Here is a first-hand experience of Mr. Dhiren Talpade about how his First Aid knowledge helped him save a broken shoulder. Mr. Dhiren is a First Aid trainer himself and is also a valuable member of MAC since its inception.
Karnala Fort:
Saturday, 2nd July 2016: It was 17:45 and my attention was caught by the brightly colored ‘First Aid Center’ at the Karnala Bird Sanctuary. I had just come down from the fort after a 2hr speed trek with the Wilson College Nature Club. I was leading the group and the rest of the gang would reach within the next hour.
A forest officer walked up to me and reminded me that the rest of our gang was delayed and should have been there by 17:30 itself. I explained that the route was very slippery and was creating bottlenecks at certain places and assured him that everyone would be down shortly. I believe that he walked towards the first aid center and that is how it caught my eye.
I walked towards the dimly lit center and could make out that there were some people inside. As I entered, I saw a forest guide with a first aid box, a man with half his shirt off sitting on an inspection table and his friend applying some Balm on his right shoulder.
It was a shoulder dislocation. The patient, Ganesh, was visibly in much pain. However, neither the patient, his friend nor the forest guide had any idea about what was wrong. I told them that I am a Wilderness First Responder and asked if I could help. The patient said yes.
The patient examination revealed that he and his friends were a small group from Thane. When they were on top of the fort, Ganesh slipped and fell forwards. He used his hands to break his fall, but another person walking behind him fell on top of him and caused the injury. As they could not figure out what to do, they had made Ganesh walk down from the slippery mountain in over 3 hours of excruciating pain.
As I attempted to reduce the dislocation using the Active Traction-in-Line method, Ganesh could hardly help control his screams. He begged for pain meds, but we did not have any. After a few failed trials, I decided to change the treatment and used the Passive Hanging Traction method.
In just 5 to 10 minutes, I had managed to relax his tensed shoulder muscles and a bit of active encouragement from me and I felt the distinctive click of his dislocation getting reduced. The pain subsided almost instantly and the range of motion was improved by an easy 80%. But the real change was Ganesh’s expression. He was smiling.
Later as I was finishing up the sling and swathe on his arm for his ricketty bus ride home, Ganesh asked me if he owed me any medical fees. I told him that he could pay me by learning first aid and helping someone else in the future. We exchanged phone numbers and parted ways.
Sometimes all one needs to help another person is the will to do so. However, you have to empower your will by being prepared with skills. You never know where you will be called upon.
