[cool09]

I definitely wouldn't. I've only seen 1 or 2 photos from the Boston attack and I wouldn't want strangers working on me if I was wounded. Some people jump in during those sorts of things because they just want to show others that they're good people and they have no clue what they're doing.

I saw a photo of someone applying a tourniquet. I wouldn't want someone doing that to me then finding out that I didn't need it and consequently risked losing an appendage.

I've worked with people like this. Their main goal in life is to show people that they're "do-ers" and/or proactive (because they lack in other areas) and not oblivious.

I would ask for references and qualifications first. I wouldn't want someone who couldn't pass History or Geometry working on me.

[Silent Void]

That's good to know. We'll let you bleed to death.

People mean well in these situations. I'd rather have a kind stranger try to help me than no one at all.

[Inedible]

Only a trained professional should apply a tourniquet. Everyone else should limit it to applying pressure to stop bleeding. And the breathing part of CPR has been dropped, so that now only the compressions are advised - the breathing part is what most people are more likely to get wrong. There are a lot of ways that people can end up causing more problems by trying to help, and the more a person knows how it can go wrong the easier it is to be concerned about that sort of thing.

Given that this is theoretical, why not just take a moment to give thanks for the fact that you haven't had to have complete strangers giving you emergency aid? And leave it at that.

[spondiferous]

I'd have no problem with people working on me. Better safe than sorry.

Yes, at that time we can't be best judge of ourselves.

[-jimi-]

You need passing geometry and history? I did NOT pass history. However, as a kid I learned a lot of first aid, I was in the Red Cross youth where you had classes all the time, then we had classes in school several times. Methods have changed slightly since then, but most of the stuff is the same. I don't get how you should not do mouth to mouth if someone is not breathing but has a heart beat?

[cool09]

I've seen people jump in at work just to show others that they're proactive and they don't know what they were doing. And the worst offenders I found worked for USAF. Most people there would stab others in the back to make themselves look good. It's such a distorted way of thinking and trying to win respect.

And I wouldn't want someone with a tattoo work on me like I've seen in the Boston photos. Anyone who has no regard for a part(s) of their body or has a tattoo of a dragon or barbwire won't work on me, that's for sure. I'd rather bleed and pray and wait for a certified paramedic.

[RomanSunburn]

I hate to break it to you, but I saw a picture of an EMT COVERED in tattoos working in Boston.

I'm sorry you're so jaded that you suspect everyone of foul doing -- I saw it as a sign of goodness left in humanity. I'm sorry if you think putting pressure on a wound and elevating it to help save your life is just some power trip. It truly breaks my heart. But I hope I don't get seriously injured standing next to you.

You sound like an idiot.

History has nothing to do with emergency medicine, nor does tattoos.

I took AP history in high school and that's not helping me one bit in nursing school currently. I also have a tattoo on my wrist and none of the patients I help care for during clinical seem to care about that as I help them to do things they can't do for themselves.

You may find yourself in an awful situation one day rethinking this opinion of yours.

[winter4me]

Originally Posted by jimi...

You need passing geometry and history? I did NOT pass history. However, as a kid I learned a lot of first aid, I was in the Red Cross youth where you had classes all the time, then we had classes in school several times. Methods have changed slightly since then, but most of the stuff is the same. I don't get how you should not do mouth to mouth if someone is not breathing but has a heart beat?

As an RN, I can update you a bit. You should still do rescue breathing if someone has a heartbeat but is not breathing. However, if you do not detect a heartbeat, it is more important to do compressions (and the rate is now increased) because the blood in your veins still contains enough oxygen to keep the brain and major organs alive if it continues to circulate. You can more effectively circulate without pausing for breaths that often end up in the stomach instead of lungs and result in vomiting and aspiration. You can easily update your own skills on line---for low cost or for free. I always appreciate lay people who are able to pitch in and provide first aide in an emergency----

[winter4me]

Originally Posted by cool09

I've seen people jump in at work just to show others that they're proactive and they don't know what they were doing. And the worst offenders I found worked for USAF. Most people there would stab others in the back to make themselves look good. It's such a distorted way of thinking and trying to win respect.

