I would like to recommend two things that through my experience will be essential survival items.

1. A signal mirror. That is probably the fastest way to get a SAR pilots attention on the ocean or on the land.

2. A space blanket. Pick something that is extremely reflective and the color doesn’t belong in the ocean or the land. International orange traffic yellow are two great colors.

Both these items are small and pack easily.

If you are out on the ocean and have a boat I would recommend that you have an international orange stripe painted along the bottom. Every white cap from 500 ft looks like a capsized boat.

Been in that situation a few times, once when I was only 15 and I was waiting for a friend and I guy came out of the house across the street with a roll of paper towel between his arms soaked in blood. He had just bought the house and the previous owners had given it a coat of paint to spruce it up before putting it on the market and they painted the old double hung windows shut. The guy had been trying to force the window open to air the place out and he wound up putting both arms through the glass resulting in very deep cuts but not spurting so he missed the arteries. My friend came outside with his girlfriend, saw the blood and vomited. The guy was really pale so I took the paper towels away and put the worst arm wounds in compression to stop the bleeding, then I got my buddy's girlfriend to do the same on the other arm which wasn't too bad and yelled at my friend to call 911. The ambulance was there in 5 minutes or so and by then the guy was fainting but they stabilized him and took him to hospital, the EMT said the guy would have bled out if he had kept the paper towels drawing out the blood from his wounds.
Another time I had a worker start coughing after he swallowed a bee that had gone into his can of coke and it stung him in the back of the throat on the way down when he took a drink. His foreman told the man to go back to work as it was his own fault for drinking a coke when it wasn't break time. I overruled the foreman as I was in charge of the site and employed his company to do work for me, drove the guy to the hospital and got him there just as his throat was closing up, a shot of adrenalin saved him although they did have to ventilate him for a bit. When I brought the worker back to the job site his foreman wanted to dock the man's wages, so I told him to either pay him for the day or pack up and get off my job site, permanently. The guy got paid but I never subcontracted work to that company again.

I prevented 2 people from killing themself. One I wish did...

You are the bomb Kathleen!!! Great shot!

Twice in fact.. Last one was a woman drowning during a hurricane in Sarasota during the nineties.. Had I not been checking her out I may not have noticed...

Actually yes 4 of them.

I once saved an office full of people from an explosion...Not really. I saved a bird once...No, not really. (hangs head in shame) I've never saved any beings in my life (full on snotty-nosed sobbing).

Is that mt st. Helen's? great story and deeds for sure.

I was a lifeguard at the lake and a small girls arm floaty got stuck under the dock and she couldn't get her arm out. Other kids didn't notice or help but I swam out to get her. I also had a saved a kid who dived in the shallow end and hit his head on the sand. He ended up with a stinger and was paralyzed for an hour or so. (Full disclosure I told the kid not to do it and he didn't listen so I wasn't very remorseful). I also saved my own life when I was choking on food. My brother and mom were in the other room watching tv and couldn't figure out what was going on. My mom flipped out and my brother was just in shock. I had to grab a chair and give myself the heimlich maneuver. After I got the food out and breath back I royally bitched at them and taught them all the heimlich maneuver and CPR right then and there lol.

If you vote for political parties who fight against poverty and war, and you demonstrate against war, you save lives.

Several times, but I am a nurse. This includes my ex-husband....oh well ya win some ya lose some. Never been thanked, never want to be. Also performed CPR unsucessfully which is awful.

At age 12, I saved my little brother, 9, when he fell through the ice. On the beach, little kids were screaming and useless.

"Are there oars underneath that rowboat?" I asked, quickly turning to Tony Salvaggio, 13, who lived there. "Yes," he replied. Tony was taller and bigger than me.

"Quick! Let's grab the boat and push it onto the ice," I said. "We can use the oars to push the boat to the hole where Lee fell in." Tony sprang into action. Off we went.

Meanwhile, Lee was weakly jumping up in the hole for a gulp of air, then sinking back under the ice. Rapidly tiring and freezing, Lee's heavy ice skates and wet jacket weighed him down.

"Tony, I'm going to lean over the edge of the boat and grab Lee," I said. "Counter-balance me, and hang onto the back of my pants. Don't let go!"

Leaning over the side of the boat, I reached underwater and grabbed Lee's jacket. Together we hauled Lee into the boat like a frozen lump.

Tony's mother called my mom. A registered nurse, Mom calmly grabbed blankets and drove five doors down to the Salvaggio's house.

At home, Mom put Lee into a hot bath. When Mom handed him a cup of cocoa, Lee's hands were shaking so hard he spilled every drop into the bath.

