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First Aid/Questions
| Subject | Date Asked | Expert |
| Tape for splint | 2/8/2012 | K Fairweather |
| Q: I just injured my right pinky finger and the doctor diagnosed mallet finger and made me a splint. I ... A: The tape I use for non-allergic people is Johnson and Johnson's surgical tape, it's white, strong, ... | ||
| fire extinguisher content got into my eye | 2/4/2012 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: Just want to ask if I still need to have my eye checkup in the hospital. This is what happened my ... A: From what I'm reading it sounds like this is a inflammable hydrocarbon and can inflame the eye ... | ||
| Deep Cut | 1/10/2012 | McEwen |
| Q: this morning I cut my R index finger on a glass and it was extremely deep so I went to the hospital ... A: When you get a deep cut, it is not uncommon to feel throbbing on that limb. You have traumatized ... | ||
| Cysts | 1/9/2012 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: After having 2 large abdominal cysts removed, I was told that there is potential for them to return ... A: Unfortunately, this is a guessing game. That's why your provider told you "..there is a ... | ||
| Have I broken my knee? | 1/3/2012 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: This morning I walked into the edge of my bed and hit my knee really hard. I hurt for about a minute ... A: The knee is made up of a number of bones, tendons and soft tissue. It is possible that you did ... | ||
| roll over accident protocall | 12/29/2011 | Dave Hammond |
| Q: What is em room level 3 trauma care protocol in a roll over accident? How can they let someone leave ... A: While I am not able to answer you second question regarding accountability, I have provided some ... | ||
| Index finger cut | 12/28/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: Cut my finger on a piece of metal that was loose from frig. Index finger irregular cut, 3/4 width of ... A: Sorry to hear about your finger, I get a lot of finger injuries on here.. it's just the way we're ... | ||
| Cut my palm at base of left index finger | 12/26/2011 | K Fairweather |
| Q: I was opening a can of cat food and sliced my palm about 1" long at the base of my left index. It ... A: First let me tell you that the purpose of first aid information is to treat emergent injuries or ... | ||
| Burn on Kneecap | 12/21/2011 | K Fairweather |
| Q: OK about an hour ago I was sitting on my bed and had a bowl of ramen next to me. The bed is an air ... A: If this just happened, keep something cold on the burned area. If the skin breaks, there is a ... | ||
| stubbed toe/broken toe? | 12/21/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: Last night I stubbed my big toe on the floor and it hurts really badly. It is swollen and I can't ... A: Sorry to hear about your toe. Much of the time toes, broken or not, don't need a lot of intensive ... | ||
| Replacing old butterfly bandage for new | 12/13/2011 | Craig Wormald |
| Q: I fell last night and have a laceration above my eye. When I was in crazy pain I rinsed blood away ... A: Sure you can, but I would not suggest it as a scab has already formed, removing the old strips will ... | ||
| needle in foot | 12/11/2011 | K Fairweather |
| Q: I stepped in a needle a day ago, I went to casualty where the doctor couldn't find it. After sending ... A: Kristel, First let me tell you that first aid is for people who arrive on the scene of an accident ... | ||
| Glass wound | 12/7/2011 | Julie |
| Q: At home a glass vase broke and i inadvertently hurt my foot against the broken glass. The area at ... A: I would suggest that you go to a doctor or walk in clinic in this case. It is possible that you ... | ||
| upper respiratory infection | 12/7/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: I had a sinus infection/upper respiratory infection two weeks ago. After a week, I felt much better. ... A: It's not uncommon for sinus infection to drag on, even with antibiotics sometimes the infection ... | ||
| hangnail | 11/29/2011 | K Fairweather |
| Q: i recently got what's called a hangnail and i believe it got infected somehow since its very swollen ... A: Alfredo, Don't open up the wound. The more holes you have in you the greater the chance for ... | ||
| elbow | 11/15/2011 | Julie |
| Q: I feel like this issue is so minuscute compared to other issues. With that, I am a 43yr. female, ... A: No question or problem is ever too small if it is a problem for you. The heat you feel could be a ... | ||
| Writing a story | 11/8/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: OK....so I have a couple of questions...first in my story my main character was involved in a car ... A: A person can be unconscious from a few seconds to minutes, rarely, longer but usually have serious, ... | ||
| Nosebleed and headache | 10/31/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: I am a 15 year old boy and tonight I had a pretty bad nosebleed. Blood was dripping out of my left ... A: First, to ease your mind, unless you have a serious bleeding disorder (which you would know about by ... | ||
| sylvestry palm thorn toxins | 10/24/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: i was stuck in a vein on my left wrist by a sylvestry palm tree an hour ago. vein swelled ... A: I'm not familiar with the sylvestry palm and when I looked online I didn't find a lot about it. You ... | ||
| Limited First Aid treatment of Arrow in Stomach? | 10/20/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: I have seen you answer many similar questions in regards to realistic portrayal of injuries in ... A: I will start off by saying that, yes... the character could survive a few days with limited ... | ||
| dog bites | 10/12/2011 | McEwen |
| Q: my husband was biten more then once by 3 of our dogs they were fighting due to femal they all had ... A: Your husband MUST go to a doctor. If there is an infection, he needs medication to get rid of it. ... | ||
| gun shot to the heart | 10/4/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: You've already given me great info on a knife wound and I found a gun shot to the shoulder on this ... A: Ok.. if the patient gets hit just below the rib cage the bullet would probably miss the lungs so ... | ||
