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A KAYAKING fisherman has caught the dramatic moment he came inches from a large great white shark, slapping the water with his paddle to scare the stalker away.

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IT’S the one of the worst hay fever seasons we’ve seen in decades…but a runny nose and itchy eyes may be the least of your worries.

A constant, chesty cough along with wheezing can be a sign of deadly seasonal asthma and the “very high” pollen counts we have seen over the last few weeks may be to blame.

Seasonal asthma refers to people who only experience asthma symptoms at certain times of the year.

The condition is no different from normal asthma – the symptoms are still the same and it’s potentially deadly if not treated properly.

You may experience tightness of the chest, wheezing, shortness of breath, difficulty sleeping because you can’t breathe and, you guessed it, constant coughing.

It can be easy to dismiss these symptoms as hay fever, but if you are taking antihistamines and they don’t seem to be working you should see a GP to be on the safe side.

If seasonal asthma is left untreated it could trigger a potentially deadly asthma attack – when the muscles in the airways constrict and cut off your breathing.

Sonia Munde of Asthma UK told The Sun Online: “Asthma is a long-term condition, but some people have ‘seasonal asthma’.

“This is when their symptoms are only triggered by things that are only around at certain times of year, such as pollen.

“As pollen levels are sky-high at the moment, people who find pollen triggers their asthma – including those with seasonal asthma – may be suffering at the moment.

“An estimated 3.3 million people in the UK who have asthma say their pollen allergy triggers their asthma, so they face a double whammy of symptoms.

“As well as having to deal with classic hay fever symptoms such as itchy eyes, sneezing and a blocked or runny nose, they’re also at risk of a life-threatening asthma attack.”

Grass pollen is currently at an all-time high in the UK, with more than half the country predicted to be hit by the highest pollen rating possible on Sunday.

The long winter and recent rain followed by warmer weather is the “worst case scenario” for sufferers, making pollen more prevalent, experts have warned.

Pollen counts have remained “very high” in most of the UK for weeks.

So, what can you do to protect yourself if you suffer from hay fever and seasonal asthma?

It’s important to know the symptoms and carry an inhaler at all times.

“People who have asthma and a pollen allergy should take hay fever medicines, such as antihistamines and nasal steroid sprays, and make sure they take their preventer inhaler as prescribed for the best chance of staying well,” Sonia added.

“On high pollen days it may be helpful for people with asthma to change outfit and have a shower when they get home, as pollen can stick to your body and clothes.

“We also advise that people try to keep doors and windows closed when they are inside, and carry their blue reliever inhaler at all times in case of emergencies.

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There are some skills you hope you never need to use, but having them could be a matter of life and death: welcome to bleeding control.

BleedingControl.org, an group begun by the American College of Surgeons, has successfully campaigned for a national Stop The Bleed Day; the organization believes that many lives could be saved if ordinary citizens had some basic information on how to stop traumatic bleeding in an emergency situation. Reporter and certified EMT Tim Mak rounded up the most critical points on the day dedicated to bleeding awareness in an effort to teach more people how to save lives.

According to Mak, 20 percent of people who die from bleeding could have been saved with this care, and bleeding to death is the top cause of preventable death. Here’s what you need to know.

What To Look For

It is possible to bleed to death from smaller wounds, but people who bleed out often do so because they have cut an artery. You will know an artery has been severed if blood is spurting from the wound and bright red. Also, if blood is pooling, if the injured person is unconscious, or if you’re seeing a partial or full amputation. A person with a severed artery can die in 2-3 minutes.

How To Intervene

Mak provided a step-by-step guide which may seem simple, but in a scenario where someone is massively bleeding, you might be a little panicked. Simple rules help.

First, make sure you’re not stepping into danger. Then, call 911. Even if you’re about to stop the bleeding successfully, you want trained medical professionals to get there ASAP. Then you find the injury and apply pressure to stop the blood loss.

You may not have a tourniquet on hand, but if you do, tie it off between the blood flow and the exit wound, above the injury. If not, or if the wound is too big to be contained by a tourniquet, grab a clean cloth or hemostatic (bleeding control) gauze, if available. Pack the wound and hold it down with steady pressure. You’re trying to close off the artery and keep it closed until help can arrive. Mak advises people apply as much pressure as possible, because even if the injury is severe, the artery is fairly deep inside the body. You need to press hard to reach it and shut it off.

