First Aid for Motorcycle Accidents

Motorcycle accident often happens on the highway. Many fatalities should be prevented if emergency assistance is provided at the scene as soon as possible. By knowing how to first aid, you can help the victim on the spot. As a layman, you might not know how to give help to accident victims. But you can learn it. So, any time you see an accident or someone close to you, you are ready to provide help. The first thing to do is always prepare a first aid kit in the trunk or in the seat of your vehicle. Make sure that there are bandages, tape, disposable gloves, alcohol-free cleaning wipes, scissors, tweezers, antiseptic creams, pain relievers, cough medicines, antihistamine tablets, wound-washing liquids and clean plastic bags. After that, you have to understand what happened to someone who had an accident. Especially in this case the victim of a motorcycle accident, it is possible to experience a number of things, such as bleeding, burns, broken bones, shock, sprains, or fainting. The following are ways to overcome them.

If the victim experiences bleeding

• The thing that often happens when an accident is bleeding. If you see a part of the victim's body that is bleeding, especially if the bleeding is severe, try to stop the bleeding immediately so that the victim does not bleed.
• Before handling bleeding skin, use disposable gloves, if available, to minimize transmission of infectious diseases.
• You can stop it by pressing the injured area. Use cotton or bandages if available. Then press the wound until the bleeding stops. If the blood still penetrates through the bandage, coat it again with cotton or bandage and press until the bleeding stops. Don't open the bandages early, just check regularly to check if the blood has stopped pouring.
• Sometimes there are objects stuck in the injured area. If you encounter a case like this, never try to issue or press it, but leave it to the medical team. As a first aid kit, you can press the left and right sides of the area where the object is tucked, then place the gauze or clean cloth around the wound as a barrier so that the object stuck is not moving. After that, dressing with bandages.
• If there is a broken limb, such as a finger, wrap the finger in a plastic bag or plastic wrap. After that, make sure that the severed limbs are taken along with the victim to the hospital.
• Always seek medical help for victims who are bleeding, except for minor bleeding.

If the victim has a burn

• Burns experienced by motorcycle accident victims can be caused by skin coming into contact with hot exhausts. To deal with burns, you must immediately cool the wound with cold running water, but not ice water, for 20 minutes or until the pain disappears. If cold water isn't available, you can use other cold drinks. Do not apply cream, ointment or oil to the wound. This action should be done immediately after the incident or within 20 minutes after the incident.
• Next, you can loosely wrap the burn with plastic wrap, or clean, translucent plastic for hand burns.
• While the cooling process is done, you can warm the victim's body with a jacket or anything that can prevent the victim from cold or hypothermia. However, avoid areas that are affected by burns.
• After doing this first aid, you can take the victim to the nearest hospital for further treatment.

If the victim experiences a sprain

Someone will experience a sprain when ligament fibers are torn. In fact, the role of ligaments in the body is very important, namely as an elastic band that connects the bones and to hold the joints to stay in place. Victims of a motorcycle accident may experience a sprain, for example at the ankle. Generally, the sprained body parts will feel pain and swelling. You can give first aid to a sprain, by:

• Resting sprained limbs.
• After that, compress with ice water to reduce swelling. If you only use ice cubes, make sure not to compress it too long because it can damage skin tissue.
• Lift the injured part higher than the position of the heart to reduce swelling.

If the victim has a broken bone

Knowing whether the victim has a broken bone or not is not an easy matter. However, if you see the victim feel pain in her limbs and cannot move it, you can treat the injury as a condition of a broken bone. Here's how to give first aid to a broken bone:

• Do not move the injured part. For vertebral fractures, do not move the victim and it is advisable to immediately contact the medical team to handle it.
• In this condition, do not give any food or drink to victims who have broken bones. It's likely they will be given drugs when they reach the hospital.

If the victim experiences shock

Shock here is not the same as being shocked, although this can happen if someone has an accident. In medical terms, shock occurs due to disruption of the circulatory system, for example due to severe bleeding. This can reduce the supply of oxygen to the body's vital organs, such as the brain. Shock can be life threatening if not handled properly. Therefore, it is important to know the signs of a person experiencing shock, which is sweating, the skin turns pale and feels cold, fatigue, dizziness, feeling thirsty, the possibility of the victim will vomit, breathing becomes faster or panting. If these signs are experienced by the victim, contact the medical team immediately. While waiting for the arrival of the medical team, you can lay the victim down if possible and lift the legs. You can also warm the victim's body with a jacket so he feels more comfortable. When faced with this condition, avoid giving him any food or drink.

If the victim passes out

Impaired blood circulation, apparently can also make the victim faint. That was caused due to lack of blood supply to the brain. First aid for a faint accident victim is:

• By laying it on a flat surface. Raise your feet as high as the position of your heart. After that, unbutton the collar or loosen the belt.
• If after one minute he regains consciousness, do not immediately tell him to sit or stand to avoid fainting again. But if in that time frame he hasn't come to his senses, immediately contact the medical team.
• You can immediately check the respiratory system is still working or not. If you do not feel breathing or chest movement, you can provide artificial breathing or CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

Helping people is a noble deed. So it doesn't hurt to learn how to give first aid to an accident. Remember, no matter how small your help can be very meaningful for those who need it.