Thursday, March 06, 2008

Poking Sticks


I was at an Oilers game the other day and we were talking about how many ambulance calls are for people in the street, not moving, possibly dead. No one ever tries to wake them up, and they generally end up as intoxicated itinerant individuals who are asked to move on by the crew. This seems to happen a lot in big cities, less so in smaller towns - but it still happens. Even in Canada, in winter.


What I suggested was a special Poking Stick. Much like the concept of 'Heart Safe', where AEDs are available to members of the public in case someone collapses, these special "Poke Safe" sticks would be available behind plastic fronted cabinets in high occurrence areas. That way, members of the public could safely poke collapsed drunks without fear of being attacked, or more importantly, of getting ickiness on them. Eww.

I'm sure it'll catch on. I'll write to the regional director of health services. The budget should be a lot cheaper than those $5,000 AED units!