Finally, if you have the presence of mind to do so, mark the time the tourniquet or pressure was applied. This is useful information for medical professionals, as there are dangers to leaving tourniquets on too long.

These are the basics, but if you want to take a hands on class for free, Bleeding Control offers them all over the country. As Mak wrote, there’s nothing like hands-on training when it’s time to step up.

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It’s summer and that means lots of people will be hitting the trails and embarking on long hikes. Many will even bring along their favorite four-legged friend. While dogs may enjoy running carefree through the woods and sniffing everything they come across, there are several things owners should do to make sure their dog has a safe and pleasant hike. For starters, make sure your dog is physically ready for such an outing and gather all your other gear.

It’s essential that owners also pack a first aid kid and know how to treat common injuries before taking a dog on a hike, according to Dr. Nina Anderson, medical director of Buckhead Animal Clinic. Anderson answers some common questions regarding first aid for dogs, what steps to take for treating injuries and preventative tips so you can avoid the negative scenarios.

What should you pack for a first aid kit specifically meant for a dog?

There is a lot of overlap, including betadine or peroxide to clean wounds, tweezers, ace bandage, gauze pads, eye wash, medical tape. I would add Benadryl for insect bites. I recommend checking with your vet for appropriate doses and that’s not contraindicated due to individual health. There is a product, Tuf-Foot, that can help cuts. (I haven’t personally used it).

Make sure your dog drinks plenty of water before a hike and frequently throughout the day. (Photo: ArtifyAnalog/Shutterstock)

How much water should a dog drink while hiking?

A lot! Train your dog on short walks to drink from a foldable bowl or a water bottle with an attachment so they can drink well before a long hike. Many short water breaks are much better than a big belly full of water.

Is it OK for dogs to wear packs while hiking?

Yes, but carry 10-15 percent of body weight only. Make sure you have trained with your dog on shorter walks to make sure there aren’t pressure sores or chaffing. The weight may change the balance/weight on the dog’s legs, so practice is important. Age, size, breed and athleticism plays into if a pack is appropriate. The human hiker should plan to carry the majority of the supplies!

Is a retractable or short leash better suited for hiking?

NO retractable leashes! So many problems will be avoided if on a short leash — problems with other dogs, people, wild animals, eating plants away from humans, avoiding snakes, etc.

Are certain types of treats better tailored to give a dog energy and proper sustenance while hiking?

Protein treats and plenty of water. If hiking for many hours, expect that dogs will need to increase the volume of their food. Multiple smaller meals are better than abruptly giving the dog a much bigger meal on an empty stomach. If you’re hiking a lot, discuss with your vet about the best-suited food for your dog’s level of exercise and lifestyle.

Listed below are injuries a dog may sustain while hiking, and Anderson provides steps for treating each of them:

1. Insect bite/sting: Use a tweezer to remove stinger, clean with betadine and use your antihistamine. (Discuss the proper dosage with your vet before you go.)
2. Sprained/strained ankle/paw: Place an ice pack on the sprain and slow down. If your pet is small enough, carry him. Do not splint the hurt leg.
3. Foot pad cut (and other cuts): Clean with betadine and use foot protection if you have it. But again, you have to train with the dog first to make sure the booties are comfortable and fit well.
4. Eating unknown plant/mushroom/etc: Ask your vet for the appropriate dose for making you dog vomit. Peroxide usually works.
5. Snake bite (other venomous animal bite): Get to vet ASAP.
6. Broken bone: Just like for human hikers, this is the end of the hike. Get help! Carry your dog or head back at a very slow pace with your dog.
7. Heat exhaustion/stroke: Cool down. Do not hike with pugs, bulldogs, Frenchies or other short-muzzled dogs. It’s super important to hike in cool weather and shade and take breaks. Training to get your dog adjusted to hiking is even more important than with humans. Overweight and long-haired dogs will have a harder time. Drink cool water in small amounts, wet their fur, feet and face, get in the shade and get to the vet ASAP, as this can be deadly.
8. Ticks: Use flea and tick preventative medication as directed by your veterinarian all year-round.
9. Ripped dew claw: Clean with betadine and use a light bandage, making sure it’s not too tight to create tourniquet action that would cause foot to swell and pool blood in the foot.
10. Allergic reaction: Use antihistamine dose previously discussed with your vet.