Here I am at age 12, with my sister Beth, 7. Echo Lake, Michigan.

And with my siblings on Lake Michigan. From the left: athletic Kathleen (me), 7, stinker Beth, 2, unathletic Lynne, 8, and hyper Lee, 5.

My nephew choked on a piece of food at thanksgiving when he was about one y.o. No one knew what to do including my brother. I had training in Heimlich. I gave some back blows and out the food came. It was a simple, not so complex, not so exciting story, but he wouldn't be here had I not been there.

Wow! I am impressed, seriously, I seldom encounter people truly prepared and willing to jump in to assist to such a degree. I know they are out there but often even people with training fail to step in for a variety of reasons. I won't tell stories because I have been in Emergency Services roles most of my life and take those experiences and skills where ever I go. But I love to see people step up and perform outside their usual roles. Thank You for your service, and thanks for sharing!

Yes, about 2,000 times. I'm not kidding. My wife was type 1 diabetes and very brittle. That means she could go from high blood sugar to very low in a short period of time. She lost the ability to realize when she was getting low. many times I told her she was getting low but she would not believe me. i spent sometimes an hour getting her to drink sweet juice. Some times she was just catatonic , just not there but still resisting my giving her juice. The diabetes came with the territory and I was with her for over 36 years until she passed 2 years ago. She passed the way she wanted to, heart just stopped. And yes, I miss her terribly.

I'm not real sure how to feel about this but, I saved my ex. It was in 2013. I kicked him out and moved to Denver in May. He came to Garden City and stayed with friends and after they kicked him out he stayed with my youngest son. When they kicked him out he moved to a hotel and my mother was paying for it. I was still in Denver during all of this. I fled Denver and went to my mother's in Lamar in the middle of August. After I got moved back to Lamar I came to Garden to find out what the ex was doing and if he had a job why wasn't he paying for the hotel himself. I think I made either two or three trips to Garden and discovered he had no job and had not left the hotel room since the day he checked in. He was not eating and was drinking very little.

One the next to last trip when I got back to Lamar I called Area Mental Health and they said I could have an appointment for today or tomorrow. No matter when you call you can have an appointment for today or tomorrow. So I made an appointment for tomorrow.

The next day I drove to Garden and made him get his ass out of that bed and get in the car. It took a good 30 minutes to get him up. I told him either he gets out of the bed under his own power or I'm calling an ambulance. I took him to AMH and their general assessment was he was a passive danger to himself and should be committed. He had to be admitted thru the emergency room so I took him over to the ER.

They made him go pee in a cup. It was one of the clear ones with the screw on cap. When he came out of the bathroom it looked like he had a cup of coffee!!! He was down to 115 pounds from a normal of 175. They made him spend 24 hours in a medical bed before they sent him to the Psych ward and he spent a full week in the Psych ward.

The doctor told me that if I had been just a couple of days later he wouldn't be alive.

So now the fucker stalks me.

Im a narcan administrator.
The Fentanyl death grip isnt a crisis...its a full blown APOCALYPSE.
Im the most heavily trained admin in Maple Ridge.
30% of the city's population use Fentanyl.
To date, I have saved 8 lives.
I do overdose patrols nightly.

Nice! Never saved anyone for certain but know mine has been saved a few times.

Had a couple, one was the usual swimming out to get someone who was swept out in a rip, then had a seizure in the water, not fun on my own I was 16. But a strange one about 10 years back. This woman was walking very close to the edge of a cliff, far too close, (I am scared of heights myself). She obviously wasn't watching where she was going and as I walked past she lost balance, somehow I managed to grab her hand as she went backwards. She gave me the nastiest look then looked behind her, started crying. She had not realised she was on the edge, just not paying attention.

Wow! If I ever hike in the mountains it will be with you. Not trying to get personal here but I would not be prepared, not like that. I am not an idiot, just like to make sure I will get back. Thanks for the picture.

Good

Yes

Awesome story!

Absolutely - thousands of times. In fact many times every day.

I'm driving my car. There is a curve in the road. There are pedestrians on the pavement. I turn the steering wheel to follow the course of the road.

My actions - turning the wheel - directly avoid my car mounting the pavement and killing those people. If I had not taken that action, they would have died.

Yes I had... still in high school, not yet 18, me and my wingman buddy saved the life of a 28 yr old american junkie in Puerto Rico from Heroin Overdose Death... about circa 1971 We came to visit him and he opened the door let me in and just hit the floor. His gf freaked out not knowing what to do... We gave him an intravenous shot of salt water and put his nuts on ice. The Skills you learn when you are hanging out in The Ghetto and there are junkie students in your school telling stories... you listen.