Medical Upgrade

The newest addition to our extensive first aid collection this season is a Philips Heartstart AED (automated external defibrillator).  Carrie and I both renewed our CPR training this spring and practiced operating an AED.  Carrie has been affectionately calling him Phil.

An AED is a portable electronic device that is capable of diagnosing a heart arrhythmia and treating it with electrical energy to reestablish a regular heart beat.  Untreated heart arrhythmia can lead to cardiac arrest and every minute is critical.  AEDs have been proven to save lives on multiple occasions.  We are hoping ours collects dust and is never put to the test.

The most likely medical situation we face is probably dealing with a flesh wound due to a fish hook.  We have successfully removed a few hooks in the last few years, and this is also an injury that lots of anglers can handle themselves.  Of course if you aren't comfortable with us taking a hook out, we'd be happy to take you in to the clinic in town.  The lodge is about 20 minutes away from the hospital in Red Lake via boat and vehicle.  We took a guest in last year with a particularly nasty hook injury and the clinic successfully removed the hook for about $50 and only lost 2 hours of fishing time.  Not bad, huh?