DrDom

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Gear

  • Main Canopy Size
    260
  • AAD
    Cypres

Jump Profile

  • Home DZ
    SkyDive New England
  • License
    Student
  • Licensing Organization
    USPA
  • Number of Jumps
    7
  • Tunnel Hours
    1
  • Years in Sport
    1

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  1. I'm 5'10" and 185 and have one you could use if you need until you get one. I have not jumped in a few years (been paragliding my arse off) and I bought it used/cheap so would be good if someone used it. Its an old RW suit so has some oversized grips on it. I used it on my later AFF jumps and a bit in the tunnel. You are not the contents of your wallet.
  2. Asthma: hopefully someone has their inhaler with them. Certainly this should be a "prevention" issue otherwise its keep them calm, keep them comfortable, and get an ambulance. Good news is we have more and more interest over time! Looks like this will be a great showing. if anyone else interested message me! Feel free to share it, we will make it fun! You are not the contents of your wallet.
  3. I did "most" of AFF, after the hanging harness I learned a little about the gear every jump. Little bits. I would agree that it was info overload. As a physician I am used to info overload both in training and my daily life... and it was still a lot. I think the training is a "less is more" approach just like the military uses but if you ask i'm sure the instructors would LOVE to teach! That's what they do. But if not you will learn over time, trust me ... they don't leave you hanging. You are not the contents of your wallet.
  4. I would not put a tampon in. You don't know what is in there or how deep it goes. Plus, if someone is shot at your DZ there are likely bigger scene safety issues. You can use ANYTHING CLEAN (or dirty if that's all you have) to apply direct pressure to bleeding. If you take the class we can go over all this ;) Maybe I'll get the curriculum and share it with anyone who wants to add with it and teach it remotely. We use the term "FOAM", Free Online Access to Medicine. Its kind of like crowdsourcing or open-source education. If I can get enough people around the country interested maybe we can create a database of lectures; or you can just pay me to fly out and teach! ha... in a perfect world, eh? You are not the contents of your wallet.
  5. WOW! Great topics in here. I really appreciate the weigh-in from our RN at the Level I. Tourniquets are... fraught with controversy and both sides are both right and wrong at the same time. Emergency Care in hospital (trauma centers) are going to be different than "austere environments". Some of our paramotor pilots and paragliders will be out VERY rural and maybe hours from care. Our skydivers may land off somewhere though usually a bit closer to home. Different events will be differently managed and I hope that the take-away messages will not be misunderstood. We will be spending a LOT (LOT!) of time on bleeding management. It is forseeable that someone could put an extremity through a spinning prop... controlling bleeding may need to be accomplished thorough tourniquet. In the Army we were able to train combat responders with the proper and improper use of these. I am sure we can easily train this community as well. MOST, and I truly mean MOST, of the time these are unnecessary and some simple pressure is fine. But in shock it may be our only option. I know Pepperill is close to a major trauma hospital, Lebanon (SNE) is further. But both have great EMS. The paramotor pilots could be... well... miles into the woods and may not have radio contact to call for help. Someone may have to land to get help. Knowing how to tourniquet themselves or someone else could save a life. Knowing when NOT to do it will save limbs. It is a tough topic and before the course I'll be sure to pull all the current literature, grab my wilderness medicine text, and talk to a few lawyers as well as trauma specialists other than myself for unbiased opinions... not to mention the instructor is a paramedic supervisor and can talk to regional options and the good Samaritan rules. Trust me, none of this is being taken lightly and ALL opinions will be voiced... on all topics. I encourage everyone to continue the discussion in here! This is brilliant, and often not talked about as much. All I ask is that we provide our opinions and experience like the adults we are. I've seen a few of these tourniquet and first aid discussions go south fast... most recently at a trauma surgeon conference where a riot nearly erupted in the place. We are better than that ;) But this spirited discussion is excellent! You are not the contents of your wallet.
  6. Fortunately there will only be rare use and for most purposes EMS will be "close enough" though we will discuss austere environments as well as things they may want to stock like the CAT tourniquet which EMS and military use with great data behind it. It's hard to screw up as long as we know time placed. You still have a couple hours to lower it if needed... We leave them on in ortho surgical procedures well over an hour at times You are not the contents of your wallet.
  7. Glad to hear there is some decent interest in this! I have been taking a break from skydiving mostly because I started into Powered Paragliding after getting cold feet jumping. I'm not getting OUT of skydiving per se, but I needed some time to get my crap in order (and get my wife more supportive which she strangely has been of jumping... weird...) and get my head on so I could be in the game. One issue in the northeast is the climate, so once my pilot's license is done it will be easy for me to hop over to a warmer area and do a jump or two to keep current (or relatively so). Anachronist is pretty spot on that this will be VERY basic. It will have some do's and dont's, though admittedly a good samaritan CAN put on a tourniquet to stop life threatening bleeding (it is covered in basic first aid courses and is considered "common knowledge", it has also been vetted in the courts but I digress). Realistically, the big things I'm hoping to have are basic injury care, but also a lot of medical "things you may not know about" to help people when they suddenly have their diabetic student start speaking jibberish, or their allergic friend gets sung by a bee. There is a lot of "common sense" that is not well known anymore since medical care is so available. The course will be purely "practical magic" though we can go over lay responder CPR. New guidelines on compression only CPR is very widely accepted and buys time without complexity. Legally, there is VERY little you're liable for as a non licensed responder, which is good. In MA, NH, and ME I know the samaritan laws are broad and covering. They were recently revised because of lay responders (like police) now administering medications like Narcan... Anyhow, yes, there are do's and do not's. But the single most important thing is empowering people with knowledge. Knowing what to expect, what to do or not to do, and knowing when to call for help will help limit the fear and stress of an emergency. A cool head is the single most important tool in an emergency. if people are going just email me at my work address: dmartinello[at]ajh.org this way i can get a running tally and see if I can find a way to get us fed, coffee'd, and watered! You are not the contents of your wallet.
