I've read many of the posts that are related to this and believe it to be a be a snowflake of a question on the site.
If you have fallen into icy water and the temperature is very challenging, what are the immediate steps to take to assist the victim?
I've read this post and it's more driven by how to rescue someone who has fallen in icy waters. The obvious statements are made. Get the person warm, etc. This post seems to address the situation once the victim/patient is hypothermic.
My question is more driven by prevention.
The general framework is get the wet off, get them warm...but how?
A fire in short order seems like a good idea. If you have a group, a person can be assigned the task. RIGHT NOW.
As in other posts, discarding wet clothes immediately doesn't seem to be a bad idea at all.
When I have been in the situation of assisting I stripped the person, pulled my sleeping bag, opened my jacket, pulled up my clothes and went skin on skin with the victim and had someone assist with getting us both into a sleeping bag ASAP.
I've been chided for this, not for the skin on skin, just the whole process. Honestly, I had never considered an action plan before the moment it happened and I simply reacted.
I'd like to have a better action plan, especially if it were colder.
Is there something light that can be added to the plethora of gear we all might be lugging around out there?
Is there a better methodology than the example provided?
What is the most immediate/primary concern?
I've been told to focus on torso and head. Get ANYTHING on the head to retain heat. A baseball cap? Use dirt, if available, to rub into hair and quickly dry the head? Strip the victim naked and focus on torso due to capillaries constricting to force blood in the torso the torso should be the focus.
Any medical references and/or response frameworks are what I'm really looking for. The victim is wet, it's very cold. Now what?
As a side note, what if there's a base camp, everyone goes on a day hike with limited gear in smaller hydro packs and the incident occurs. That would be an interesting problem to solve.
Apologies in advance for the rant.
TIA
