Telephonic Advice: This can make the difference between life and death for you or your child. While you wait for the ambulance (or helicopter) what do you do? There is a lot you can do, even if you had no training.
• If the patient's body has been penetrated by a foreign object (knife, metal {in a car accident} glass, wood - do you remove it? Europ Assistance will assist telephonically. It depends on many factors (where is the wound? how big is the object? How deep is the penetration?) If you do not remove it, how do you stop the bleeding? A tourniquet? This can be dangerous, leading to the loss of a limb. It needs to be released from time to time. If you try to stop the bleeding with bandages around the object, this can be dangerous - again, where is the wound? Would your activity cause the foreign object to move, causing more damage to organs?
• If the patient consumed something poisonous (paraffin, tablets, poison, bad food) - do you try to induce vomiting? How do you safely induce vomiting? What bodily reactions can you expect? The Europ Assistance qualified medical practitioner will talk you through it.