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The appeal of caravanning in Australia, is and always will be the ability to just get away from it all, and considering what we've been through the last couple of years, it's not hard to see why the caravan industry is having such a big boom. After all, we've all learnt that putting off doing the things you really want to do, can mean putting them off for a lot longer than expected!
However, it doesn't matter whether you're spending a few nights or a few years in your caravan, it's important to consider how you can be prepared for emergencies, and while you can't plan when an emergency will strike, you certainly can be prepared.
The team at Out There Internet explore some things you can do to be more prepared, should you find yourself in an emergency situation, including the difference a reliable communication system can make in an emergency.
The risk of emergencies happening when you're caravanning, is higher than when you are at home. This is because you may frequently find yourself in unfamiliar circumstances, and you are constantly having to adjust to new environments, each with inherently different levels of risk.
There are many common non-emergency situations that caravaners may be faced with, ranging from sprains and strains and insect bites, to mild burns and brief illnesses. A well stocked first aid kit can help with many of these conditions and you can generally manage these without a lot of forward planning.
The situations you really do need to plan for are those that call for immediate help. Think, heart attacks, strokes, snake bites and serious illnesses, especially those that can happen with young children. Thinking this won't happen to you and failing to plan for how you'll respond to these emergencies is a mistake.
Serious emergencies can't be resolved with the contents of a first aid kit, so it's important that caravaners have a way of getting help to the patient, as quickly as possible.
Here are five things you can do to ensure you lessen the time it takes to get help for your patient are;
Download the Emergency Plus App on your phone and the phone of everyone in your travelling group.
Brush up on your CPR skills before you head off on your next trip.
Make sure you know the exit route out of your campground and the direction of the nearest town or nearest signed intersection in case you need to leave to go and meet emergency services.
Being able to clearly communicate your location and the state of your patient to the emergency services call taker can mean the difference between life and death, so ensure you have a reliable means of communication with a caravan internet system, like Out There internet.
Just like a fire drill you might practice, at home, it's a good idea to practice a fire and emergency drill when you're out camping. Even small children should have a role to play in an emergency response.
If you're travelling with kids, you need to be extra prepared. Here are a few things you can practice with them;
Get them to practice saying the name of the place where you're camped, in case it is them that needs to make the emergency call, or keep a small whiteboard in the caravan and write the name of each location when you arrive.
They might know how to play a Youtube video, but make sure they know how to use the dial pad on the mobile phone, and how to use the Emergency Plus App.
Practice some age appropriate skills with them, such as bandaging a wound, making a splint and cooling down a burn.
Why you can't just rely on your mobile phone reception.
Australia is a big place, and although there are more than 21,000 mobile phone base stations throughout Australia, they are designed to provide communication to more populated areas, and this often does not include the remote beach camps, like Sheringa Beach that off-road caravaners love so much.
The limitations of your mobile phone may also mean that you only have a short range of distance that you can be away from a 4G tower before you won't be able to make call. Most mobile phones will drop out at around 10km away from a tower, even less, when there are obstructions, like hills, or lots of trees and mountains.
Caravans can also act like a faraday cage, so any signal that you might get when you are outside the caravan will soon be lost as soon as you step inside. The same is true if you are connecting your mobile phone to a booster like Cel-Fi Go, you may only be able to use your phone inside the caravan and therefore you risk having no connectivity when you step outside your caravan.
This is why investing in a high-performance caravan internet and caravan wifi system like Out There Internet, can mean the difference between a patchy sounding phone call making it difficult to relay critical information to the call taker, or a phone call that sounds crystal clear and allows you manage the situation more calmly and more in control.
Out There Internet provides an often drastically enhanced internet signal through it's industrial grade antenna and fully integrated 4G router, and an extended wifi range of 50 metres through the high-performance Ubiquiti wifi dish.
Get in touch with us to learn more about how Out There Internet can keep your family safe and give you a better caravan internet experience.