Life imitates art.
I'm in the midst of writing up nodes on typical emergency first aid procedures, and suddenly I find myself smack dab in the middle of a situation.
Some friends were visiting, and they brought their kids and two boys they were watching. My kids hooked up with theirs and traipsed over to the park across the street while my wife and I chatted with our friends.
A half hour later, some of the kids come running up. Apparently, one of the kids my friends were watching fell, and another kid fell on his leg. Everyone heard a popping sound. He was laying on the wet grass crying.
I ran over, and "C", a 10 year old, was just as they described. I had read through a couple of reference first aid manuals for information to node, and the last thing I read was about broken bones. I assessed him, he was in obvious pain but was lucid and answered questions. There was no head or spinal injuries, he had landed on wet grass when he fell. His leg was twitching, which was causing him more pain. I talked to him and began to calm him down, telling him that sobbing was making him move slightly, causing his leg to hurt more (which was true). After a minute he was calm. I inspected the leg, and there was a swelling in the mid femur of the right one. From the look of things, it was going to be a hairline fracture. There was no obvious deformities to indicate a compound fracture. I had one person retrieve a blanket and another one call the ambulance.
I kept him calm by telling him it looked like it was rather minor, perhaps a sprain in his shinbone (luckily he was 10 and didn't realize you can't sprain a bone). I asked if he knew if he was allergic to any medications, and he remembered penicillin. I put the blanket over him to keep him warm and to ward off shock. When the paramedics arrived, I relayed his name, how it happened, what I assessed and that he remembered his allergy. They were able to get him up and on his way quicker, especially since he was calm and could follow their instructions.
All I can say out of this is refreshing my first aid skills actually helped a child today. The nodes I added here under first aid are really for reading interest or as a last-second refresher. Nothing can beat taking an actual first aid course or getting CPR certified. You just never know when you'll need to use those skills.
News from the hospital: hairline fracture. He'll be fine. They're going to put on a cast, and maybe he'll ask me to sign it.