No helmet removal

I spoke with a customer that has a sticker on his helmet. it states Do Not Remove helmet. Mainly for the emt's that find you crashed on the side of the road.

The point is that an emt will not knowingly be able to remove the helmet without injuring your neck, whereas a MD would be able to remove it without hurting ur neck.

Would you wear a sticker of this type?

 

Not me. One of my brothers in law had an accident many years ago. A nurse happened to be passing by and attended; with help from others they removed his helmet. The surgeon at the hospital said that if the helmet had not been removed he would have suffered badly from head swelling pressure and subsequent damage to the brain. I guess it would depend on the injury, but I would prefer that first aiders would use their judgement at the scene and not be distracted by a message that may or may not be relevant in the situation given situation. :smile:

 

Hmm, that makes alot of sense.

 

Spoke with my wife. studying PA.

your skull is fused by age 20-25. bones do not swell. therefore if if there is swelling, it is with the brain, having a helmet would have no effect.

This is the reason surgons will drill holes in the skill when there is swelling of the brain.

 

EMTs are trained not to remove the helmet. I should know, I am an EMT and firefighter and have responded to motorcycle accidents. Every class I have ever taken taught not to remove helmets from motorcyclists, football players, etc...

 

but what if the emt's here in kalamazoo are not taught the same thing? Is the sticker still worth wearing?

 

The helmet thing is talked about in all the EMT classes. It is common enough. There are protocols and such to follow in cases where helmets are involved.
I have removed them on calls and I have also taped them to back boards on calls. All depends on the call.

 

but what if i crash in some small town, i drive through small towns alot. will they follow the same protocol?

 

ive got a little pouch that says that with my personal information inside of it on my helmet.

my coworker has a story about a crash he pulled up to one day. after the crash the rider stood up and appeared to be fine, took off his helmet then died right there, his helmet was basically holding his skull together.

 

The first thing they should do is check to see if you're awake. Protecting your airway is always number one. If you need help breathing the helmet comes off no matter what.
If you are awake they should ask if there is any head, neck, or back pain, any numbness or tingling in your limbs. If the answer is NO to all of the above, it should be ok to remove the helmet. If the answer is yes to any of the above it would be safe to just tape the helmet to the back board with your head still in it.

 

Thanks for all the info. Good to know.

 

I'm with Drewl on this one..... I have seen helmet removal at an accident scene, the victim was wearing the CHP helmet and when the life flight arrived we removed his helmet in a way that A) the paramedic was taught and because I was stabilizing his head and neck he described what he was going to do and I helped..... I also have seen and been the recipiant of the lash the head to the backboard helmet and all and remove at the hospital thing as well... Look at pro football, they remove the face mask from the helmet and tape the shit out of the rest so it doesn't move......

AS to your question GoForARide......Don't know ...... Hopefully the paramedics in the "podunck" areas you and everyone out here are learned up on the latest tecniques on accident trauma. (keep your fingers crossed)

Crusty

 

I too am also with drewl. Im an EMT-B and have been taught the same as what drewl has already mention. The short answer to your question is yes, because the EMT thru Paramedic's are taught to a National standard.

 

I have " In case of accident do not remove this helmet " sticker on 2 out of three helmets. You never know.

 

It also helps to know where NOT to crash. I would not let some EMS personnel work on my dog.(and I don't have a dog)



So the moral of the story is: ride safe and take your seizure medicine.

 

If you remove your helmet and then use it to hit someone over the head with it, and the EMTs arrive and see that you have knocked someone unconscious, will they ask you why you did it? Or will they just assume that you did it for a damn good reason and just cart the guy off to the hospital? Or will they continue to tell you things that are common knowledge?

 

I think the sticker is more for a "good samaritan" who thinks they are helping you and potentially could hurt you. A trained medical person is going to react to the situation at hand and review your injuries.

 

I have it on my old helmet. It was handed out at a Washington MSA class. It says to not remove the helmet until reviewed by a doctor or EMT. It is intended for the good samaritan. Anyone know where I can get another?

Flip

 

....and if you are in the middle of nowhere, not breathing, with no EMT's....you still want someone to leave your helmet on? You could scare some folks off would could give you CPR.

How about "do not remove helmet if breathing"

 

I think the point of the sticker is to keep untrained people from messing you up. Much of the general population doesn't understand spinal cord injuries and how easy it is to cause damage. But, someone who has been trained to perform CPR has already received basic first aid training. They should be qualified to make the call in your example.

If you are so unlucky as to have a trained person that isn't smart enough to realize that "not breathing" has a greater risk to life than removing the helmet, it must have been your time to go. On the flip side :wink: the chances that some idiot would pull the helmet off because he thinks it would make you feel more comfortable is more likely to happen.

Flip