Barnorama All Fun In The Barn
These 33 life-saving tips have been tested and proven effective in real emergencies.
“To preface, I was 21, weighed all of 95 lbs and looked like I lived to party.
I was at a bbq of a wealthy family member of my friend in San Francisco. I knew nobody except my friend.
The host let his dogs have the rib bones. One of them started gagging in distress. While everyone sat staring at the choking animal I jumped up, grabbed the dog, shoved my arm down its throat and retrieved the bone. I threw it onto the patio and looked at the host with fire. “Do not give your dog bones!” I screamed.
Not a single person responded, not even a thank you, but I saved a dogs life that day. Yeah me.”
““STOP THE CAR, IM GOING TO VOMIT”
I used this twice. Once with a friend who was driving super SUPER high and I had no clue (she actually crashed her car 2 days later) and once with a guy who wasn’t taking no for an answer. He stopped and I booked it.
If you’re freaked and need to get out of a car, and if the person is not listening and stopping, say you’re going to be sick.”
“Drowning. I saved my son from drowning in a pool. He had swallowed so much water that he couldn’t breathe. I put him on his back, rolled him to his side and hit him on the back. He ended up throwing up numerous times. His first words to me were, Thanks for saving me Dad. I still get choked up, 15 years later.”
“A bar in the bottom of a sliding glass door track to prevent it from opening.
When I split from my ex, I moved with an infant into a ground floor apartment with a sliding glass door. My dad asked my brother in law to cut a piece of wood to put into the bottom of the interior door track to prevent it from opening. Sure enough when he showed up to k**l me, that piece of wood saved my life. It kept him out and bought me time.
Also, plenty of people heard him taking a crow bar to my front door and no one else called for help. My neighbor saw him and recognized him but didn’t want to get in the business. When someone is trying to k**l me, please get in my business. I am much older and wiser now and I will error on the side of my safety and yours.”
““Everybody in, nobody out!” River safety is no joke.
My friend’s dog jumped into a river and started to get swept away due to the increased current from flooding. My friend jumped into the river to rescue her dog. I started to jump in after her, heard this safety phrase in the back of my head, grabbed a branch and swung myself back onto land (there was a decent drop into the river). I ended up having to run down the shoreline a bit to catch up to them, and then hoisted both my friend and her dog out of the water. None of us would have been able to make it out had I have also jumped in.”
“My best friend was held up at gunpoint. The dude pointed and told her to go to a more secluded area. She remembered a police officer once telling her “Never go to a second location.” She refused and she’s here today and I’m forever thankful.”
“Not my life, but DON’T MOVE ANYONE WITH A POTENTIAL SPINAL INJURY. I recently drove up to a very fresh, very bad motorcycle accident (bike vs. pickup truck). The injured guy’s friends were about to try to TAKE HIS HELMET OFF. I ran up like a crazy person and yelled to not touch him, then kept his head and neck immobilized until the EMTs showed up. He was conscious but not oriented and kept asking his friends to move him, which was quite obviously not in his best interest. .”
“Woke up around 1am and went to use the bathroom. Started sweating profusely from what felt like every pore in my body. Then started feeling like I had to throw up. Individually, they were concerning. Together, they were not good.
Woke my wife up and said “I need to go to the ER…like right now”. Got there, told them what was going on and sent straight into a room. Wife was let in a few minutes later and we were told I was in the midst of a heart attack.
Asked my cardiologist a few days later what would’ve happened if I had just tried to sleep it off and see how I felt in the morning. He said “you wouldn’t have woke up”.
Don’t ignore the signs, folks. “
““Always let someone know where you’re going.”
Many hikers, travelers, or solo drivers were rescued because someone knew their route and raised the alarm when they didn’t return.”
“Not quite life saving, but it sure felt like it at the time:
I didn’t realize I had heat exhaustion and got on a roller coaster. When my vision started going gray at the edges I remembered the Mythbusters Blue Angels episode where they talk about the full-body-muscle-clench thing they have pilots do to counteract the G forces pulling blood away from your brain. I did those clenches for the rest of the ride and managed to avoid passing out, got off the ride and toddled off to a sheltered area to drink some water and cool off.
Lessons about my heat tolerance were learned that day, but the pre-existing lesson about Hook Maneuvers meant I got to learn them while conscious and in private instead of from an impatient EMT after they revived me.”
“Self-heimlich. I choked on food while driving in a busy street, didn’t breathe for over a minute because it was standstill traffic and I was in the middle lane. Ended up cutting people off at the slightest sight of room, put my car in the ditch and 8th grade home ec came to mind as I heimliched myself on the spoiler of my car. C*****d a rip, spit the food out and cried for 10 mins because my vision started to go black. .”
“When traveling, leave all your real jewelry at home. Get cheap costume fake jewelry to wear. Fake Rolex, fake rings, etc. When you get mugged, they think they made a good score, and run off. They’ll find out later that instead of $5000 worth of diamonds, they got $5 worth of garbage. This paid off when we were robbed in Jamaica. .”
