How to stitch a pig - 12/04/2015

In the event of a medical emergency, the Atlantic crossing crew can now replace your regular doctor! Well, not quite, but they now know some basic first aid that they hopefully never have to use.

On Sunday evening, the four members making the journey across the Atlantic gathered to learn the basic procedures that may be required should an accident occur aboard. We were lucky enough to have Dr. Hoford with us to guide us, and he certainly went above and beyond just for the crew. Thank you Doc for all the supplies and even the frozen pork we have permanently wounded forever.

We started off by learning to identify and treat mild, moderate and severe dehydration, which went hand in hand with the next topic, heat stroke. This knowledge will most certainly be put to use racing here under the hot tropical sun. Next, we went on to the very exciting wounding of a piece of pork! This unlucky pig was used as a practical example of how to treat small and large gashes, and to show what sort of wound might require stitches as opposed to just proper bandages. Turns out, most of us have been treating these wounds wrong the entire time!

Dr. Hoford putting a nasty wound in the innocent pig

The crew then took turns to stitch him back up 

While learning what painkillers and antibiotics should be used to treat different issues, we discovered that one team member is allergic to quite a few things. (Team, please avoid giving our hands-down favourite crew member the labelled pills.) The final thing on our medical syllabus was turning Leonard into a live mummy. He seemed comfortable, and if pressured, might even admit to enjoying his new costume. As we learned, that hard stuff used to make casts may be also used to fix leaks in the hull, molded into a spare batten and might go as far as to patch a sail. What can't this wonder material fix?! Unfortunately, we only got to make two mundane half casts for the ankle and wrist respectively. The casts can be used to set broken bones while still being able to check for swelling.

We think he'll just make the crossing dressed like a mummy to prevent any sprains and broken bones

To wrap up our little medical crash-course, Sharon brought out some delicious chocolate cake that most certainly gave us diabetes. Thank you again Doctor for all the helpful information, as well as for signing on as our team doctor for this campaign.