Medical Preparedness For The Trail & Life: Brian McLaughlin Intervie
Over the last few years I’ve had my eyes opened to the importance of medical training in case of an emergency. Most of us are never exposed to the realities of incurring a serious injury on the trail and few are really prepared to do anything if something happens. It doesn’t take much for a ride to go from fun and casual to a potential life and death situation. And even if it isn’t a life and death situation right away, a few bad breaks and things can go from bad to worse pretty quickly as well. The reason I bring this topic up isn’t to scare riders away from riding but to empower them to be the hero if they are called on. Nothing sucks worse than standing there while someone needs help and you don’t know what to do. The funny thing is, though, that it doesn’t take much for you to better prepare yourself. We’re not trying to become EMT’s or emergency room doctors, we’re just trying to stabilize the situation long enough for the real help to get there. One of the best resources I’ve found to help me become better prepared for a medical emergency is the company Mountain Man Medical. They have a great free online course that they offer and they have the best prices on quality medical gear. Brian McLaughlin is the Director of Medical Training at Mountain Man Medical and a former Corpsman (medic for the Marines) who brings a lot of experience and insights into this area for us. I’ve had Brian on the podcast before and I wanted to bring him back to talk about the Sweetwater Trauma Kit that they sell on www.mountainmanmedical.com, which is what he recommends starting with if you don’t have a trauma kit yet. We talk about each of the items in the kit and why they are important, review the MARCH checklist that you want to use if you encounter a medical emergency and we even cover what to do with a snakebite. BTW, if you are going to invest in some medical equipment then be sure to use the coupon code BIKEJAMES at checkout to save 10%. Don’t leave your safety in the hands of someone else - you are your own best First Responder if something goes wrong. If every rider who reads this will invest just a little time and money in being better prepared then we’d all be better off. Until next time… Ride Strong, James Wilson MTB Strength Training Systems