Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby Ozymandias » Thu May 26, 2016 7:03 am

nowonmai wrote:You're far too polite to do this so I'll do it for you.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kayakthekwanza

http://www.kayakthekwanza.com/

https://twitter.com/kayakthekwanza

Best of British luck to you both.


Thanks nowonmai! We've raised 54% of our target so far through private donations. We also have a commitment to match donations, up to USD5,000, from a corporate sponsor. All in all, it looks like the demining team down in Cuito Cuanavale are going to get the money they need to clear some more mines!

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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby Aryan » Thu May 26, 2016 12:01 pm

T&O surgeon here, ATLS qualified and have been on a few mountain expeditions, for work and pleasure.

You forgot a bone saw in your list, for emergency amputations. Are you really planning on manipulating fractures in the field? I'd be very reluctant to do so.

Your focus should be on making people stable enough for evacuation to a hospital, not treating them in the bush. During one a guy had an open ankle fracture with probable damage to his deltaoid ligament (i.e. he needs an operation). It was managed with heavy doses of IM morphine and splinting, and we walked him down the mountain on it.

I'd be reluctant to close wounds too, just let it bleed for a while, irrigate with sterile fluid (IV fluids are ideal for this) and put on a tight dressing for haemostasis. If he's still bleeding the dressing isn't tight enough. Start them on broad spectrum antibiotics.

Oh, and fuck this place.
The battlefield is the only proper school of the surgeon
-Hippocrates
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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby Ozymandias » Mon May 30, 2016 9:29 pm

Cheers Aryan, noted on wounds and fractures (although all depends how much blood is coming out!) I agree that focus needs to be on stabilisation for evacuation. Main issue is the time involved in getting from the river to a decent hospital. We'll be up to a 3.5 hour bush flight from Luanda at the beginning, and most serious medical emergencies end up getting air evacuated out to Johannesburg anyway.

Not sure if you're joking or not about the bone saw, but would this work as an alternative?

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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby grawp » Tue May 31, 2016 2:56 am

Something else you might consider packing is a bag of disposable multi-blade razors.
Carefully cracking one end off the razor head gets you a super-sharp micro-blade that is the the right tool for blister reduction, as well as stinger, splinter and thorn removal. This saves your scalpel set's sterility for the really big jobs like bullet and shrapnel removal. Also useful for shaving excess hair off the wound site, and looking the clean-shaven professional when you enter that in-country "farmacia" or juju shoppe to re-stock your kit with local potions and nostrums.
Also, I'd recommend a copy of Mosby Yearbook's "Wilderness Medicine"
The ISBN's 0801670446 and Abebooks.com has a copy for under four bucks as of this date.
My very dog-eared copy is thick as a Big Apple phone book, and the last word on handing medical emergencies in the field.
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But they will never love us, for we have too much audacity!

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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby grawp » Tue May 31, 2016 3:05 am

Re: your need for a surgical saw:

If you REALLY need one, get a gigli saw, viz:

http://www.amazon.com/handle-Surgical-N ... B00G8W05HM

This is the saw that surgeons use.
It is easier to sterilize and it packs better.
The world will never love us. They respect us - they might even grow to fear us.
But they will never love us, for we have too much audacity!

- Theodore Roosevelt – “The Wind & the Lion” (1975)
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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby Ozymandias » Wed Jul 06, 2016 9:26 pm

Trip is all done, and absolutely no injuries, despite sinking the kayak in rapids! More details here: https://www.facebook.com/kayakthekwanza/
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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby Kurt » Thu Jul 07, 2016 11:34 am

I am glad you did not have to do any field amputations.

congrats on the trip!
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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby Ozymandias » Sun Jul 10, 2016 8:10 am

AztecDave wrote:a roll of good duct tape (Gorilla) and some 550 test para cord. I'm not kidding.


This was the best advice we got! Gorilla duct tape was the only thing that kept us floating in the end. Nine holes in the boat patched up by the time we rolled over the finish line!

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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby nowonmai » Sun Jul 10, 2016 8:41 am

Old sweats prize to Aztecdave. I'm just annoyed you couldn't bribe your way out of the arrest with 200 Marlboro Reds.
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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby Ozymandias » Sun Jul 10, 2016 8:50 am

nowonmai wrote:Old sweats prize to Aztecdave. I'm just annoyed you couldn't bribe your way out of the arrest with 200 Marlboro Reds.


Ha! If we could have done, we would have. I would have paid hundreds of Dollars to avoid the five days of hassle we ended up enduring. Sadly, they weren't looking for bribes. They were genuinely trying to screw us over.
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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby RYP » Sun Jul 10, 2016 9:07 am

some beer, cigs as previously recommended, a sat phone and some decent tested contact numbers. There are lots of helos in Angola. Better buy insurance as well cuz its money well spent. Oh and big fucking gun for the hippos.

https://www.internationalsos.com/locati ... ica/angola

LUANDA OFFICE
Rua S10
Sector de Talatona
Zona CC-B2
Luanda
Angola
Tel: +244 227 200 300
Email: ao.salesandmarketing@internationalsos.com

CLINICS

ILHA MEDICAL CENTER
Clinica Sagrada Esperanca
Consultas Externa
Avenida Mortella Mohamed
Ilha da Luanda
Tel: + 244 927 034220
Email: isos.ilha@ms.internationalsos.com
Office Hours: Monday to Friday 08h00 - 17h30 Saturday 09h00 - 12h00 Sunday and Public Holidays - Closed (Emergencies Only)
Our Medical Center on the Ilha (at Clínica Sagrada Esperança Hospital) provides comprehensive family-centered care as well as emergency medical assistance through the associated Clínica Sagrada Esperança on a 24-hour basis, 365 days a year. The International SOS clinic operates in accordance with the highest standards of international medical care and his staffed with a team of skilled medical professionals, who speak both English and Portuguese.