  8. Greetings all! Some of you may know me on here and others will not. Been a while since I've jumped (for many reasons) though I've been doing a lot of paragliding and paramotoring since. I was approached by a couple Paramotor/PG pilots recently to get some first aid information. It was going to be a small class and I managed to recruit a Paramedic instructor (with a ton of field experience) to help me put together a very basic first aid course specific to skydiving and paragliding. It will be an "all welcome" type event if anyone wants to join. I have already reached out to Skydive Pepperill and Skydive New England to see if they are interested. We will be covering everything from common medical issues you may see at your DZ/LZ, like basic diabetic emergencies, allergies and anaphylaxis, heart attacks, strokes, asthma, and more. We will then be doing a large bit on trauma related conditions including falls, hard landings, burns, blunt accident trauma, prop strikes, tree rescue injuries, basic bleeding and fracture care, head injuries, etc etc etc. It will be interactive, we will have a lot of hands on practice, and hopefully teach you a lot of stuff you will hopefully never need to use. If you are interested please PM me on here and I'll add you to the list. It will start at 10am since I'm not a morning person ;) If there are topics people are interested in, let me know. I'm working on the POSSIBILITY of getting lunch catered... no promises yet. If anyone wants to fly to the place please let me know as Plum Island Airport is nearby! --DrDom ps- there is no merit badge or certificate for this, its just an informational course. Yes, we will go out drinking afterward. That is optional, though encouraged! You are not the contents of your wallet.
  9. Well, I had the weird experience of doing 6 AFF jumps, each one a decent success (tracking was atrocious, but I digress). I lost most of my fear on jump 6 when I got up, got out... and then the season ended and now 2 years I just lost my nerve again. I feel like if I went back I'd be the same as when I did level 1. But the desire is strong and a person much wiser than I am reminds me regularly that being afraid is good, but having courage means working through that fear. Advice? Never stop once you start. Travel if you have to. Make friends, encourage safety, live life to its fullest. Remember that the reason this happens is psychology. You have fear. You think of the fear. You think of the bad things that can happen. When you're jumping you think of the bad things that happen but ALSO the things that DID NOT happen on your recent jump. So... I wont say "suck it up" because... well... I haven't yet... but I will say that universally it gets better. You are not the contents of your wallet.
  10. I know we have some instructors on here and was curious; I did my AFF and my landings were sheit unless I was on radio. I went over to paragliding and we did a lot of tow training first so went up and land, up and land, up and land. Over and over. Now Landings look pretty good. Is anyone tow-training in skydiving? I'm not sure the more inefficient glide canopies will launch but curious if anyone ever went that route? Paragliding fixed my fear of landing, but not my fear of exiting the plane ;) You are not the contents of your wallet.
  11. the OP mentioned this and I was curious as well but they are in the UK... anyone know what is required in the US? You are not the contents of your wallet.
  12. Shhhhhh... I haven't finished my popcorn yet. just getting mine who put out the troll food for this post? If you hate the sport, why join the message board... just get your A and bail. Its fine. NObody will care. Seriously. I love the thought of flying my body, even more flying my canopy. If freefall isn't cool then do some H&Ps and learn the awesome that canopy flight is. I dunno... I guess I can see some people not "getting it", but if you don't like it... joining to tell everyone... maybe I just don't understand people. You are not the contents of your wallet.
  13. Aside from wrecking a suit I tore up my hand last time on a slide. But I see where you are getting at... slides are good IF the ground is flat and slick. If its rocky you could end up with a serious issue. You are not the contents of your wallet.
  14. My parachute landings are atrocious. PLF is the only reason I walked away. For whatever reason I can land a paraglider fine... but learning to PLF is a super important skill. I think it is on par with learning to land the parachute properly more tools, more safe. You are not the contents of your wallet.
  15. Step 1) get a thorough physical. Make sure all your ducks are in their proper order. Talk to your doc about skydiving and instead of asking to be cleared ask if there are any concerns he/she has about your health Step 2) Go to altitude, make sure it is not an issue. I recommend a light aircraft like a C182, find a pilot, take a lesson or just ask to take you up for a while. Spent 20-30 minutes at 10k or even get up to 12.5k or so. Just under the oxygen required FL. then see how you feel. Make sure it is not an altitude issue. There are some very uncommon haemoglobin issues that mess with oxygen binding. Would not be found on regular blood work and are exceptionally rare. THEN, ask yourself if you are hyperventilating. Hyperventilation makes you alkalotic (you offload your acid, CO2, and become "basic" and can lose consciousness between this and the calcium shifting) and you can pass out. You have to be able to control your breathing and heart rate. If you can't be calm then medically you can probably skydive, MENTALLY you may not. Things happen fast at 120mph, you need to be calm and "in the game". It is unlikely anything medical will stop you, but psychologically there is always the risk. If you panic and black out, there is nobody to save you but you. So ponder that, I'm not a PCP, just a country ER Doc, but I think you need to be really cautious when considering only the medical side. There is much more to safety in this sport. You are not the contents of your wallet.