As a person starts to go into other signs and symptoms of cold related emergencies,
specifically we're going to talk about one of the most damaging problems,
and that's frostbite.
We can literally lose limbs that way,
have skin damage that's irrepairable,
lose parts of fingers and toes,
ends of the nose, ears.
And we have some real practical ways to try and prevent that.
Well, first and foremost is not getting that cold,
but it can happen before you even realize it.
The pain, the tingling, that you feel on the skin surface is the first sign of freezing tissues.
The skin itself is trying to give you the alert that,
"Hey, I'm being damaged and I need some help here."
Getting out of the elements, getting to a place that's warm is gonna be ideal for rewarming those tissues,
before they get to a permanent damaged state.
Making sure we've got our skin covered with a scarf or face gear, that's specifically made to protect your face.
Making sure you don't have exposed skin, and then recognizing the signs and symptoms.
When it goes beyond the pain to actually numbness,
and if you look at the actual skin itself it's white,
or starting to turn grey,
it feels frozen,
it's wood-like,
and there's no feeling at all.
We're probably going into the frostbite or full thickness freezing stages, and it needs immediate treatment.
We need to get them out of the environment, get them into a warm area
that they are going to be able to be sustained in.
What I mean by that is, if we are in between stations,
we know we're going to have to re-freeze again, or potentially re-freeze to get to the definitive help location,
we're not going to rewarm these body parts.
We're gonna leave them frozen, whether they're the feet, the toes, or whatever,
and we're going to walk them out of this dangerous situation
until we get them to the definitive place of care.
If you are there, either it's a permanent cabin,
or it's a place where you can actually call emergency medical services,
or get them to the hospital,
that's where we're going to start rewarming these body parts potentially.
The goal is going to be to get the temperature of the water to be about around
100 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit.
We don't want to bump the tissues into the sides of the container that you're warming them in.
And we're going to submerge those frostbitten body parts.
Now the rewarming, be aware, is going to be extremely painful, potentially.
Normally in the hospital, they'll do it under the guidance of pain management.
But again, we need to try to save this body tissue,
rewarming it, and getting circulation back to these frozen tissue pieces, the blood is frozen.
Getting that all back circulating again is going to be key to saving those body parts,
and extremities and tissues.
Once the skin, or the body parts are rewarmed,
now we're going to try to be careful of breaking blisters that have formed, potentially.
Making sure to put sterile gauze between the fingers or the toes,
and then gently wrapping that with a sterile gauze,
and then getting the person to emergency medical help.
Keep in mind that the goal is not to rub the body part, when we rub those frozen tissues,
we break loose ice crystals that can cause death or serious health problems,
as well as serious damage to the tissues.
We're just destroying that tissue that's frozen.
So no rubbing.
By placing their body parts on our warm body, we run the risk of going into hypothermia,
by exposing our body as well, to the elements.
The goal is to get this person to a point of safety,
for the sake of saving their lives,
and then saving their limbs if at all possible.
Now, lastly, keeping in mind that when you're out in the elements, plan for the worst.
It's as easy as actually buying some of these seven-hour to twelve-hour warmers,
that are chemical warmers.
They just shove in your pockets.
You can put them in your boots, you can put them in your gloves,
you can put them under your arm pits, around your neck,
keeping that body temperature up.
It's also great as a first aid supply,
so that if you come across someone else that's gone down because of cold related emergencies,
you can put that under their arm pits, put them in their gloves, and help them along as well.
So that pretty much wraps up cold related emergencies,
Next we'll go on to heat related emergencies,
how to recognize, how to prevent, and how to treat.