Primary care services at International SOS Ilha include:

Family doctor consultations
Referrals to local specialists for consultations
Access to laboratory testing and diagnostic services
Access to radiology services
Advice on travel health and medical assistance
Referral through our preferred providers' network in South Africa
We have an expatriate General Medical Practitioner on standby at all times, giving you peace of mind and access to high-quality medical care. In addition International SOS employs nursing and Paramedic staff.

Emergency care services include:

Access to an emergency room and resuscitation equipment.
Emergency medical evacuations/repatriations
Where necessary, our multilingual staff can access the International SOS network of assistance centers, clinics and medical providers.

TALATONA MEDICAL CENTER
Rua S10
Sector de Talatona
Zona CC-B2
(Behind Belas Shopping Center)
Luanda
Tel: +244 227 200 312
Email: dl.luanda.clinic.reception@internationalsos.com
Office Hours: Monday to Friday 9h - 17.30h Saturday 9h - 12h Sunday and Public Holidays - Closed (Emergencies Only)
The Talatona Medical Centre is the flagship clinic of International SOS Angola. The medical centre provides comprehensive family-centred care and operates in accordance with the highest standards of international medical care. The Talatona Medical Centre has its in-house laboratory, x-ray department and
well equipped dispensary.

Primary care services at Talatona include:

Family doctor consultations
Referrals to specialist consultations
Access to laboratory testing and diagnostic services
Access to radiology services
Limited medical and surgical procedures and treatment.
A range of vaccination services
Advice on Travel health and medical assistance
Referral through our preferred providers' network


An expatriate General Medical Practitioner is available for consultations in Talatona during weekdays from 8h00 to 17h30.
Several specialists (Pediatrician, Gynecologist) are working part time at the Talatona Medical Centre an accessible on appointment basis.

To make an appointment at the Talatona Medical centre please contact:

Talatona medical centre: +244 227 200 310
Email: dl.luanda.clinic.reception@internationalsos.com

Our Medical Center in Talatona provides a comprehensive and fully integrated Occupational Health department with in-house laboratory capabilities, in-house x-ray machine, state of the art audiometry booth, spirometer machine and optometry, as well as an ECG room. The OH department is staffed with local and international staff fully qualified for occupational medicine and speaking both Portuguese and English.

All health checks will now be performed at our Talatona Medical Centre, this includes the pre-employments and Exits Medicals, the periodicals and offshore certificates as well as all other health checks related to Occupational Health.

The Angola visa renewal certificate can still be done at both Ilha da Luanda and Talatona medical centres.
International SOS Angola dedicated OH doctors are also OGUK certified and capable of delivering OGUK certified Offshore certificates.

For full details of all our services, please call or email us.
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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby Ozymandias » Sun Jul 10, 2016 9:13 am

Cheers RYP, but it's a bit late. We started the expedition on June 5th and finished the 1300km journey on July 6th! We had a casevac plan in place with a bush pilot for the more isolated sections (to get us to the SOS doctors), and with 4x4s for the later stages that were more easily accessible from the road. Helicopters are not allowed to fly at night in Angola, so this presented a bit of an issue!

Also, we didn't have a rifle for the hippos. Just a lot of advice from people who had interacted with them. Seemed to work out OK for us in the end (although I wish I'd had a rifle for a particular aggressive pair...)
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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby Ozymandias » Thu Jan 05, 2017 12:04 pm

AztecDave wrote:a roll of good duct tape (Gorilla) and some 550 test para cord. I'm not kidding.


Hey AztecDave, cheers for the advice, you saved us from sinking on the last section of the expedition. We even give you a shout out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIfnrQJVDVo&t=2713s Starts at about 45mins 15secs of the documentary...
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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby nowonmai » Thu Jan 05, 2017 8:54 pm

Ozymandias wrote:
AztecDave wrote:a roll of good duct tape (Gorilla) and some 550 test para cord. I'm not kidding.


Hey AztecDave, cheers for the advice, you saved us from sinking on the last section of the expedition. We even give you a shout out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIfnrQJVDVo&t=2713s Starts at about 45mins 15secs of the documentary...


Nice. Known as Harry Black this side of the pond from AztecDave and is battle winning equipment. Fixes everything including people.
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Re: Medical kit for Angolan kayak expedition

Postby AztecDave » Fri Jan 06, 2017 5:26 am

Ozymandias wrote:
AztecDave wrote:a roll of good duct tape (Gorilla) and some 550 test para cord. I'm not kidding.


This was the best advice we got! Gorilla duct tape was the only thing that kept us floating in the end. Nine holes in the boat patched up by the time we rolled over the finish line!

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The real Army, composed entirely of young enthusiasts in camouflage uniforms, from whom impossible efforts would be demanded and to whom all sorts of tricks would be taught. That's the army in which I should like to fight.”
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