After this happened a number of us had discussions about poor safety and medical planning stories for skaters who are injured in serious falls.
Important Safety Tips
People who are 'wishful thinkers' have a belief that "Oh, nothing will happen
to me." These are known in the Disaster Preparedness, Risk and Safety professions as "dead people with an attitude". My version of this for figure
skating is "unconscious people with an attitude."
- When you skate, injuries can happen necessitating ambulance transfers to the hospital.. Have an emergency contact who can be contacted and have a second backup contact--just in case. Don't name someone who who can't be reached. You may be on painkillers and unable to make rationale decisions. I've been rather astonished by people who don't have cell phones, or email, or even turn off their cell phone when they get home in the evening. Every one has the right to cut themselves off by not being reachable, just don't pick that person as your emergency contact.
- Don't rely on strangers--especially medical personnel-- to help you out without having information on you. Keep your medical information -- doctor, insurance, medications up to date. The older you are, the more important this is. You can buy USB key drives at your pharmacy just for this or in your skate bag, andf your contact should have a copy of your medical records. I have an app on my phone called an I.C.E card. It puts your In Case of Emergency information on the lock screen of my phone to include emergency contact information, medications, allergies, and other important information. You might feel this is overkill, but for those of us who have no local family when the crisis occurs, it's important to make information available to EMTs.
Just don't trust on luck. Plan for emergencies.
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