You're in the Appalachian wilderness. It's early winter and you've been hiking since day break. You took a wrong turn somewhere and wasted half a day going in circles. Now you're finally back on track, but the car is still three hours away and night is falling. "That's OK, you tell yourself, we'll make it back by moonlight and flashlight, no big deal." And that's when your friend collapses.
He was complaining earlier about the hike being too long, about the day being too cold, about pretty much everything, but he had fallen silent lately until he staggered a few drunken steps and fell unconscious. Now it's cold, the sun is setting, you're a long way from the car and to make matters worse, most hikers have long since left the trail and it's unlikely that you'll bump into help now. What do you do?
Stormy indeed
You grab his hands and they are cold to the touch. Someone says he must be hypothermic. You put a blanket over him and send someone else to start a fire. You try to remember if it's safe to give hot liquids to a hypothermia victim. "Better not risk it…" You tell yourself that if you can just warm him up, and keep him warm, he will be able to make the walk back. But little do you know, you're treating the wrong condition.
You're friend is hypoglycemic, and badly needs to raise his blood sugar level. He also hit his head falling down, but nobody thought of checking to see if he's injured. He needs sugar water and, eventually, a meal. The blanket would protect him from the cold except that his body is lying on the frozen ground, which will slowly suck away all his heat. And he needs to be checked for head trauma.
This situation is unlikely to end with a fatality, but the severity and discomfort of the situation could have been greatly reduced by the simple application of wilderness first aid knowhow.
So what is wilderness first aid? The term “wilderness” can be slightly misleading
Read more about Wilderness First Aid