And I wouldn't want someone with a tattoo work on me like I've seen in the Boston photos. Anyone who has no regard for a part(s) of their body or has a tattoo of a dragon or barbwire won't work on me, that's for sure. I'd rather bleed and pray and wait for a certified paramedic.

I know MDs, trauma nurses, emts, and all kinds of professional care givers who have tattoos, piercings, you name it---that is a cultural/personal choice and thank goodness we have gotten over discriminating against them in the professional world.... As a psych. nurse, I have known the kind of people you talk of, and they are FEW and far between---some of them also, thank goodness, actually do have skills that are useful in an emergency. Fight them off if you wish, and run the other way if they need you. That is your choice.

[LiteraryLark]

I think I'm just going to be repost, because it can't be said any better:

That's good to know. We'll let you bleed to death.

People mean well in these situations. I'd rather have a kind stranger try to help me than no one at all.



It's just sad to see that there are always going to be people who intentionally make worse situations even worse because they're opinionated.

[LiteraryLark]

And to answer the question, yes, I would like any help possible, but mostly I'd want to find my family and be with them.

Yes I would. If I were conscious I'd watch what they were doing if possible.
As for "jumpers in at work" or however it was you phrased it... don't be so sure.
At a chemical processing plant a co-worker in an adjacent department had an accident and was drenched with caustic chemicals. A friend and I ran over and stripped his clothes off and got waters hoses and kept water on him until EMT arrived. We had no clue if what we were doing was right but it was the only thing we could do and with his skin pealing off and him screaming we felt like we had to do something because nobody else was doing anything for him and it made the heat and pain a bit more bearable for him. It turned out to be the only thing that could have helped since we had nothing to neutralize the caustic.
Point is... sometimes people do something because something needs to be done and nobody else is doing anything.
What do tattoos have to do with this?

[Harley47]

Originally Posted by cool09

I've seen people jump in at work just to show others that they're proactive and they don't know what they were doing. And the worst offenders I found worked for USAF. Most people there would stab others in the back to make themselves look good. It's such a distorted way of thinking and trying to win respect.

And I wouldn't want someone with a tattoo work on me like I've seen in the Boston photos. Anyone who has no regard for a part(s) of their body or has a tattoo of a dragon or barbwire won't work on me, that's for sure. I'd rather bleed and pray and wait for a certified paramedic.

So, let me get this straight. Because a person has a tattoo makes them, without any regard for their personality, skills, or any other...you know...relevant?...factors, instantly makes them incapable of passing history and geometry, nor capable of rendering first aid to someone in dire need of it? Based on your line of logic, said person, due to a tattoo, is instantly too unintelligent or barbaric to help someone in need?

Please be so kind as to tell me I'm horribly misconstruing this, as otherwise, that's perhaps one of the most ignorant things I've heard in quite some time. My mother has a tattoo. She was only a scant few credit hours from becoming a nurse, and only dropped the program due to (in respect for her privacy) a personal loss. By your line of logic, my mother, who as far as random bystanders go is pretty qualified to help, isn't capable of rendering aid, as she so clearly cares nothing for her body (her hip, btw, so you'd never know) and thus must care nothing for anyone else's? Please, be so kind as to explain to me how you arrive at such a conclusion. I'm just shaking with excitement here.

Lastly, with the utmost respect, I dunno if you've ever experienced near exsanguination or the loss of limb. I hope not. I've experienced the former under the pretense of a surgical recovery gone awry. It's one of the scariest, least pleasant things you can imagine. I cannot imagine what it'd be like coupled with loss of limb and the utter chaos those in Boston experienced. Respectfully, I'd wager near anything you'd be begging for anyone to help you, were it you.

