01
Plan
An extraction path from every floor of your home.
Lesson 3: Moving someone who can't walk
Getting an incapacitated person up stairs, out of a basement, or onto a backboard - realistically.
Lesson 03 · 25 min
Television teaches the fireman's carry. Reality teaches the rescue blanket.
Moving someone who can't walk
The Real-Life First-Aid Kit · Lesson 03
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Lesson 03 · Mobility
Learning Objectives
00 · 00
By the end of this lesson
Two skills and one critical principle.
02
Equip
The single piece of kit most households are missing.
03
Decide
When not to move the patient - and act on that decision.
Lesson 03 · Mobility
Key Concept
00 · 00
Underrated kit item
Rescue blanket
MedSled · Reeves Sleeve · padded litter
Definition
A reinforced blanket with 8–10 sewn-in handles around the perimeter, allowing 2–4 rescuers to move an incapacitated adult through doorways, down hallways, and up or down stairs.
In the room
Four people lift a 200-lb adult from a basement to a driveway in under three minutes. Without the blanket, the same crew would be improvising with a door or sheet.
- $40–$150 · home + safe-room layers
Lesson 03 · Mobility
Procedure
00 · 00
Procedure · two-person seat carry · 4 steps
The two-person seat carry
01
of 04
Face
Rescuers face each other
Stand on either side of the patient, facing each other. Squat low - bend your knees, not your back.
Checkpoint · Facing partner
02
of 04
Grip
Wrists under the patient's thighs
Each rescuer grips the other's wrists in a square hold, under the patient's thighs, forming a cradle.
Checkpoint · Square grip
03
of 04
Lift
Patient sits in the cradle
The patient sits on the cradle of your wrists and puts an arm around each rescuer's shoulders for stability.
Checkpoint · Patient seated
04
of 04
Move
Walk on three
Count to three out loud and stand together. Take small, deliberate steps. Stop and rest as needed; the goal is to arrive, not to set a record.
Checkpoint · Steady pace
Lesson 03 · Mobility
Common Pitfalls
00 · 00
When NOT to move · critical
When moving makes it worse
What goes wrong
What to do instead
01 · Critical
Moving a patient with suspected spinal injury (fell from height, neck pain, head impact).
Instead
Stabilize and wait - unless the environment is killing them faster than the spinal injury will.
02 · Critical
Moving a patient with suspected pelvic fracture.
Instead
Stabilize and wait. Movement worsens internal bleeding.
03 · Common
Lifting with your back rather than your legs.
Instead
Squat. The patient is heavier than you think. A pulled back means two patients.
Lesson 03 · Mobility
Summary
00 · 00
Recap · 3 takeaways
Mapped to objectives 01–03
Mobility recap
01
Tour every floor of your home and ask: how would I move someone out from here?
Maps to · Objective 01
02
A rescue blanket with handles is the single most underrated kit item.
Maps to · Objective 02
03
Spinal, pelvic, or active bleeding: stabilize and wait, unless the environment makes that impossible.
Maps to · Objective 03
Transcript
Lesson three: moving someone who can't walk. Television teaches us the fireman's carry - and in real life, in a real basement, with a real adult who outweighs you, the fireman's carry is almost never the answer.
Transcript
Two skills, one principle. You'll walk through your own home and plan how to extract a patient from each floor. You'll know what to buy. And you'll know - and this might be the most important one - when not to move someone at all.
Transcript
The single most underrated piece of kit - the one almost no household has - is a rescue blanket with handles. Four people can lift a two-hundred-pound adult up a flight of stairs with one. Without it, they're helpless.
Transcript
If you don't have a rescue blanket, you'll improvise with two rescuers and a seat carry. It's the most reliable two-person technique for short distances. Four steps to get it right.
Transcript
The most consequential mistakes in this lesson aren't about technique - they're about deciding to move someone you shouldn't move. Three you have to know.
Transcript
Three things to walk away with. Walk your house tonight, looking at each floor through the lens of extraction. Pick a rescue blanket - even if you buy it later. And know the three scenarios where the right move is to wait.