“Someone else’s life: I’m glad those Heimlich maneuver posters are everywhere. I was having lunch on a Monday in a neighborhood that’s mostly residential, so it was just me and one other person at another table. He choked on a piece of carrot and I successfully did the Heimlich on him. I have zero other emergency preparedness skills but I’m glad I had that one that day!”
“”Truck water and food”
Always carry sealed drinking water in the vehicle.
Keep some no-heat-ready-to-eat food stuff in your vehicle.
I got stranded in cornfield Iowa during a snowstorm and had to wait it out for four days until I get get dug out.
Lost myself in Idaho and got my rig STUCK really good way out in the back country for a week.
Beef Jerky and a five gallon jug of potable water got me through.”
“”Rettungsgasse”
In case of a traffic jam on the German Autobahn the cars in the left lane go as far to the left as possible. The cars in all the lanes to the right of the very left lane go as far to the right as possible. (It doesn’t matter if it’s 2 or 6 lanes). That creates a passageway for Police, Firetrucks and Ambulances so they can get to potential accidents. My mum and I got into an accident that flipped and squashed the car. First responders were able to get my mum out, but I was stuck and bleeding heavily becausemy broken femur broke throughthe skin.. Only because of everyone creating a proper emergency lane, the firefighters and the ambulance were with me fast enough to get me out and stop the bleeding. If thst hadn’t been the case, I might have lost the leg or died.”
“Electrical fire smells like fish. Caught it before a fire even started.”
“I once saw a post on Reddit about someone who had a weird red line going up their arm. Everyone told them to go to the ER, that it was an infection leading up to their heart. A couple of years later, my husband cut his elbow. Two days later, he started with a fever and when I looked at his arm, I saw the line and made him go right away (we were on vacation and he wanted to wait until we got home). 3 days in the hospital and a surgery later he was ok, but the nurse told us he could’ve lost his arm or died if he brushed it off like he tried to. So thank you to that reddit poster!”
“Used to work in the fire service. Maybe not a glamorous tip, but a lot of people were saved by bystanders knowing basic first aid and CPR. In a rural place, we’re were arriving to a scene 30+ minutes after the stopped breathing. 30 minutes without new oxygen or circulation makes massive difference in survival odds. And for traumatic injuries, making an attempt to manage blood loss is always better than nothing.”
“If you’re under water, struggling and disoriented, blow bubbles to know which way to swim.
I inhaled water coming out of a big water slide that dropped me from height into water. The water from the slide pouring down directly on me was creating a current, I was stuck and don’t know which way was up. I’m a fairly strong swimmer but panicked. I blew some bubbles and was able to work out which way to swim, just about dragged myself out of the pool on time, and coughed my guts up whilst the lifeguard carried on staring into space in the other direction
Edit: I think the original advice I was thinking of was to spit when buried in an avalanche to know which way is down.”
“If you think something isnt normal in your body. Listen to it. Your body WILL tell you if something isnt right.
Literally saved my life from a major brain stroke. Started having the worst headache of my life except it wasnt like the rest. So i got up somehow and managed to get my dad in time. Snd today now i can continue to live judy because i listened to my body when it told me something.”
“When a child/person is having a seizure, get them on thr floor and on their side and do nothing until paramedics arrive.
My wife saved a seizing 4 year old from her mother who was flinging her around like a ragdoll screaming for help.”
“It wasn’t quite life or death but I had a fire start on the stove top most likely from spilled oil or other food stuffs and I remembered some insurance commercial that said to use baking soda to put out small grease fires and was able to get it out before it became too big.”
“If you are sick, injured, or just gone through a medical event. If you get that feeling of impending doom or something just doesn’t feel right, do NOT ignore it!
I had this happen to me after I just had my second baby. I was brushed off by the nurses but the doom feeling didn’t go away and I could feel myself bleeding too much. I physically felt weaker and cold, I looked at my husband and told him I was going to die.
I ended up coding shortly after because I had severe postpartum hemorrhaging that they missed. They brought me back but I had to undergo several blood transfusions, be put on medicine for the bleeding, and have the bleeding/clots passed closely monitored.”
“Always a pack a map and compass.
Yes, you have GPS. Yes, you can download a map. Yes, you even have a charger to make sure your equipment stays charged throughout the hike. None of that is a guarantee.
Always pack a map and compass.”
“If you’re tired, pull over.
I’ve almost died a couple times on highways for various reasons (inclement weather, accidents caused by other drivers, wildlife, getting into a vehicle with someone who shouldn’t have been driving) but only once for nearly falling asleep.
You feel drowsy, get off the road. It’s as simple as that.”
“Hypothermia. Heat the person up with body heat NOT hot water. Also warm socks and a hat. I also improvised some warm heating pads with towels in trash bags soaked in warm water. Spent an entire night saving someone’s life, guy doesn’t remember it because hypothermia can affect your memory.”
