It is estimated that about 160,000 people die every year in accidents that occur in the home. Add to that the travails of everyday life including cars (36,000), bikes (750), and other physical activities (?). Those numbers are just the fatalities. What about the number of injuries? Would your younger child know what to do in the event a family member suffered a serious injury? How about an older child? How about you?
This is why we all need a "Roddy" in our lives. Roddy is a colleague and friend. He too is a former CIA operations officer, and retired from the Air Force Reserve as a medical professional. He has served in various "shit holes" throughout the world and brought his skills to bear on many an occasion. Add to that, he has broken just about every bone in his body at least once and has biceps a 20 year-old body builder (and a few friends) would be envious of. But perhaps most importantly, he can explain complex medical concepts in a manner that everyone can understand.
And so, we got together to make some first aid videos. While our target audience was children between the ages of 6-14, there is something in these videos for every age. While I've had the good fortune of taking various medical training courses throughout my career, I always benefit from Roddy's wisdom. So if you don't have a Roddy in you life, wait no longer because you can see him here.
We made these videos in my home and my three kids, aged 6, 9, and 12 were out test subjects. While the videography is amaturish, the content is not and we were caught on the horns of a dilemma on what to cut. The children had a lot of good questions and so we decided that if they had those questions, your children might as well. So the videos are longer than we originally intended. "Stop the Bleed!" is the first. Because it is long, we would suggest watching in chunks and trying out what you see on the video. We would most certainly welcome any feedback/comments. Did you kids like the videos? Did it keep them engaged?
When you practice, it would be ideal if you had some gauze and an ace wrap. A CAT tourniquet is icing on the cake. If you don't have any at home, I would highly recommend buying a few on line. I keep them in my cars, range bag, and med kits throughout the home. One of our future videos will include putting together medical kits and we are toying with the idea of maybe putting one together for sale. The drug store variety are insufficient and the tactical ones are solely focused on tactical environments and still a bit expensive. We would like to get one that is practical for kids/teens/civilian adults.
In any event, let me introduce you and your children to Roddy...