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BUNDABERG Surf Life Saving Club has been able to upgrade its emergency equipment thanks to a donation from the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service.

The provision of a patient trolley from WBHHS Clinical Loans and Asset Management Services will enable the surf club to provide a more flexible first aid service.

The trolley replaces a wooden examination bed that had been in the club house for at least 20 years and will provide a more comfortable experience for patients.

“It’s great that this piece of equipment, which has been replaced at Maryborough Hospital, is now used to benefit the community” Bundaberg CLAMS asset officer Lee-Ann Napier said.

“Many hospital staff and their children are members of the surf club, where this trolley will be used to treat people from the wider community who visit the beach, playground and skate park.”

Bundaberg Surf Life Saving Club life member Wendy Johnston thanked WBHHS for the donation, saying it would be a real benefit.

“We really appreciate the Wide Bay HHS donating this patient trolley, which we will use to assist with first aid cases, either from the beach or from the nearby park and skate park,” she said.

“It’s vital we have support from our community to keep our equipment up and running whether it’s our rescue equipment or our first aid equipment, which is just as vital in providing a good service to the community.”

Contact CLAMS at [email protected] if you know a group in need of first aid equipment.

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A team of five Orthodox students took first place last Thursday following a 44-hour, female-only hackathon held in Jerusalem. Their winning design, a voice-to-text bracelet intended to relay information from first responders to hospitals, was created in response to a problem posited by Intel: how to improve communications between those first on the scene and emergency treatment centers in the event of a mass casualty incident?

Israel’s tech industry is one of the country’s main economic drivers, and its employees command wages more than two times the average salary in the private market. According to government data, however, women make up 24.3% of all tech employees, though they account for half of Israel’s working population. Orthodox and ultra-orthodox Jewish woman account for only 0.4%.

The hackathon, which took place earlier this month, was a first-time initiative of the Lev Tech Entrepreneurship Center of Jerusalem College of Technology-Lev Academic Center, an Orthodox Jewish college awarding state-recognized bachelor degrees whose students took part in the event. The center recruited tech companies including Intel, IBM and Israeli defense contractor Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. to pose challenges for the participating coders.

Of the 19 teams of women aged 18-25 that took part in the event, the judges decided to award the first place to a combined team from Lev and from Ofek Seminary, an ultra-Orthodox women-only institution offering technological degrees alongside religious studies. The five students developed a watch-like, functioning prototype for a device that enables paramedics to record data about patients and their injuries. The data is then translated to text and shared with hospitals in real-time through a cloud interface, ahead of the patient’s arrival.

Second place went to a group that designed an escape room for the blind—another Intel challenge—and third place went to a team that developed an algorithm for identifying whether small flying objects pose defense threats.

According to a statement by Lev Academic Center, students interested in developing their prototypes into a finished product will be able to do so with the help of the institution’s tech center.

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SEBASTIAN was just six months old when he had his first anaphylactic reaction.

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CALLERS who dialled triple-0 during Victoria’s freak asthma thunderstorm were told an ambulance was on its way when it wasn’t, an inquest has been told.

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ASTHMA is a relatively common lung problem, usually caused by allergies, heavy exercise or chemical exposure in the workplace.

But Dr Alexei Gonzalez Estrada, a Mayo Clinic allergy and immunology specialist, says most people don’t realise heartburn could be making their asthma worse.

Think of your lungs and airway as an upside-down tree.

“And what happens is you have inflammation of your airway tree, Dr Gonzalez Estrada says. “And what happens is it gets full of gunk, and that’s when people get wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness.”

That’s asthma.

“Heartburn can also irritate the airway, and you’re never going to catch your asthma if you don’t treat your heartburn symptoms, as well,” Dr Gonzalez Estrada says.

Heartburn is one of the first things he asks patients about when they come in for asthma treatment. He says there are two theories about why heartburn worsens asthma symptoms.

“There’s … the theory that (acid) actually goes all the way up into your throat, and it goes into your airway and irritates your airways,” he says. “Or the other theory that (acid) actually irritates your nerves, which are connected to the same nerves that are in charge of you having coughing.”

