The Scouting Guide to Survival

[TAHAWK 1420]

Last week, purchased Fears, J. Wayne, The Scouting Guide to Survival, Skyhorse Publishing & Boy Scouts of America (2018).  It says this:

 

"Hypothermia

. . .

If the victim is semi-conscious or worse, he does not have the capacity of regaining his body temperature without outside help.

Keep him awake, give him warm drinks, and if possible get him into a warm bath."  Id. at 41.

 

Not sure if this is the right subforum or if any exists, but this is bad advice per everyone I looked at, including Mayo Clinic and American Red Cross. No good place to report anything about BSA literature, but i tried.

 

i think the old basic FA session in SM T-F training said not to put advanced cases in warm water due to risk of heart attack.

[jjlash 120]

I would have to look a bit to find the reference but I recall the same advice from current FA instructor materials.  Here is part of what the current BSA page on it says: https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/safety-moments/hypothermia/

• If the victim is conscious and able to swallow, offer warm liquids to drink. DO NOT give alcoholic drinks.
• Apply warm, dry compresses to the neck, chest, and groin areas. DO NOT apply heat to the arms or legs, as this speeds cold blood back to the heart, lungs, and brain, causing the core temperature to drop even more. This can be fatal.

 

[Eagledad 2777]

While working my way through Engineering in the 70's, I worked as an aircraft mechanic using FAA Manuals that were written for the general aircraft built in the 40's. 

Large organizations are always lagging in updates to current knowledge. I remember as a scout being terrified of getting a snake bite; not because of the poison, but because of the BSA procedure to cut a slit in the bitten area for someone to suck the poison (and blood) out of the wound. The procedure has been updated since then. Thank goodness for the internet. 

Barry 

[TAHAWK 1420]

Barry, I too worked for a large organization.  ATT had 1,000,000+ employees in all its subsidiaries when I joined.  Not nimble.

But this is a regression from twenty and more years ago.

The incompetence problem rears its ugly head once more.

 

[mrkstvns 486]

4 hours ago, Eagledad said:

Thank goodness for the internet. 

Sometimes....

Often though, you need to take information found on the internet with a very large shipment of salt....fake information is far more easily spread than it was in the old days when we had paper publications with real editors who would do real fact checking...

Progress is not always progress.

[Jameson76 1481]

I also recall that bath / warm water thing was not the recommended treatment.  Gradually warm up, the dry heat on the core, warm drinks, etc.  We had some, while not hypothermic, but honestly just on the fringe one time.  It was like 0 degrees, in the southeast US mountains, and we from the deep south are not geared for such foolishness, we idled the bus, got the heater going full bore, and made a warming room.  The warm drinks did the best honestly.

Also if you have a dead tauntaun nearby, and your lightsaber handy, you can cut it open and put the patient inside.  Granted you would need to be on a frozen planet for that to really work well, but it is an option

[mrkstvns 486]

1 hour ago, Jameson76 said:

Also if you have a dead tauntaun nearby, and your lightsaber handy, you can cut it open and put the patient inside.  Granted you would need to be on a frozen planet for that to really work well, but it is an option

But what about the SMELL?!?!