A member of our hunt suffered a catastrophic medical emergency while hunting today. Considering the level of the activity and age of some of our members, maybe more should consider some first responder training. We have some doctors and nurses in our hunt but few were hunting today.
Just as importantly, how many hunts have a plan for handling emergencies and a plan for quickly and safely getting rescue personnel where they’re needed? Something to consider.
We’ve got a telemetry nurse and a vet tech who hunt regularly here in the Valley. I had first responder certification at one time. A now-retired member was a proctologist and another had been a nurse. So, we had some coverage.
Up in Flagstaff, I’m not sure which (if any) regularly-hunting members have any medical or responder-type training.
It might not always be possible to have that, but I agree that there should be a plan.
We’ve had to have folks med-evac’d out via helicopter. That was exciting in a really, really bad way. At least someone was able to call for help via cell phone…
I feel like some kind of first aid class would be a reasonable thing for a hunt to pay for some/all staff to take. I mean, SOMEONE should properly know what to so if something happens, and you can’t count in all members of the hunt to be there every time, but certainly you can know which members of staff will be present and can make sure there is someone with training out with the hunt.
Even people who work in medicine like doctors may not actually be fully up to date on first aid, also - it depends a lot on your area of specialty and what you do for continuing education. My mom doesn’t work clinically anymore, but she is fairly up to date on the latest recommendations because she specifically makes sure she does some reading on that area as part of her continuing education requirements, because she does sometimes volunteer for things where she feels she needs to be up to date to do her job properly. (She is a nurse.)
And yes, I think there should also be plans in place for emergency response. Who does what, where are the nearest/best access points for EMTs, who will meet them, who manages the rest of the field, etc. I am not sure but suspect that if the hunt approached the relevant emergency services in the area, it may be possible to get some guidance about identifying good access points, places where a helicopter would land safely, etc. It might seem like overkill, but riding horses is an activity with some risk - better to have a plan that you never use than to have something happen and end up handling it poorly.
I’d also advocate hunt members donate to their local volunteer fire departments during their pledge drives as a token of support for all they do for injured riders. Sometimes it involves complicated rural evacuations! :winkgrin: and make sure you can give accurate directions to them. That can be challenging. Lets be careful out there!
In our hunt there is a plethora of MDs and DVMs and EMTs and Ski Patrol who ride out every hunt --any time there’s an injury, there’s a flurry of professional activity, and the person is taken care of appropriately. Med Flight has been called in once to my knowledge --usually the staff gets the injured party to a road and meets an ambulance or family member who takes the injured to treatment. BUT I don’t think “EVERYONE SHOULD” be required to have first response training. One of the great joys of riding with a group of adult riders is everyone is responsible for himself/herself and no one has to DO anything more than be a good member and enjoy. I guess it is sort of like requiring anyone who plays golf to have first response training. Of course, everyone should, but I don’t like the requirement part --Our staff is well trained and intelligent. I think emergency situations are best left to them --and the various MD and EMTs on the field. Actually, I have first respond-er training --and I usually end up holding horses.
Foxglove
CindyCRNA-good discussion. Yesterday members with a history of working with rescue personal knew to get to the roads where the emergency crews needed to turn. Members were positioned at those two spots which prevented wrong turns. Members also monitored gates going into the pasture while others quietly monitored the landowners cattle to assure no harm came to them or that they slipped out of the open gate. The two members who attended the compromised member had the skill to help that person until advanced services arrived on site. I do not believe there was detriment causing time lapse between the time of the event and when the first 911 call was made. There was a hustle to get the member who is a former Firefighter to the injured member.
Sometimes things happen and the event yesterday was not caused by riding a horse. It could have happened at home or walking down the street.
Meanwhile healing prayers for one of the most kind, most decent people to throw a leg over a horse would be appreciated. His love of fox hunting is contagious and I hold him in the highest esteem.
One need not have any kind of medical training to go though a CPR course and basic emergency first aid concepts. About 30 % of my company staff have gone through training at work, it is simply good practice.
Most fire districts will provide training. Why not make it a club offering, if not now, during the off season.
It should be something every barn owner, trainer and member of show management go through. Anyone who regularly participated in any group activity or sport should have basic first respondor skills
As a nurse, I have basic, plus advanced adult and pediatric training. I always carry some medical stuff with me when I am riding out including a vented airway for cpr. I always wear my medical armband which includes contact info, copy of insurance card and driver’s license. The majority of issues usually don’t happen where you have access to purse or wallet.
[QUOTE=Foxglove;7929709]
In our hunt there is a plethora of MDs and DVMs and EMTs and Ski Patrol who ride out every hunt --any time there’s an injury, there’s a flurry of professional activity, and the person is taken care of appropriately. Med Flight has been called in once to my knowledge --usually the staff gets the injured party to a road and meets an ambulance or family member who takes the injured to treatment. BUT I don’t think “EVERYONE SHOULD” be required to have first response training. One of the great joys of riding with a group of adult riders is everyone is responsible for himself/herself and no one has to DO anything more than be a good member and enjoy. I guess it is sort of like requiring anyone who plays golf to have first response training. Of course, everyone should, but I don’t like the requirement part --Our staff is well trained and intelligent. I think emergency situations are best left to them --and the various MD and EMTs on the field. Actually, I have first respond-er training --and I usually end up holding horses.
Foxglove[/QUOTE]
To clarify - I see nothing wrong with a hunt organizing a course for members if there is interest as an off season activity or something which members can choose to attend, and I would also not find some kind of “emergency drill” activity to be unreasonable if your hunt has particular issues that need to be sure to be handled properly for safety (like if you have unusual terrain to deal with or something), but I think the only folks who can be reasonably required to do training would be staff - because they are in a position of responsibility for the group and while yes adults should be responsible for themselves most of the time, if something happens and the person is unable to be responsible (unconscious, perhaps) then the staff are the ones who need to be prepared to step up. So they should have training to let them best do that.