So the next time your asthma acts up, ask your health care provider if heartburn could be the real problem. – Mayo Clinic News Network/Tribune News Service

Read more at https://www.star2.com/health/2018/06/24/dont-forget-an-antacid-for-asthma/#ABhyluXYLfP2Dpx1.99

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Antacids During Pregnancy and Asthma

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Medical supplies in your company’s first-aid kit have the potential to make a real difference in an emergency, but did you know that many of them can also expose employers to complex problems? It may sound strange, but there are actually circumstances in which certain medical supplies can be the cause of headaches rather than the cure.

They don’t have to be items contained in your first-aid kit specifically either – medical materials in employee desks or offices can also be problematic. As such, it’s important for employers to familiarize themselves with the scenarios. Let’s take a look.

Personal Emergency Medications and Supplies – A Conundrum

You may have employees that need to store critical, life-saving emergency medications at your office, such as an EpiPen for severe allergic reactions or insulin for diabetic conditions. While it is certainly a wise idea to keep these supplies on hand should an emergency arise, it does present a unique conundrum for employers.

It seems like a catch-22 type of situation – you may need to save someone’s life, but you’re not allowed to ask them to instruct you how to do so beforehand.

Under guidelines from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), employers are not allowed to ask employees about their medical situations – even for instructions as to how to use medical supplies in an emergency. It seems like a catch-22 type of situation – you may need to save someone’s life, but you’re not allowed to ask them to instruct you how to do so beforehand. Nonetheless, the rules are very clear.

The EEOC specifically says, “Once a person is hired and has started work, an employer generally can only ask medical questions or require a medical exam if the employer needs medical documentation to support an employee’s request for an accommodation or if the employer has reason to believe an employee would not be able to perform a job successfully or safely because of a medical condition.”

The storage of an emergency life-saving medication alone is not cited as an accommodation under Department of Labor guidelines, so an employer is not allowed to ask. Also, the ADA states that employees are not required to disclose any information about their medications at work unless they pose a safety threat.

There are a few workarounds, however. You could have all of your employees undergo general life-saving training to familiarize themselves with how to administer these special medications in an emergency. There are even online options for this kind of instruction that are affordable for most operations, if not free.

It’s also worth noting that many doctors will recommend their patients inform their supervisor or a co-worker how to use these items in an emergency and what kinds of symptoms or side effects could indicate a problem. Knowledge is power and, in this case, could very well save someone’s life.

The Issue of OTC Medications

The average workplace throughout the United States will likely have some form of over-the-counter (OTC) medications in its first-aid kit. Everyone gets a headache or a minor injury from time to time, and drugs like acetaminophen or ibuprofen can help employees remain productive. But the caveat here is that employees should be supplying their own OTC medications.

If an employer provides OTC meds to their staff, they could be opening themselves up to liability in several ways. Most obviously, if something goes wrong like an allergic reaction, an employer could be found at fault. Even more, providing medicine to an employee could be construed as the employer having knowledge of a disability, which could enable the employee to make a claim of disability discrimination if they ever became terminated.

Did You Know?

Each year, about 10,000 sudden cardiac arrests occur at work in the U.S.

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Source: OSHA

Accessibility and Management

It’s been said that first-aid kits are one of the most frequently forgotten-about items in most workplaces; which could be considered a good thing because perhaps less people are getting injured. However, tossing your first-aid kit into a cabinet and forgetting about it is a bad idea. It needs to be accessible, ready, and stocked or your company won’t be able to administer aid in an emergency. OSHA recommends assigning an individual to perform first-aid management. Their job will be to ensure the kit remains stocked and gets inspected every few weeks to make sure the materials are still useful. Developing an emergency medical plan is also a good idea. Preparedness is key.

A Final Thought – Don’t Be Afraid to Help

There exists a common misconception that a person can be sued for attempting to administer care in an emergency. This notion is unfortunate because it’s simply not true and can dissuade people from helping one another in times of crisis. Employers should know that Indiana, like many states, has a Good Samaritan law that protects individuals from civil liability if they are attempting to render emergency care in good faith. This doesn’t cover negligent behavior, of course, but should ease some of the concerns about being sued for attempting to genuinely help.

In a culture that’s quick to file lawsuits for many different reasons, it’s important to know that materials and actions intended to help can also cause your company harm. Remaining vigilant is the best course of action.

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