Stay safe alone: tackle home emergencies confidently

Illustrations: Steve Sanford YOU’VE CUT YOUR FINGER DEEPLY WHILE SLICING VEGGIES RINSE YOUR CUT. “Tap water is fine; don’t worry about it being sterile,” says Weill Cornell’s Fortenko. “What

helps prevent infection is the pressure of the water used to wash out the wound.” APPLY FIRM, DIRECT PRESSURE to the wound. If the bleeding continues apace, switch to applying pressure to

the area an inch or two below the cut instead of directly on it, says Fortenko. MAKE A TOURNIQUET as a last resort if the bleeding is extreme. Wrap a rubber band or hair tie around the base

of your finger, but don’t leave this on for longer than five minutes, as it can lead to nerve damage. If your cut is this bad, go to an ER immediately. Photo: Brent Humphreys YOU’RE STRUCK

BY A WAVE OF VERTIGO LOOK FOR SIGNS OF STROKE. If the wave of vertigo is so bad you can barely get to your feet, and If sudden, severe and unprovoked vertigo is accompanied by stroke

symptoms (see “Is It a Stroke?” above) or by nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, headache or neck pain, call 911 immediately, says Narayanan of the Pacific Neuroscience Institute. BUT RELAX.

Isolated vertigo symptoms are usually not stroke related, Narayanan says. “This could be due to conditions like an inner ear problem, an aftermath of a head injury or a medication you are

taking,” she explains. GET TO A CHAIR. If you feel vertigo come on suddenly, stay seated and wait it out. If you’re on your feet already, get to a chair; move slowly, brace yourself against

a wall or counter, and avoid excessive bending to minimize falls. TAKE SOME DEEP BREATHS to calm yourself, as anxiety can worsen your symptoms. Some people find relief by lying still in a

quiet room with the lights dimmed until the feeling passes. Illustrations: Steve Sanford YOU SUDDENLY BREAK OUT IN HIVES AND CAN’T BREATHE AFTER A MEAL If you have dizziness or trouble

breathing, call 911 right away, says F. Ida Hsu, M.D., an assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine. Don’t try to drive yourself to the hospital or urgent care. If you are already

driving when this occurs, pull over to a safe space and call for help. REACH FOR THE AUTO-INJECTOR. If you have known food allergies and have been prescribed an epinephrine auto-injector,

now is the time to use it. MOVE SLOWLY. If you need to move about the house to locate a phone or your auto-­injector and there’s no one around to help you, get up slowly and use a wall or

counter to support yourself, says Hsu. GO TO THE ER ANYWAY. Even if you do have an auto-injector and use it successfully, you should still go to the emergency room. Epinephrine can wear off,

and you should be treated by a medical professional. CALM THE REACTION. If your symptoms are mild (say, just a few hives) and you have no known food allergies, try taking an

over-the-counter antihistamine such as cetirizine (Zyrtec), loratadine (Claritin) or fexofenadine (Allegra) to see if that helps ease your symptoms. Avoid medicines with diphenhydramine

(Benadryl), which can make you drowsy—not a good idea if you’re alone and need to monitor your symptoms. Illustrations: Steve Sanford SOMETHING HARD JUST GOT INTO YOUR EYE Don’t rub it! That

might be your first instinct, but rubbing can lead to serious eye damage. If you feel that something is in your eye: BLINK REPEATEDLY to naturally flush it out with your tears. You can

rinse the eye with water or saline solution. But don’t try to remove the foreign object yourself, as you could cause further damage in the process. APPLY A COLD COMPRESS to the surrounding

tissue to reduce swelling, but refrain from applying pressure directly on the eye. GO TO THE ER if you continue to feel that something is lodged in your eye. If you experience ongoing pain,

loss of vision, bleeding or discharge from the eye, a cut or torn eyelid, or impaired eye mobility, or if the pupils of your eye are different sizes, head to the ER or call your

ophthalmologist. COVER IT. In the event that your eye has been punctured, don’t rinse, touch or press on the actual eye area. Place a protective shield, like a large gauze pad, over the eye,

taping it to the surrounding bones, and call 911. DON’T TAKE ASPIRIN OR NONSTEROIDAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORIES (NSAIDS), which can make bleeding worse. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is fine. WHEN IN

DOUBT, GET CHECKED OUT BY YOUR OPHTHALMOLOGIST, since even mild blows to the eye can cause injuries like retinal detachment. Illustrations: Steve Sanford A STRANGER IS KNOCKING ON YOUR

DOOR—AND WON’T GO AWAY The sudden pounding of a stranger at your door can send waves of panic through your body. Follow what’s likely to be your first instinct and avoid opening the door to

a stranger—even if that person is wearing a service uniform or claims to be injured and in need of assistance, says Tim Rader, senior director of product development at ADT North America.

MAKE SURE YOUR WHOLE HOME IS SECURE. Don’t just focus on the front door, where the person is. “Check the locks on all your doors and turn on all your outside lights,” says Peter Forth,

director of operations for Second Sight Training Systems, a personal and corporate training organization. SHIFT YOUR MINDSET. Avoid the impulse—even though it’s polite—to respond to someone

face-to-face. “The first thing we talk about in personal safety training is that if you didn’t ask for someone to be there, you don’t want them there,” Forth says. “So don’t open the door,

or you’re creating an opportunity for someone to harm you.” INVOLVE OTHERS. “Call a trusted safety contact [relative or neighbor], and keep them on the phone with you as you go about

assessing the situation and communicating without opening the door,” Rader says. TALK THROUGH A LOCKED DOOR. If the person claims to need help, tell them you’ll call 911. If they claim to be

at your home on official business, ask them to have their office call you. If they claim to need a signature for a package you don’t remember ordering, tell them you can pick it up at the

post office or shipping center. For anyone else, just ask them to leave. IF THEY REFUSE TO LEAVE, TAKE ACTION. “Call 911 and set off your panic alarm if you have one,” Forth says. “It can

take four or five minutes or more for the police to get there, and a lot of bad things can happen in four minutes. So until someone shows up, you are your first responder. Do whatever you

can to make it uncomfortable for them to remain there.” CONSIDER A DOORBELL CAMERA. Doorbell cameras have built-in microphones and speakers that let you see, hear and talk with the person at

the door through your smartphone. That can make it easier to resist the urge to open the door.