Tea and Letters

okay so here’s the Snakebite First Aid 101 that every Australian child is taught like ten billion times. If you get bitten by a snake:

- Try to get a look at the snake. Remember what it looks like. This will help emergency services get you the correct antidote as quickly as possible.

- Remain as calm as you possibly can. The faster your heart is beating, the less time you have.

- If the bite is on an arm/hand or leg/foot, bandage the area. This should be done IMMEDIATELY. Bandage it firmly, the same way that you would for a sprain. You are attempting to minimise bloodflow out of the bitten tissue. If you are not alone, it’s best to have somebody else do the bandaging. (A tourniquet is unnecessary in anything but the most dire circumstances. All this will do is lose you a limb for no reason.)

- If it is safe to do so, sit down immediately and keep the snakebite below your heart (opposite as for a sprain; you want the bite lower, not higher.) You can rest your back on a tree or something but it’s best not to lie down. This is to keep your heart rate and blood pressure as low as possible and make it as unlikely as possible that the venom will be pumped around your body.

- Call emergency services.

- If you don’t have a signal, send somebody else to find one and call emergency services. DO NOT go walking off to do this yourself if somebody else is available to do it. You want to do as little moving around as possible.

- If you are completely alone and have no access to emergency services, you are going to have to make the best decision you can and take a risk. If you can alert others without moving, this is ideal, but you may have to get up and move. If you’re in a snakeridden area, it’s best to never go alone or make sure you have a radio or phone (and signal), in addition to wearing snakeproof clothing. That way you can avoid this scenario. Being alone and unable to call for help with a snakebite is the worst case scenario, but it’s NOT a death sentence – bandage the bite, exert as little physical effort as possible, and if you have access to a vehicle, get to it as directly as you can to minimise walking.