Jake Sullivan - Earth Train Panama
Week 2

Earth Train Medicine Man

As our second week in Panama draws to a close, I find myself in a tightly knit society. Although our days have been filled with rock-hauling and trail building, we have been able to lay down some foundation to the program other than rocks. In our community, we have all been given jobs. Caitlin and Grayson are the librarians, Chris is doing the mapping, and I am in charge of medicine. It is my job to know what to do when something wrong happens. At first I only chose the job because all the other ones were gone, but after a few days of reading in the books about attacks and accidents, I became fascinated. I learned how to apply a tourniquet if someone is bleed badly, how to apply a splint if someone breaks his or her leg, and how to treat a poisonous snake wound. At first, I thought nobody would get bit by a poisonous snake and that I should spend more time worrying about what to do if someone broke their leg or rolled their ankle. Then later that same day when we were coming back from working, we saw a long black snake slither across the trail. I froze up. Raul who was frozen next to me, whispered, “Es muy veninouso” in English, “ It is very posionous.” After I got over the shock, I  realized that a snake bite was more possible than I thought. After dinner and a recount of the story, I went back to my book, The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook,  and reread the section on what to do if you are bitten by a poisonous snake it said this;

Things To Do

1. Wash out the bite with soap and water as soon as you can.
2. Immobilize the bitten area and keep it lower than the heart. This will slow down the flow of venom.
3. Get medical help as soon as possible. Unless you are sure the bite is non-venomous it is always good to treat a wound.
4. Immediately wrap a bandage 2 to 4 inches above the wound to slow down the flow of venom. This bandage should not cut of the blood flow so make sure a finger can fit under the bandage.
5. If a first aid kit is available use the suction device to suck out the venom.

Things Not To Do

1. Do not place ice or any cooling device on it; this will cause suction to be very difficult.
2. Do not tie a bandage or tourniquet too tightly.
3. Do not make any incisions on the wound to try and remove the venom do to possibility of infection.
4. Do not attempt to suck out venom. You do not want it in your mouth, where it might enter your bloodstream.