Prepper FAIL!

[4suchatimeasthis]

I am heartily ashamed of myself right now, but hopefully my mistake can encourage some of you to be better prepared.

This evening was taking my girls to meet their dad, for his visitation, and we came upon a horrible accident. Hydroplane city, with the fresh sprinkle of rain on the interstate, and a holiday weekend, people headed out of Nashville, end of week traffic, it was the perfect storm of car accidents. Probably 5-6 cars (one was a truck pulling a uhaul trailer) at different stages of fender-bender land, and two more banged up beyond that. And one horribly wrapped around a tree. The SUV was completely mangled, with about 8 adult men trying to wrench open doors and pull people out. Someone was helping a woman who was in the ditch, holding a small child with a large bandage to its head. Many people were stopping and pulling over, rushing to help.

Naturally I pulled over and popped the trunk, with a FF/EMT husband I have a very respectable trauma/first aid kit, in a good sized Rubbermaid container. My theory on this is that even if there is a bunch of stuff in there that I personally am not qualified to use (though my hubby could, being a first responder, FF, former medic, etc), there is always the chance that a dr, nurse, or off-duty ems professional will stop, and I'd rather have the stuff than not. To my horror, I opened the trunk to find.....it was EMPTY! His fire bag was in there, with his fire gear, but the kit was GONE.

Yesterday he had cleaned out the car, the trunk, did a full detailing of the inside and out, the trunk, the works. I guess all those animal crackers under the booster seats finally got to him. Today he took "Sherman" to work (the Suburban that's older than I am) so I could take the car and the kids. Well, somehow, the first aid stuff never made its way back into the car. I knew not everything had made it back in, because I had to put the carseat base back in there before we left. It never occurred to me to check the trunk...

Of course I called him and asked where the HELL the kit was, ya know, my own special way of making a bad situation worse. Oy. I just felt so HELPLESS, and felt like such a complete IDIOT for not being prepared. I know better, dammit!

I was only pulled over less than two minutes and heard the sirens, so we got out of the way. As I continued to my destination, several more EMS vehicles went flying that way. I said a prayer, and told my girls that whenever you see the ambulances go by, you are supposed to say a prayer for them and whoever they are "rescuing".

So....there you have it folks! I hope you all have at the very least a basic first aid kit in your vehicle. Doesn't have to be fancy, anything is better than an nothing. Might not be a bad Christmas gift idea for friends and family, also, to have a half way decent first aid kit for their vehicles. You never know when you will need it, and not have it!

[Evolver]

I am heartily ashamed of myself right now, but hopefully my mistake can encourage some of you to be better prepared.


Naturally I pulled over and popped the trunk, with a FF/EMT husband I have a very respectable trauma/first aid kit, in a good sized Rubbermaid container. My theory on this is that even if there is a bunch of stuff in there that I personally am not qualified to use (though my hubby could, being a first responder, FF, former medic, etc), there is always the chance that a dr, nurse, or off-duty ems professional will stop, and I'd rather have the stuff than not.


This statement should get the Statement of the Month Award. High five on your thinking girl!!! We buy all types of Doctor gidgets and gadgets stuff to have on hand even though we aren't qualified to use the stuff just for the above^^^ reasoning.

[Sniper-T]

even in the worst situation, if you are completely unpreppared, you can still help by comforting someone, talking to someone, or just helping direct traffic.

Yep hubby did a baddy, he cleaned your car for you... but if it is your ride, shouldn't you be responsible to check it over and be 'complete'? My wife hit the ditch last winter, stalled and sat shivering for 45 minutes until I got to her... when I asked where her winter kit was, she said she took it out a few weeks ago to put her bike in. Vehicles are one thing that I have found work the best when worked as a team. I keep trying to streamline her kit so it doesn't EVER have to come out, but it is an uphill battle *sigh*

[4suchatimeasthis]

I agree, Sniper, and I take full responsibility for not having the kit in the car. That's pretty much my point, and I sure don't want to come across as blaming my husband. That man works harder than anyone I know, so that I can stay home with the kids, and if he was kind enough to clean out the car, then I am grateful for not having to do it myself! I should have dbl checked the trunk, no excuses!

Sigh....live and learn, hopefully!

[Twitchy]

I'm sure that was a pretty bad situation... What is truly useful in that situation, if you are qualified, is to establish triage prior to the medics arriving... saves them time and lets them get to working on PT's faster...

Preppers, I HIGHLY suggest you take AT LEAST first responder class... It is relatively affordable, here its only 200 or so dollars... with that training you may well save a life, and if anything its great to have if you live in a rural area...

[mitunnelrat]

I'd call it, at worst, an oversight or human error than a failure of any sort. What I saw in your account is

1. You've assembled physical assets.

2. You know what you can/ cannot do with those assets.

3. You're able react rationally and decisively during the unexpected.
Notice the final two are mental. That's way more crucial than any amount of equipment you can/ do carry.