| EMT protocol at car crash | 9/30/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: I'm writing a play with the first scene being a car crash. I would love to know what emergency ... A: here's a rough script: 911: 911 whats your emergency? 911 caller: Hi, I'm driving on interstate ... | ||
| My son has a pus looking spot on top of his head! | 9/26/2011 | Dave Hammond |
| Q: Its Marlene a mother of an autistic 5yr old who has high pain threshold. I just now noticed He has ... A: Hard to be exact, but a guess would be roughly 3-5 weeks since the cut occurred. Also keep in mind ... | ||
| My son has a pus looking spot on top of his head! | 9/26/2011 | Dave Hammond |
| Q: Its Marlene a mother of an autistic 5yr old who has high pain threshold. I just now noticed He has ... A: You are doing all the right things as it sounds like the cut has healed. Keep applying antibiotic ... | ||
| Shaved fingernail | 9/20/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: I was shaving my legs in the shower yesterday when I slipped and cut a hole with the razor in my ... A: Yes.. we never really appreciate the nails till we're missing part of it.. then we realize how ... | ||
| cut on index finger | 9/19/2011 | Julie |
| Q: Last night while bartending I was putting away margarita glasses & I was trying to fit one on a full ... A: By the sounds of it it is likely a deep cut and I would say that because it is still bleeding it is ... | ||
| Cut on index finger | 9/19/2011 | Dave Hammond |
| Q: Last night while bartending I was putting away margarita glasses & I was trying to fit one on a full ... A: It sounds like you did everything right. If the redness and swelling continue to increase and the ... | ||
| Cut my finger while bartending | 9/19/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: Last night while bartending I was putting away margarita glasses & I was trying to fit one on a full ... A: Sorry to hear about your finger. As a bartender I assume you get dry, cracked skin especially on ... | ||
| head injury | 9/17/2011 | Dave Hammond |
| Q: I manage a preschool and a toddler fell and hit their head today. This happens and we treated it ... A: Your protocol for managing this incident is correct. While I have not seen this approach used for ... | ||
| sting/bite | 9/15/2011 | K Fairweather |
| Q: 2 days ago I was stung/bitten by a wasp (I think), behind my ear. I am not suffering any symptoms ... A: I'm sorry, I did answer this but somehow it didn't get sent. Briefly, it was like this: If you are ... | ||
| i have a wound on my left ankle | 9/14/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: and it itches but it looks red around it and it pain full to touch almost like a burn on it and i ... A: Sorry to hear you're not in good health at the moment. I will assume you have "Osteomyelitis"? and ... | ||
| Hypothetical Quesiton | 9/14/2011 | K Fairweather |
| Q: So my character has gotten shot in the shoulder and I know that that is probably the worst spot to ... A: OK, I've already written this once, but it didn't take, so here we go again. If your girl is ... | ||
| Numbness body and nausea when drinking | 8/28/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: my name is juliana and this is being happening for many years, but is getting worse and worse to the ... A: I hate to advocate sobriety, since I love to go to the pub and have a few beers myself, but the ... | ||
| finger knife cut | 8/25/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: I was sharpening a knife it slipped off hit my L hand middle finger knuckle. I have had direct ... A: Sorry to hear about your injury. Ideally you should have "Steri-Strips" or butterfly tape to keep ... | ||
| Cut on little finger | 8/21/2011 | Julie |
| Q: I accidentally cut my little finger about 6 days ago while cooking. The cut is only about a cm long ... A: It happens occasionally that there is a little numbness or tingling but it is also possible that you ... | ||
| glass in finger | 8/18/2011 | Marcus LaBarbera |
| Q: I am pretty sure I got a shard of glass in my finger. Is this something that I should have ... A: Yes, soaking the finger in warm water water is probably the best treatment. watch for infection but ... | ||
| glass in finger | 8/17/2011 | K Fairweather |
| Q: I am pretty sure that I got a shard of glass in my finger. Is that something that requires medical ... A: Let me first explain the nature of first aid: It is the treatment of wounds and illnesses by first ... | ||
| Hypothermia | 8/17/2011 | K Fairweather |
| Q: Can you please advise me how someone could treat a victim of hypothermia if they are stuck out in ... A: Hypothermia is the lowering of a person's body temperature to dangerous levels. Cold temperatures, ... | ||
| wound care | 8/15/2011 | K Fairweather |
| Q: I got a 3rd degree burn on my left leg, mostly covering the front ( 11% body coverage). This ... A: Burns tend to succumb to infection more readily than other wounds because of the destruction of ... | ||
First Aid
Answers by Expert:
Marcus LaBarbera
Top Expert on this page
Expertise
I am available to answer most questions related to: first aid, pre- hospital medicine, EMT and Paramedic questions, medical transport, critical care transport, ICU/CCU care, sedation, and medicine in general.
Experience
I have worked as a NYS Paramedic since 1993 for both community based ambulance companies and large commercial agencies. I Have experience as bike team commander, and shift supervisor for a commercial ambulance. As a member of the Disaster team I was deployed to Louisiana for 20 days following hurricane Katrina. I worked along side the county Haz-Mat team as a "Tox-Medic" with advanced training in treating injuries from chemical agents. Besides my experience on the on the ambulance I have worked in a number of hospital based offices including dialysis and a sleep lab.
Education/Credentials
I started my EMS career as a NYS CFR (Certified First Responder)in 1989, an EMT in 1991, a Paramedic since 1993, and a CCU transport paramedic since 2005. I currently hold certification as a: NYS Paramedic, Critical Care Transport Paramedic, ACLS/CPR/PALS certified. Advanced Haz-Mat Life Support certified (AHLS). In the past I have taught CPR and ACLS to my coworkers and the local community.
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