Even though Civil Air Patrol does not yet sponsor a Medic Program, the resident EMT at my squadron and I put together a medical bag for him to carry on a ground team. With the full blessing of the Squadron Commander, we made of list of possible medical situations we may encounter: from a GTM injuring him/herself, to a crash survivor suffering from a spinal injury to heat stroke. We also had to take into account the fact that Ground Teams may end up trudging through miles of woods to reach a crash site. Therefore, Several items that both of us thought 'necessary' were either too bulky or outside the scope of our budget were tough to lose; such as a long back board or KED. The KED was impractical anyway because only myself and EMT are trained to use it.
In the end, we wound up with more or less a standard jump bag, but added 2 collars (for neck injuries) a Bag-Valve Mask (BVM) and oropharyngeal airways for those patients we need to do CPR on. Unfortunately, the nasal variety was deemed too expensive for us to get. Both myself and the EMT walked everyone through the bag when it came, and told them what they could and could not use. Most of the stuff is fair game, except for the Collars, airways, and BVM, which required special training. Hope we never have to use any of it.
Now if only we could get them that First Responder Certification...
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