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10

You could do a lot worse than strip them and get in a sleeping bag with them, and indeed this used to be instructed as standard first aid for hypothermia. However, as far as I'm aware this has now changed and the recommended approach is to construct a 1 person thermal burrito / hyper-wrap. It's done as follows (content taken from the alpine institute blog!) ...


10

I am not a doctor, so I can only repeat what I think I understood from lectures by those that do have medical training. I'm pretty sure I remember Dr Murray Hamlett (I highly recommend attending one of his lectures, if he's still doing them. He is not only a leader and pioneer in cold weather medicine, but also a very good and engaging speaker.) saying to ...


8

First, this answer is not a substitute for proper training. I recommend taking a class in Wilderness First Aid or higher to be better prepared for things like treating hypothermic people. Second, hypothermia is a term that tends to have different connotations with different people. Sometimes what people call "hypothermia" is just a very cold individual, or ...


8

Here are the basic signs of Hypothermia Shivering. May start off mildly and go severe General apathy and sudden exhaustion Losing coordination (can't tie a knot, etc) Loss of concentration Sudden irrational behavior Unable to speak correctly (slurred speech, dropping words) Edit per comments Final stages: Shivering can stop and subject can feel too ...


6

When treating mild to medium hypothermia, you should: Stop. Create a heat source, such as a fire and get the patient warm. take wet clothing off. The best way to do this if you don't have other clothes to change into, is to take off your underwear/under layers and dry those first, then when those layers are dry, swap them out. Eat calories, i.e. ...


5

I would take two things into consideration, or rather mention two things that are in consideration: 1: Providing a pleasant, agreeable, and accommodating-as-possible response to someone who is suffering. 2: Doing what will provide the best chances of saving a person's life. American culture at least is squeamish about violating principle #1, enough so ...


4

I would like to add to berry120's answer with my own. I thought of suggesting this as an edit but thought adding an answer was more appropriate. What he said is correct, however I think it is important to mention a few things. If you are treating someone in this fashion, they most likely have severe hypothermia where they are no longer shivering and are ...


4

Admittedly, my first aid training has lapsed - but the last mountain first aid course I took about 5 years ago made a point of matching the speed of onset. For example - if a person has fallen into an icy stream, they will have very rapidly cooled. You need to get their core temperature up, fast - the best way to do this is to strip them down out of their ...



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