The injured still received help/ care, learning occurred, and everyone in your vehicle made it home safely. That's more of a win.

[bacpacker]

Totally agree with MIT here. You folks will remember to check your loads after changing things for any reason.

It also serves as a great reminder to all of us to check things out regularly, and always after making changes.

[rentprop1]

My theory on this is that even if there is a bunch of stuff in there that I personally am not qualified to use (though my hubby could, being a first responder, FF, former medic, etc), there is always the chance that a dr, nurse, or off-duty ems professional will stop, and I'd rather have the stuff than not. !

I have said this 100 times on Prepper forums and it usually gets overlooked...good job and quick thinking, even if you didn't get to help out

[LUNCHBOX]

I'm sure that was a pretty bad situation... What is truly useful in that situation, if you are qualified, is to establish triage prior to the medics arriving... saves them time and lets them get to working on PT's faster...

Preppers, I HIGHLY suggest you take AT LEAST first responder class... It is relatively affordable, here its only 200 or so dollars... with that training you may well save a life, and if anything its great to have if you live in a rural area...

I agree completely with Twitchy on this. I was lucky enough to get this course offered to me for free through our dept. Get it if you can.


4suchatimeasthis, don't beat yourself up to much on this...most people wouldn't have even thought to stop. You tried and that is more than most.

[The Stig]

I wonder how many people....

...have a first aid kit in their homes, let alone one for the car?

...would have pulled over to attempt to help?

...would both pray and encourage their children to pray for those in need?

....would care enough about a stranger to be upset that you couldn't help out?

....would be introspective about their own shortcomings and instead dump the entire blame on their spouse?

....would be willing to share the "lessons learned" with strangers on an internet forum?

I'm not sure where I see the "fail" in all this.

[apssbc]

While I can't say much more than anyone else has said. You did what you could with what you had. You learned a lesson from it, take that lesson and improve on what you've been doing.

You one step ahead of most people by just stopping. You have no idea how many calls we get where people are passerbys who refuse to stop to assist. Many people refuse to do CPR when they call 911. It's redicilous, so like I said stopping puts you ahead of the curve.

[mitunnelrat]

I wonder how many people....

...have a first aid kit in their homes, let alone one for the car?

...would have pulled over to attempt to help?

...would both pray and encourage their children to pray for those in need?

....would care enough about a stranger to be upset that you couldn't help out?

....would be introspective about their own shortcomings and instead dump the entire blame on their spouse?

....would be willing to share the "lessons learned" with strangers on an internet forum?

I'm not sure where I see the "fail" in all this.

I wondered the same things beyond what I already said too, but kept writing a book trying to say it all. Good points, Stig.

[Gunfixr]

I don't see much fail here either.
Granted, the kit was missing, and you didn't know it. However, you found this out at a time when YOU or YOURS didn't actually need it. Also, it looks like the ones you were looking to help weren't going to have to rely on it either, so it turns out ok.

You had the kit.
You kept the kit in the car.
You stopped to help and make use of the kit.

You are so far ahead of most.

Not quite two years ago, I stopped at an accident where there was a body laying in the road. He had been crossing perhaps the largest thoroughfare in town in his wheelchair, and had been hit by a car, whereupon the driver simply kept going.
In court, almost a year later, the video from the bank in front of which this happened showed that 30 cars drove right on by during the course of five minutes before I stopped.
30 people drove right on by a man laying in a traffic lane of the road, and didn't think to stop, or even make a phone call.
The man was dead when emts showed up about 5 minutes after I arrived. It is unknown whether he might have been saved had someone earlier stopped.

BTW, the driver got away with it.

We have a small kit in each car, a good light, and a small hatchet. I also have water in mine, rotated every six months.

[prepguide]

earlier this year was coming back from Texas and came across a serious one car accident. Pulled over and grabbed by work gloves, got my kit from the storage box and rushed over. Saw that the patient was trapped so with some others was going to get started on extrication and realized that the pair of work gloves I had grabbed and put in the truck were both left gloves! Not so helpful...

Turns out the patient who was a pretty, nurse in her late twenties or so died on scene. It hit me pretty hard on the rest of the drive home. First time in a long while I had worked a fatality. You let yourself forget what that feels like and last two hours of the trip home were pretty somber. There was a few lessons in that incident for me.

Mental preps - dealing with the loss of someone. As soon as I got to the vehicle I did an assessment and took vitals. She was in a bad way already. It wasn't possible to remove her due to the extensive damage to the vehicle. I talked to her and let her know she wasn't alone. I hope she heard me.
Physical preps - grab the correct equipment. Not having the full set of gloves left me at a disadvantage but not helpless.
Medical preps - in working on her I got blood on my arms from her despite wearing vinyl gloves. It was after EMS arrived and went to clean up that I realized I had no means to clean myself off despite my kit being quite extensive. I chided by self for that and have since corrected that situation!

We do what we can