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​Outdoor Safety
The more you know, the safer you are.

DIY Stretchers to Carry an Injured Person Out of the Wilderness

8/14/2017

4 Comments

 


One of the most challenging aspects of wilderness medicine is patient transportation. Terrain, lack of personnel, minimal equipment, weather, safety concerns, and patient condition are all factors that can complicate extraction out of the wilderness to definitive care. If a helicopter or other mechanical transportation is not available, extraction times can extend into many hours, even days. But creativity and awareness can carry a long way. 

First and foremost, self evacuation and the best kind of evacuation. It is preferable if a person can evacuate themselves under their own will power safely and without causing further harm to themselves. This avoids unnecessary risk and resource deployment involved with larger evacuation operations.

Transportation in an austere environment becomes increasingly difficult when a patient can not walk, and even more challenging when full spinal immobilization is needed. Professional rescue teams often use a variety of specially designed litters to carrying a patient over terrain obstacles. Terrain obstacles might include steep cliff faces, boulder fields, cervasses, narrow canyons, and bodies of water.

Do you know how to move someone with a neck or back injury? Learn how here. 

Improvised stretchers can be difficult to make without prior knowledge or practice, but it is not impossible. A rope litter is a great example of an improvised stretcher and there are several different methods of tying one. Other improvised sketchers are possible, but again, practice beforehand is key. Here are four examples for you to test out at home:​

The Rope Stretcher 

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1. Find the middle of the rope. Lay down a zig-zag pattern that is 1 foot wider and 1 foot longer than your patient’s width and height.

2. Attach the rope ends along the each loop using clove hitches.


3. Thread any remaining rope through the loops. Poles or branches may be threaded through the loops for extra stability.

Find out how to stop a bleed in the wilderness with these simple but life saving techniques

The Tarp Stretcher 

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1. Lay tarp flat. Place a pole or branch at the ⅓ position.
2. Fold this ⅓ section over the pole. Place the other pole on top.
3. Fold the remaining ⅓ over this pole. The weight of your patient should hold the tarp into place

The Jacket Stretcher 

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1. Fully zip and invert the sleeves of at least two jackets (more may be used).
2. Thread poles of branches through the sleeves.
​3. For added stability, reinforce the stretcher with cross support.

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The Duct Tape Stretcher

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1. With two poles or branches, make four horizontal duct tape straps. The sticky side of the tape should be stuck together for stronger straps.
2. Create one long tape strap down the middle.
3. Create diagonal straps between each horizontal strap.

The Base Medical team decided to test and review some these popular improvised stretchers. They evaluated the time, resources, and technique it took to make these stretchers. Find the video of this test here below. We were very surprised! 
4 Comments
http://www.russhessay.com/ link
10/19/2017 04:57:32 am

I'm always reading about the first aid because nowadays there's a lot of uncertainties happening. Aside from prayers, basic knowledge in first aid could save lives. I admit that my education is not that high but I always read more information that could benefit me as well as my family. If I have a power, I would like the ability of being a very fast reader. We all know that knowledge is power.

Reply
Evac chair link
7/11/2018 01:17:45 am

People like using evac chairs to carry disabled people from one place to another, so I bought one instead of relying on stretchers.

Reply
wheelchair24 link
6/25/2019 03:22:34 am

This is an informative post. Got a lot of info and details from here. Thank you for sharing this and looking forward to reading more of your post.

<a href="https://www.wheelchair24.com/285/FS-Premium-Imported-Stretcher-Foldable" data-href="https://www.wheelchair24.com/285/FS-Premium-Imported-Stretcher-Foldable" title="Portable Folding Stretchers">Portable Folding Stretchers</a>

Reply
Ben H
1/9/2020 09:42:19 am

It takes a long time to tie a litter with a rope like the example here. There's a much faster and easier way shown here: https://awls.org/wilderness-survival-tips/make-a-rope-litter/

Reply



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