You know. So you can judge their tattoos and self serving attitude later, and all.

"Would you want strangers working on you?" ONLY if I wanted to live. That's a big IF though!

[venusss]

Originally Posted by cool09

I've seen people jump in at work just to show others that they're proactive and they don't know what they were doing. And the worst offenders I found worked for USAF. Most people there would stab others in the back to make themselves look good. It's such a distorted way of thinking and trying to win respect.

And I wouldn't want someone with a tattoo work on me like I've seen in the Boston photos. Anyone who has no regard for a part(s) of their body or has a tattoo of a dragon or barbwire won't work on me, that's for sure. I'd rather bleed and pray and wait for a certified paramedic.

maybe you could wear a dog tag with this information attached, so people can let you die freely. I mean, dead is better then saved by somebody with tattoo and lack of geometry knowledge, right?

Originally Posted by Silent Void

That's good to know. We'll let you bleed to death.

People mean well in these situations. I'd rather have a kind stranger try to help me than no one at all.

I couldn't of said it better myself.

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by Inedible

. And the breathing part of CPR has been dropped, so that now only the compressions are advised - the breathing part is what most people are more likely to get wrong.

Actually the reason that the AHA has revised CPR to eliminate breathing is that many laypeople are afraid they will be exposed to disease by giving mouth to mouth. It is likely that more people will do compressions only for cardiac arrest and that is better than doing nothing.

[cool09]

I'll work on getting a bracelet with instructions on how to be treated if I have a heart attack or stroke.

Yes, most of the people I've seen with tattoos are trash, uneducated, ignorant, want special attention and either too confrontational/aggressive or too lazy to be responsible for anything. And some need self-affirmations permanently printed on their body to boost their self-esteem or to advertise their favorite music band or favorite hero to others. Don't come near me.

If I am in need of help, help me.
If you do the wrong thing and make it worse, I will just sue you later LOL
Isn't this a great country we live in?!?

[bebop]

I myself have tattoo's but I am far from lazy and I did pass geometry and history. I have taken first aid courses and passed at the head of my class. I am certified in cpr and as such it is my obligation to help when someone is in need. Just saying.

[lizardlady]

Cool09, I'm sorry that has been your experience with people who have tattoos. I know some truly wonderful people who just happen to have tattoos.

I can answer your question about whether I would want a stranger working on me if I was injured. I was once seriously injured in an auto accident. To this day I appreciate the total strangers who ran to help me.

As for the people in Boston who jumped in to help, some were off duty EMTs or trained medics, one was an ER doc there to watch the race. Seems to me they would be excellent people to have help injured people. The individuals helping others in photos I saw did not appear to be looking for recognition for what they were doing. They looked like people in shock who were doing their best to help others.

[LiteraryLark]

Originally Posted by cool09

I'll work on getting a bracelet with instructions on how to be treated if I have a heart attack or stroke.

Yes, most of the people I've seen with tattoos are trash, uneducated, ignorant, want special attention and either too confrontational/aggressive or too lazy to be responsible for anything. And some need self-affirmations permanently printed on their body to boost their self-esteem or to advertise their favorite music band or favorite hero to others. Don't come near me.

Then avoid most hospitals, particularly Kaiser, because they allow they're nurses and doctors to be both tattooed and pierced AND visible even in uniform.

[cool09]

Maybe some people here have convinced me regarding tattoos and relation to behavior, intelligence, etc. I just have not seen much of that in the places that I have lived in Northeast and in the Southwest.

(And I have not watched the news and seen videos of actual footage from attack. Just browsed a couple photos on the net.)

I know that in the City there are lots of professional people walking around. I'm familiar with Philadelphia and there are lots of medical people that work in the City at children's, cancer and general hospitals and always lots of cops.

I am sorry because lots of people were badly injured and the ones who lost their lives were young and had promising futures and were innocent. I wouldn't want any of that to happen to my family.