The downside to summer camp “Major Emergencies”

It was a Tuesday afternoon when one of my new scouts came to me and said, “Mr. Hinchee my hand hurts.” I look down and see his hand is bleeding and he had packed it full of gauze. I asked him how he hurt his hand and he said he was working on his wood carving merit badge. I said “come on Jason. we are going to see the medic.” We arrive at the medics' hut and Jason is about to pass out. There are quite a few boys ahead of us when I tell the medic what has happened. He takes Jason immediately ahead of the other boys. He starts to remove the gauze from his hand and that’s when I realized Jason had cut his hand to the bone. The medic had me hold Jasons hand and calm him down while he removed all the gauze he had used. I called Jason’s parents and advised them what had happened. I said, “meet us with flight for life in Franktown.” By this time the front of my scout shirt is saturated with blood. The medic said, “he was going to get the camp vehicle and would be right back.” I sent word to the other adult leaders I was leaving camp and why.

As we get on the main road heading through town, the medic is doing ninety miles an hour in a fifty-five-mile zone. I am rubbing Jason’s face with a cool washcloth while elevating his arm and applying direct pressure to keep him from losing too much blood.