First Aid and Public Access Defibrillation in Mountain Huts: The Mountain Huts Initiative of the Bergamo Section of the Club Alpino Italiano
✍ Scribed by Luca Barcella; Giancelso Agazzi; Daniele Malgrati; Fulvio Sileo; Alessandro Calderoli; Elena Rottoli; Oliviero Valoti; Gian Battista Parigi
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 117 KB
- Volume
- 21
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1080-6032
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The Mountain Huts Initiative of the Bergamo Section of the Club Alpino Italiano
To the Editor: Mountain huts belonging to the Club Alpino Italiano (CAI) have been established to provide shelter to mountaineers and hikers as well as first aid in case of injuries or illnesses. The Bergamo Section of the CAI (CAI-Bergamo), 2 one of the largest in Italy with over 10,000 members, owns 10 mountain huts in the Orobie Alps open to the public for most of the year (Table ). Each hut is staffed with hut keepers, taking care of lodging and catering for guests. Since 2007 first aid service provided in the huts is organized by the Medical Commission of the CAI-Bergamo through the Mountain Huts Initiative. We have been working on supplying mountain huts with an array of equipment and medications (Table ), improving the first aid skills of the hut keepers, and extending a public access defibrillation (PAD) program to these remote but highly frequented huts.
The content of the medical kit has been devised according to recommendation of the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR), 3 with some adjustments suggested by our team's clinicians and pharmacists. We subdivided it into three compartments in order to separate dressings from medications, and to facilitate access to medical supplies and drugs according to the type of treatment required (trauma or illness) and the specific skills of the rescuer involved (lay person or physician). Compartment #1 contains materials for wound care. No splinting devices are included as the medical kit is designed to be used within or near the hut, where severe trauma, requiring the use of such devices, is unlikely to occur. Compartment #2 contains medications for common ailments such as pain, fever, diarrhea, and skin and eye irritations. These over-the-counter medications can be taken without the need of trained medical supervision. Users must be adults and confirm in writing, on a form, that they assume responsibility for self-administration. Compartment #3 contains drugs and medical supplies for