First Aid Essentials for Holiday Emergencies

What to do in an emergency during the Thanksgiving holiday.
· Soak in cold running water for 5 minutes when burned

· Wash your eyes promptly when getting cooking oil splashed on your eyes.

· Apply cold pack immediately when food in the refrigerator falls on your foot.


Ointments, disinfectants, and gauze are essential for first aid at home. If you haven't had a first aid kit at home yet, it's a reliable idea to have it ready for emergencies during the holidays.
As the holiday season approaches, many people might feel urged with holiday preparation. In particular, when you prepare food or eat in a hurry, unexpected emergencies can occur. In this case, prompt first aid can prevent a more significant accident and help quick recovery in the future. For a healthy and safe Chuseok for our readers, we have compiled a collection of first aid measures for each situation that you can do at home. (Editor’s note)

Among various accidents that can occur at home during the Chuseok, we have selected six emergencies such as burns and cuts.

■When you have burns,

Immediately wash under running tap water for 5 minutes. The temperature of the water should be cool enough to feel fresh. It is also a great way to put wet clean gauze on the affected area and change it every 30 minutes. Iced water or ice should be avoided as it aggravates the damage to the burned area.

Professor Lee Se-wook of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Samsung Medical Center said, "If you have a light burn, you can apply antibiotic ointment after washing, attach an image band, and go to a nearby hospital within a day or two." Then he advised, "However, ▲ if the burn range is wide, ▲ if you have burns on your face, hands, feet, and perineum, ▲ if the burn area turns white and you have no sense, you should visit the emergency room immediately after first aid at home."

■ When you have cuts, wounds, and scrapes on your hand,

Hemostasis comes before washing the wound. It is most desirable to cover it with clean gauze and then press the wound area with your hands. You can use a clean towel in case you don't have gauze ready. You should avoid the items that stick to the wound, such as tissue, and you also should not thoughtlessly use hemostatic powder because it impedes the prompt recovery of damages.

If there is a foreign substance on the wound, it is adequate to wash it off before visiting the hospital. At this time, it is best to use sterile physiological saline, but clean tap water is also acceptable for those without underlying diseases. Go to the emergency room instantly if the bleeding does not stop even with first aid or the finger is wholly amputated.

■ When you chock,

Small foreign substances, such as fish thorns, should be removed in the emergency room. However, prompt first aid should be taken at home if a large food chunk is blocked from the airways.

First, when the patient can still breathe and cough, the airway is not completely blocked. In this case, you have to provoke him or her to cough to maintain the airway and take the patient to the emergency room quickly. When the patient can't breathe, you should promptly implement the Heimlich maneuver. (See photo below)


The Heimlich method is the first aid to open the airways when food obstructs the airways. As a distinct approach should be performed for adults (left) and children (right), it is crucial to get acquainted with the difference. (Photo=Ministry of Health and Welfare)
For infants under the age of one or under the weight of 10kg, you lay them down on your thigh with their heads facing down and then tap their backs (in the middle of both wing bones) hard five times with your palms. After that, lay them forward and place your two fingers on the sternum area (right below the center of the line connecting both nipples of the child) to press five times quickly and powerfully.

For children over a year old and adults over a year old, you should hold them from behind and place your clenched fist on their belly buttons while pressing their stomach inward by wrapping your fist with your other hand.

Professor Lee Se-wook said, "We need to reiterate this action while checking if foreign substances have come out," and emphasized, "Even if the condition has improved, you should take the patients to the emergency room immediately because the organ may have been damaged."

■When you have oil splashed in your eyes,

It would be best if you did not rub your eyes. Just wash thoroughly with saline or clean tap water.

Eun-Hye Jeong, an ophthalmologist at Nowon Eulji University Hospital, said, "Ice cold packs are also effective, but it is essential to wash your eyes immediately." "Most of the cases heal within 24 to 48 hours, but if pain, tearing, and foreign body feeling persists, you should check with an ophthalmologist for corneal damage to get a prescription of antibiotics or anti-inflammatory eye drops," she said.

When you have irritation, redness, and foreign substances in your eyes from smoke when cooking, you should consciously blink more frequently or apply artificial tears.

■When food in the refrigerator falls on your feet,

It is best to practice a cold compress quickly to prevent swelling of the impacted foot. After placing an ice pack or a plastic bag with iced water in it on the affected area, you should lie down. At this time, it is better to put a pillow under the injured foot so that the foot can be placed higher than the heart.

Professor Lee Yoon-Jae of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Hallym University Gangnam Sacred Heart Hospital maintained, "If the pain is sharp when you press the bone around the impact site or the pain gets worse when you put weight on the injured foot, you should go to the emergency room as soon as possible because a fracture is suspected."

■When a tooth is broken,

There are very few first aid measures that can be done at home, so you should go to the dentist as soon as possible. However, if the front teeth are broken, the tooth fragments can be reattached, so you soak it in water or encase it in wet tissue and take it with you to the emergency room. You can discard the molars.

Professor Kim Do-Hyeon of the Department of Conservation at Yonsei University Severance Dental Hospital said, "If you move a little, bleeding and severe pain can occur even when there is a small crack in the tooth." "You should not touch as much as possible and go to the dentist quickly to check the broken area and then remove it," he stated.

When your gums bleed while chewing hard food, you should stop the bleeding with clean gauze or tissue. Professor Kim Do-Hyun said, "Among the parts of our body, the mouth heals the most wounds best, so you don't have to worry too much if it stops bleeding. "However, if the wound is large and it needs to be sutured, you should seek dental treatment as soon as possible," he suggested.