program. It takes the Red Cross basic course and adds 30 hours of extra info (cold/hot illness, high altitude, what to do when help is 8-24 hours away). Good training for anyone going away from civilization. Hope you never have to use it.

I should take their First Aide course sometime. I was a member for ten years, but didn't renew after 2000.

[fallout4x4]

If you are in the tacoma area the red cross no longer offers the mofa course, you have to get it from the mountaineers.

[+Zzzoey & illDRIVEuNav]

I have CPR training every year at my work. I wish all employers would pay for this class for their workers. It is a pain in the arse but it really is a valuable skill to have if called upon to use. I have seen the whole process of what is taught and what things are called, numbered and a definite improvement in old "rescuscitation" Annie through the years, but in my honest opinion, the class has evolved in a good way, and I retain more of the information NOW because it is simplified. I hope I never have to use any of it, but I sure hope if I ever need rescuscitated or given first aid in any way, that the people around me have taken the class and are familiar with the procedure to sustain my life until more qualified first responders arrive.

[+KSWader]

We are in a very rural area in NW Kansas and our EMS got an AED/CPR grant. We have AEDs located throughtout our small town and county including at my workplace. We were provide free training during work.

 

If you do not know, the AED is the machine that will shock incase someone goes into cardic arrest. It was a wonderful class to go through. The AED is very easy to use and one you open it, all you have to do is follow the voice commands of the machine.

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

New rules at the dive shop I work for. We now do CPR updates every quarter.

[+MedicOne]

I'm going to go out on a limb here a little because I know that most folks think that CPR is eqivalent to the second coming of Christ. CPR is not the magic bullet that it is portrayed to be on such television shows as Baywatch. I've been present at a LOT of resuscitation attempts and I've never seen CPR jump start a heart. This individual was essentially dead when he hit the ground. In all those attempts the only successes were the ones that I was able to get to in less than two minutes or was already present when the arrest occurred. The importance of calling 911 at first symptom of an impending cardiac arrest cannot be overstressed. Another unfortunate fact is that many times the first symptom of an impending heart attack is cardiac arrest.

 

The gold standard for an arrested heart is defibrillation. All the CPR in the world and all the cardiac medications in the world will not restart an arrested heart. Those that teach CPR know that the heart and brain begin to die within a minute after arrest and lose 10% per minute thereafter. So without a defibrillator this guy's chances were zero.

 

On the plus side - many companies are manufacturing small, light, Automatic External Defibrillators. They are now everywhere. Airports, theaters, concert halls, airplanes. I suspect that within the next five years you'll find them in packages no larger than a deck of cards and foolproof. Perhaps backcountry guides, outfitters, river rafters, and yes maybe even geocachers will have them at their disposal for the types of trips mentioned in the article above.

 

I've climbed that peak a couple times - once as a graduation "present" from the Washington State Fire Academy.

[+shawhh]

thank you medic one. as a critical care r.n. i've been to more codes than i can remember and like you have never seen one that cpr alone saved the person. cpr can buy time until a defibrillator is available, but unless spontaneous circulation can be restored quickly the victim is dead. cpr, even done expertly, cannot give enough oxygen to the tissues to prevent hypoxic damage. in the setting of a wilderness arrest the time lag between the loss of spontaneous circulation and the arrival of advanced life support equipment is likely to be considerable. even if the victim "survives" he is likely to suffer severe and irreversible brain damage. would i perform cpr on a backwoods victim? yes i would but, unless a reversible cause for the arrest was apparent and i had the means to reverse the cause, i'd be unlikely to continue for long. i support cpr training and the distribution of portable automatic defibrillators (aed's), however these devices are not likely to be found in the woods, and not very many people are likely to be carrying one around in their pack. learn cpr, first aid, and if a health care provider become proficient in advanced cardiac life support, but if you find me in the woods without pulse or respirations please don't "save" me to be on a ventilator without the hope of meaningful recovery. i'll be happy to have died in a pretty place. -harry