Would you want strangers working on you after terrorist attack?

Yes I would. I am also the type that would jump in and help others immediately.

Any one can apply pressure and common sense is all that's needed for most first aid.

I've assisted in many car accidents and emergency situations and I can tell you, people were VERY thankful!! They didn't care, they needed comfort and touch.

I pray if you're ever in an emergency, you'd change your mind.

I grew up in CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) due to some health issues. Some of the absolute best nurses I ever had (including a male nurse while in ICU) had tattoos. One even had gauged ears. The male nurse was a big buff guy with tattoos on his arms. He was the sweetest, gentlest nurse, and the best at getting an IV in first time around. He was in the marines but had to be discharged after an injury or something. When someone is doing all they can to keep you healthy the first thing on your mind isn't their tattoo. I've been septic twice and I assure you I wouldn't have cared whether my nurse or doctor was blue head to toe or had idiot tattooed on their head so long as they could make the pain stop. I have a feeling everyone injured in Boston felt similar regarding their situation.

I have a tattoo..one that I just got recently at the age of 47 and it is a medic alert tattoo with my emergency information on it because in some places of work, it is dangerous to wear the jewellery. This tattoo can save my life.

I also have a university degree in the social sciences and cultural studies. I respect all people and do lots of volunteering with people from children on up to seniors and especially with people who have special medical ailments and mental health issues. I have first aid training and am obligated to give aid when it is needed and have my certification with me at all times.

If you do not wish me to touch you then I am obligated to do as you please and let you remain untreated. The risk is yours.

I have worked on injured people when my car was behind one which was hit and summersaulted....that said i have been trained in first aid and was the lead first aider for my nursery school at the time. I personally could not stand by and watch someone bleed to death if i am able to help them!
on the other hand if i needed help myself i would tell the person helping me what i needed them to do , but if i was unable to tell them , then i would be happy that they try their best!
if you are not happy to help or don't know how to help the best thing is call emergency services and the operator will talk you through what to do until the medics arrive

Good to know. When I last had lessons it was some time in the mid to late 1980s. Back then they told us ABCs: Airway (check for obstructions), Breathing, and Compressions. They emphasized compressions. They said not to press too high up on the sternum because it wouldn't work as well and not to press too low because it could break off the triangular piece of bone at the end of the sternum. That piece of bone can cause damage by cutting into organs. What they didn't really make clear was how to estimate how long someone's sternum is with their shirt on. I think the idea was to press hard enough to flex the sternum, but not hard enough to crack ribs. They really didn't explain things well enough in a lot of ways, probably because they sensed a lack of interest in most of the class.

Don't forget that we "see" what we are prepared to see, especially when looking at anyone/thing that is "different" from ourselves/our perception of what looks/hobbies/beliefs really mean. The way to grow is to get to know some of these people you automatically disregard---you'll find yourself making exceptions for this one and that---eventually you know appearances are just that... superficial. Also, don't forget that anyone who works on you in a hospital in an emergency will be a stranger to you. They may be excellent, they may lack some skills, in general they will all be doing the best they can.

Looking at illness, pain, disaster is not the same as being "in" it. I have only been hospitalized one time in my life and learned that lesson well. If you have a limb blown off suddenly, you aren't going to be asking anyone anything, you are going to be in shock and, if you are conscious or "thinking" at all, are going to be hoping the pain stops soon, that someone, anyone is helping and otherwise be very confused. You did read about the woman that tried to stand and help when she herself had been gravely injured and she fell down again? You aren't going to be thinking clearly, aren't going to know what is going on, won't identify the blood and what's going on with it happening to you. Your mind will shield you from anything that might distract from your body getting help.

Most of the "strangers" at the scene were medical personnel and/or loved ones one was with and others like them. If I'd let my mother care for me I would not mind another mother caring for me. With so many gravely hurt, not many died because there were so many medical personnel on the scene.

When we look "at" something, a death or illness of a love-one, etc. we weave our own stories, based on our own feelings and fears but that's not based on the actual experience.

I was always terrified that I'd be hospitalized, terrified of being anesthetized, of not being in "control". . .until my appendix burst. My mind and thinking got really really narrow then, wanting the pain to stop :-) and when they finally figured out (5 hours later!) what was wrong and could give me pain killers (couldn't until they knew what was causing the problem), they were explaining to me (after the pain killer) about the operation and what was going on and it was all fine with me! Not like I could jump up and do anything about it I spent a week in the hospital, several months later, on IV drip antibiotics, and, with the exception of a handful of moments that were scary to me, I was pretty bored, pretty involved in my fantasy/sci-fi three book series I was reading.

I don't panic as much anymore or get anxious when a loved one has a medical emergency or I hear/read about one; it isn't about "me" and that person isn't experiencing what I am thinking/feeling, not being in that emergency myself. When I was in college, a good friend was raped and murdered one night. I remember my mind going over and over that, trying to imagine it. It was only after I'd been in the hospital, been in an actual emergency that I understood the horror of being raped and murder is mostly in the thinking about it, not the actual happening of it. When someone dies, the rest of us are left with our thoughts and feelings about it, the deceased is not. A lot of my memory of my parents is about their last days and their dying and the horror of it to me. I comfort myself remembering that my thinking about it is not the same as my experiencing it. The map is not the territory.

I used to hunt when I was younger and I think if I had a hunting accident I would let one of my friends tend to me even if they didn't know much about first aid. I guess I would put my life in their hands. (In fact, a friend almost shot my foot with a shotgun at point blank range. What are friends for?) I can't explain that as it relates to an accident in a large crowd and/or public place.

And lots of amateur and professional athletes (football, hockey) get seriously injured with concussions, paralysis, etc. Playing hockey as a young kid I think if I fell through the ice and lost consciousness and/or had hypothermia I would also want someone nearby to help me. So I'm not sure if I'm changing my tune. I'm a flip-flopper like some politicians.

No sweat. I have those kinds of days. Yesterday was one for me.

Don't think of it as flip-flopping. Think of it as expanding your thinking to include more ideas, possibilities, and solutions.