“If the fire alarm goes off. Grab your pet and get out of the building. Saved me and my wife’s lives this past Monday.”
“I don’t know if this actually saved my life, but somebody hit me on the highway while I was driving with cruise control on 75 mph on a 70 mph highway (hit on my left passenger side) and my car spun out across two lanes of traffic and spun in full two circles (I believe). The entire time it was happening I stared right at my steering wheel with my dads voice in my head saying, “ease into the turn, do not over correct or try to go the other way”. So with my death grip on the steering wheel I slowly went with the motion of the car and we didn’t flip over or anything. It was TERRIFYING. I remember at some point seeing my dog in midair in the backseat (she had a seatbelt leash, THANK GOD). Totaled my vehicle yet the man who hit me somehow was able to somehow stay on the road and got away with it.”
“Buddy of mine was put into a coma when he was in the ‘chicken’ lane trying to turn left. Had his wheels already turned in anticipation for his window when a car slammed into his rear end lunging his car forward and turned into oncoming traffic resulting in a head-on collision with a car going 45mph.
I took his trial as a cautionary tail and always kept my wheels straight when waiting for my turn in a chicken lane. Couple of years ago I got rear ended in the exact same manner as he did but I was able to come to a safe stop in the same lane just a few yards forward and didn’t have a collision. His near-death experience saved my life and I still think about him everytime I’m waiting to turn.”
“If your body reacts to someone believe it. Trust your gut.”
“Not really a survival tip but “Do NOT swerve for deer in the road”. I was coming home from college late one Friday (like 1AM) on a road bordering a state park. As I’m tooling along a deer jumps out in front of me, I hit the brakes but still hit the deer which goes tumbling off into the dark. I limp up to the next point I could pull off and look, no real damage just a dent in the hood and some blood. Come Sunday, I’m heading back to school along the same route in daylight and get to the spot I hit the deer and realize that the road is running along a ridgeline with slopes going down about 75 feet on each side. So if I had swerved for the deer and gone off the road there’s a non-zero chance I’d have been down that bank and invisible from the road if I was incapacitated. Moral of the story, don’t swerve for deer/animals that weigh less than your car.”
“Saw a news article about What 3 Words and thought it sounded really useful so told my kids to make sure they had the app on their phones in case they ever needed me to pick them up and they didn’t know where they were. Fell over and broke my ankle and had to use it to help the ambulance located me. Rang my daughter to let her know what was going on and the first thing she said was “What’s your 3 Words?” – not exactly saved my life but certainly saved time when I was sat in the snow waiting for help.”
“Stay calm. One time, I stupidly decided to go for a hike later in the day and ended up breaking my phone, no flashlight. It got pitch black in the forest really fast, and I got completely lost off the trail. I felt myself starting to panic, so I sat down for a few minutes, collected myself, and finally ended back on the main trail and back to my car.
If I had panicked, I’d probably would have spent all my energy hiking in the wrong direction and broken an ankle in my madness. The main thing in any emergency is to do everything you can to keep yourself calm.”
“My stepdad thought he was having a heart attack and chewed an aspirin. Turns out he was right and the doctors said it likely was the reason he lived.”
“Always wear wool (and never cotton) next to skin then hiking somewhere cold and/or wet. Wool has saved me from hypothermia on many occations.”
“Give up everything without hesitation, was the lesson, when I was robbed at gun point…as the robber turned he fired the pistol out of panic – could’ve been at me.”
“The most dangerous thing I usually do is drive. These tips are about 63% of my driving knowledge and I do pretty good:
-Don’t pass if it’s a double yellow, but especially don’t pass another car going over a hill or around a curve.
-Look before you change lanes.
-If your car engine is over-heating, turn the heat on full blast (maybe just older cars saved my a*s in a traffic jam outside Nashville coming back from spring break in ‘01).
-Assume every container in the road is filled with nails (as in try not to run it over).
-Brake. Don’t swerve. Unless you *need* to swerve, then do what you gotta do.”
“Always wear shoes you can run in.”
“Get your skin checked (especially if you’re in Australia). Just had a rapidly growing melanoma cut out that thankfully hadn’t invaded deeper.”
“Spend it while you have it. Yes, cutting down firewood, building a shelter, constructing a fish trap, etc. will take energy, which you’re instinctively trying to preserve. But worst case scenario, in a few days you’re not going to have energy anyways, and you’re way better off with some previously made investments.”
“Wearing a life vest in any open body of water. I am a good swimmer, but I am so glad that I wore a life vest when white water rafting. The water is so cold, when you are thrown in, you go into shock. I couldn’t even breathe for a few seconds, let alone swim to the surface on my own.”
“If you are swimming in the sea and you are in danger or drowning or a current is taking you away, DON’T PANIC.
Look for the best way to swim in to safety. Don’t waste your energy. Adrenaline will help, but you need to dose your strength and keep swimming, even if you think it’s a lost cause.
It saved my life in the Atlantic sea.”