All gave some...Some gave All

On this Memorial Day lest we forget those nurses and field medics who gave so much to care for our military for so many years and wars. A fundamental part of each branch of service, the medical corp staff is on the forefront when soldiers need assistance both in the field and the field hospitals. Many of the concepts I use today in the ED started in the military fields. Heros are made both on the battlefield and at the bedside of a injured or dying soldier. Many nurses or medics are the last contact that the soldier has to say with his/her last breath " tell my momma or my wife I love her".

Some interesting facts from Scrubs Magazine:

• More than 10,000 nurses served in World War I. They traveled across the Atlantic Ocean by ship, and the journey took about two weeks.

• Somewhere between 200 and 300 nurses died in World War I. Many contracted illnesses such as scarlet fever and influenza, which took their lives. Some died in military accidents, and some died at the hands of enemy weapons.

• In the 1960s and 1970s, the nurses who went overseas to nurse injured soldiers in the Vietnam War were young women who had just graduated from nursing school. This was their first nursing experience, and they served for one year minimum. They could serve longer if they chose to.

• As the machines of war evolved, the nurses who served overseas saw and treated injuries they would never have to deal with again. For example, during the Vietnam War, napalm, a flammable liquid that causes severe burns and often death, was a commonly used weapon, and nurses saw its horrible effects.

• Today, the nurses who go overseas range in age from 20 to 60, and one-third are men. The service term is six months, but “active duty” nurses can be reposted (sent back) several times.

• The Army Nurse Corps became an official branch of the Army Medical Department in 1901. You can learn about joining the Army Nurse Corps on the U.S. Army website.

• There are 10 different nursing specialities in the Army Nurse Corps, ranging from Army Public Health Nurses to Perioperative Nurses to Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners.

• Military nurses have served in numerous wars, including the Spanish-American War, both World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm. They have served with NATO troops in Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo.

• During World War II, 67 Army nurses and 16 Navy nurses were held by the Japanese for three years as prisoners of war.

• Located near the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., is a memorial to all nurses who have served in all wars. It’s a bronze statue of a nurse caring for a wounded soldier. As a nurse, hopefully you’ll have the opportunity to visit this memorial someday—if not on this Memorial Day, then perhaps on another Memorial Day, or any day.

An Experiment or Death by Strangulation

Another report about our deadly friend The choking game, still deadly, still here, not a trend, so get educated and stay educated on what you might be doing to your body.

credit:(dailyRx)

Reports, from the US and Canada, show that adolescents are experimenting with the ‘choking game’. Creating awareness of brain damage and accidental death may curb an adolescents interest.

It appears the choking game has been spreading across the nation for a few years.

A recent study assessed the choking game in Oregon’s eight-grade population. Researchers suggested spreading awareness of the risks and dangers to put an end to it.

Talk to your kids about choking risks.
Kenneth D. Rosenberg, MD, MPH, Robert J. Nystrom, MA, and Sarah K. Ramowski, MSW, from the Oregon Health Authority of the Public Health Division, teamed up with Julie Gilchrist, MD, and Nigel R. Chaumeton, PhD, from the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to look at the risks involved when eight-graders play the choking game.

The choking game is pretty simple. An individual or a group cuts off the blood flow to the brain or induces hyperventilation to generate a high.

The problems with the choking game are twofold: loss of oxygen to the brain kills brain cells, and accidental death from loss of oxygen or asphyxiation.

Oregon isn’t the only place where adolescents participate in the choking game. A recent study looked at accidental death from the choking game in Canada, while another investigated the prevalence of the choking game in Texas.

The Oregon Health Authority gathered data from 2009 on 5,348 eighth-graders. To get a full picture, the team asked about the prevalence and frequency of the individual’s choking game experience and, “included questions about physical and mental health, gambling, sexual activity, nutrition, physical activity/body image, exposure to violence, and substance use.”

Only 6.1 percent of both male and female eight-graders reported having ever participated in the choking game. Of those participants 64 percent had played more than once and 26.6 percent had played more than five times.

The research team found, “Among Oregon eight-graders surveyed, greater than 6% had ever participated in the choking game. Participation was linked to poor nutrition and gambling among females, exposure to violence among males, and sexual activity and substance use among both genders.”

Authors conclude, “The results of this study reveal that choking game participation clusters with other risk behaviors and is not an activity, among those studies, that is more likely to be found among high-achieving, low-risk-taking youth.”

Authors recommend awareness and intervention from parents, teachers and health care professionals to prevent or stop this behavior.

This study was published in the journal Pediatrics, May 2012. No external funding was provided and no conflicts of interest were disclosed.

More information and education here: www.ed4ed4all.com
Our team of educators and specialists in this area will be glad to help you, email me anytime if you know of someone that needs help or has questions about the choking game, our organization is also available for speaking engagements at schools, churches, clubs, etc. email me here ernursescare@charter.net

Leslie