Snake and spider bite - free chart

Tuesday 14 October 1:49 PM

Spring is here! The flowers are blooming, the sun is shining and the snakes are back!

You’re helping out at a gardening bee, weeding and generally sprucing up the wilds of a friends backyard when a fellow gardener calls out that they think they saw a snake.  Yikes!  Then someone else calls out that they think they may have been bitten.  What do you do? 

The current ARC guideline for snake bite can be found at: http://www.resus.org.au/policy/guidelines/section_9/guideline_9-4-1-july11.pdf

This guideline talks about life-threatening effect of the neurotoxins in snake venom and the resulting muscle paralysis, which kills by causing breathing failure. It is important to note that snake bites may be painless and leave no visible marks so it is often other symptoms, which may not occur for hours, which point to a snake bite.

So what can you do for your snake-bitten gardener?

• keep the victim at rest, reassured and under constant observation
• commence resuscitation if necessary
• apply the Pressure Immobilisation Technique
• transport the victim to a medical facility, preferably by ambulance

DO NOT cut or incise the bite

DO NOT use an arterial tourniquet

DO NOT wash or suck the bite

It can be difficult to remember what to do in a situation like this so why not place a chart summarising what to do in a handy spot to remind you.  Download your free A4 Snake bite and Funnel Web Spider Bite First Aid Chart here:

http://www.allenstraining.com.au/first-aid-charts.aspx

There are loads of other free First Aid charts available here so check them out!