QueerCare
@queercare
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We're a Transfeminist Community care organisation, we do first aid, suicide prevention, healthcare advocacy, and general support. @[email protected]
United Kingdom
Joined May 2018
If you appreciated our support- Covering first aid, mental health support, as well as a few snacks, consider donating to keep us going. What we don't spend on doing first aid for protests, we spend supporting trans people in the community. https://t.co/cgkw0dLaiC
We're out supporting the @TransActionBloc vigil today- please remember to eat and bring sweet and salty snacks, 500ml or more of water, and warm and waterproof clothing- it may drizzle later.
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If you see someone who needs help, be it mental health support or an accident, shoult for FIRST AID- We'll be in pink tabbards.
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We're out supporting the @TransActionBloc vigil today- please remember to eat and bring sweet and salty snacks, 500ml or more of water, and warm and waterproof clothing- it may drizzle later.
Vigil for Brianna Ghey Department of Education London Wednesday 15th 6PM SW1P 3BT No Justice No Peace!
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We're mostly present on emails, and then here- but if you're looking for other places to follow us, we're posting more on instagram: https://t.co/6T8esaWZ67 We're also on the fediverse:
kolektiva.social
1 Post, 0 Following, 256 Followers ยท Transfeminist Community care organisation: First aid, suicide prevention, healthcare advocacy, and ad-hoc support
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If people are talking, check if they know of any other conditions, check with their friends, and check for medical alert bracelets if they're not.
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Complications we missed: anything that limits circulation will make you especially vulnerable to cold based injury- old age os a common example, as is Raynauds syndrome which shuts down circulation to the extremeties.
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If you find this thread helpful, please send us a donation so we can keep doing this work in person: https://t.co/cgkw0dLaiC
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Lots of things interact with cold- Food, clothing, substance use, trauma, etc. https://t.co/HuUvCPbztT
How cold effects the brain, and complications with cold injury:
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Hypothermia: When your body cannot keep warm without moving and having enough insulation. If either of those fails, your core temperature begins to drop, and you lose brain and body function, pass out, and then die. https://t.co/o039cuAusg
Hypothermia: How can you prevent it, how can you spot it, how can you treat it.
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Frostbite: When you have exposed skin, especially if that skin doesn't have much blood flow near it, that skin can freeze, going from feeling cold, to painful, to numb, to pins and needles, to feeling hard. https://t.co/eoZOew9aaX
Day two of cold injuries 101: Frostbite. Frostbite happens when parts of your body, normally the upper layers of the skin, drop below zero.
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Physiology: Your body produces heat, and needs a certain amount of heat to keep going. Heat is generated all over, and released on the skin. If it gets too cold it keeps the core warm, shutting down blood flow to the limbs. https://t.co/HO33EnG3Sg
Cold injuries disproportionaly impact the most vulnerable in society- You need to understand why and how, and how to prevent and treat them. This week we'll talk through what causes these illnesses, how to avoid them, how to treat them, and when to get clinical backup.
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Cold injuries are obviously a giant issue right now and there's more to it than "being too cold is bad for your health". Here's our week worth of threads on how to prevent, recognise and treat common illnesses and injuries you get in the cold.
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We sometimes mistake signs of cold illness for other issues- Most commonly if someone is cold and acting like they're drunk, check over your preconceptions and check if it could actually be cold which is causing this, rather than alcohol.
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The other commonly skipped factor is trauma: The blood loss associated with a massive haemorrhage limits the bodies ability to produce heat, and hypothermia can follow trauma even in warmer environments.
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Especially dangerous is alcohol, which opens up the veins and means your body vents heat faster. Combined with the associated impacts on decision making and stigma, alcohol in the cold kills.
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On top of that, all of the things which impair function in day to day life- lack of food, lack of water, substance use, tiredness- all make cold injury more likely to be worse on a physical level as well as a mental level.
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Of course, people can be all of these things without losing brain function - don't write peoples thoughts off because you think it's cold making them like this.
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Watching peoples mental state gives you warnings that something may be wrong with their body's functioning, and you can act early to prevent things getting worse.
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As this gets worse, people become irritated - a bit snappy or annoyed, either at themselves, you, or someone else. Then people will become combative, often picking fights. If it gets much worse, people will pass out, and hypothermia will be lethal soon after.
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Taken to extremes it results in people getting in fights, but it first appears as disorientation - think confusion, slowness, odd movement or dizziness.
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