The internet is full of a lot of random information. However, some of that information can be useful in real life. One Reddit user asked the Internet community, “What is a random first aid or survival fact that you know?” and people delivered. We’ve rounded up the best, most useful pieces of advice that can come in handy when you least expect it. Even though – as far as we know – most of this didn’t come from actual doctors – this thread has become a goldmine of advice and things worth knowing.
#1: Thank You, Boy Scouts
One Reddit user shared some advice he learned decades prior while in Boy Scouts. One day, his elderly neighbor passed out in his front yard after suffering from heat exhaustion. As our storyteller dialed 9-1-1, they remembered a long-buried first aid memory from their childhood. As a boy, he learned that sticking ice packs in someone’s armpits and thigh creases helped with heat stroke.
He immediately ran to his house, retrieved some ice packs, and stuck them in the old man’s armpits. It seems random, but paramedics later told him that he most likely saved his elderly neighbor’s life! The armpits and thigh creases have major blood vessels close to the skin. Apply ice packs to these areas to rapidly bring body temperature down in an emergency.