Do you include a Communication Board/Cards in your prep?

xyz - September 20, 2023

GearSkills

I’ve been thinking about adding communication board or cards in my Level 3 first aid kit.  Does anyone have any experience with them, and if so, what are you using?

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That’s an interesting idea. I’ve previously heard of communication boards for people with communication disorders or for pets. If anyone in your household uses AAC regularly, then having a reliable backup for that is very high priority. But it could also be helpful for communicating with someone who speaks a different language or who is temporarily nonverbal due to injury. Which scenario are you most focused on?

 

No specific scenario in mind.  My rationale for keeping it in my L3 FAK is that it’s more likely to be there when I need it, but I could just as easily keep it in my BOB.  There were times as a DR team member when I could have really used a visual reference to help communicate with a variety of folks.  There’s a number of immigrants that speak something other than Spanish so it’s not a matter of learning a second (or third) language.  And not just non-English speaking folks, but children, elderly, and deaf/hearing impaired.  It can get wild at times, almost like Pictonary or Charades.

 

It sounds like a great idea. The challenge is choosing the vocabulary to match the scenario. These communication boards, for example, look good for first aid. But they wouldn’t help as much for a discussion on food/shelter/evacuation.

Medical Communication Board

 

Found a previously great page of resources about AAC for disaster response. Lots of broken links now but might be a good starting point to find some of these resources.

https://aac-rerc.psu.edu/index.php/pages/show/id/4