Preparing in Advance For Medical Emergencies

When it comes to facing an emergency in the home, the old Boy Scout motto of “be prepared” certainly comes to mind.

Whether a loved one of yours has a severe asthma attack at home or trips and falls down a flight of stairs, protecting your family from health crises and injuries is definitely something you should think about.

Being prepared for just such an emergency is only the start. Going through the actual emergency is something else entirely. Most injury emergencies occur in or around the home, so what are ways you can cut down and try to prevent things like this from happening?

Start by securing things around the house. Make sure heavy objects aren’t precariously balanced to the point where a child could reach up, pull on something and have the object fall on his or her head. Keep pans on top of a stove at a point where the handle cannot be grabbed by a child. If the pan is hot on the bottom, the pan could fall on the child and cause burns. The last thing you want to hear is the sound of a screaming child that was just burned by a scalding-hot pan.

Keep things away from staircases. You may have seen a cartoon where the animated character slips on a roller skate at the top of the stairs and falls down. One thing that is different about an animated character is that he or she pops back up like nothing ever happened. How many times did Wile E. Coyote get blown up by dynamite and look like nothing happened in the next scene? Real life is not a cartoon. Take away things by the stairs like skates, balls or anything that could cause slips and falls. If your stairs have a rug on them, secure the rug to make sure nothing happens to that.

Health emergencies are also something to watch out for on a regular basis. This is where it pays to know such things as CPR or how to revive someone. You could be at home with your kids playing in the swimming pool and you are inside. What happens if your child gets caught by something in the pool and is pulled under for a stretch of time?

While making dinner or doing everyday housework, your wife could have a heart attack and collapse. Or you could be working on power tools in the garage and get a severe electric shock, causing you to fall unconscious. This means everyone in the family should be trained on how to do CPR. A combination of CPR plus use of an AED Brands home defibrillator can save lives, at least until trained medical personnel arrive on the scene.

Make sure you also have a first aid kit updated with all of the things you will need to save a life. Have activated charcoal and ipecac syrup handy in the event of accidental poisoning. Topical cream is needed to soothe burns. Bandages big enough to cover cuts and scrapes can help soothe shattered childrens’ (and adults’) nerves.

Readiness for an emergency is never something to take lightly. You never know when an emergency will take place, either at home or close by, nor do you know when a loved one’s health may take a turn for the worse.

The simple advice is to be prepared.