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First aid: what do you see?

Thirty cards, each named for what you can see in front of you. Each one gives the first thing to do and opens the full page, with the sources named there. Type a word to narrow the cards, or just scroll. Nothing to sign up for, and nothing you type leaves this page.

No card matches those words. Try one plain word, or clear the box to see every card. If it looks like an emergency, call 911 now.

The cards

• Choking: can’t breathe, cough, speak or cry, or turning blue

  Call 911, or have someone call, and act now. Coughing hard, or can talk? Let them cough and stay with them.

  Open: When someone is choking →

• Collapsed and not responding

  Call 911, push hard and fast on the center of the chest, and send someone for an AED.

  Open: When it might be a heart attack →

• Chest pain or discomfort, a cold sweat, feeling faint, shortness of breath, or pain in the jaw, neck, back, arm or shoulder

  Call 911 right away. Call even if you are not sure. Do not drive to the hospital or let someone else drive you: call for an ambulance.

  Open: When it might be a heart attack →

• Sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm or leg, trouble speaking, trouble seeing, trouble walking, or a severe headache with no known cause

  Call 911 right away. Note the time the signs started. If the signs go away, it is still an emergency.

  Open: When it might be a stroke →

• Someone is having a seizure

  Stay with them. Move anything that could hurt them. If they are lying down, turn them gently on their side. Time it. Do not hold them down, and do not put anything in their mouth. Longer than 5 minutes, or their first seizure: call 911.

  Open: When someone has a seizure →

• Bleeding a lot

  Call 911 and put the phone on speaker. Then use your hands to press hard on the wound. Also on that page: cuts and scrapes, nosebleeds, a bite.

  Open: When someone is bleeding →

• A burn, or clothes on fire

  Clothes on fire: stop, drop and roll. A smaller burn: cool running water, now. Not ice. Larger than a hand, or from chemicals or electricity: call 911.

  Open: When someone is burned →

• Swallowed, breathed in, or got on the skin or in the eye, something that might be a poison

  Call Poison Help, 1-800-222-1222. If the person collapses, has a seizure, has trouble breathing, or can’t be awakened: call 911. Do not make the person vomit.

  Open: When it might be a poisoning →

• Someone may have overdosed: won’t wake up, breathing slowly or strangely, or not breathing

  Call 911 now. Give naloxone (Narcan) if you have it. Don’t leave them alone.

  Open: If someone may have overdosed →

• After a food, a sting or a medicine: trouble breathing, a tight throat, a swollen tongue or lips, hives all over, feeling faint

  If the person has epinephrine, use it now, and call 911. Do not wait to see. Go to the emergency room even if it gets better.

  Open: When it might be a severe allergic reaction →

• A snakebite

  Call 911, and treat it as an emergency even with no symptoms yet. Get away from the snake; do not try to catch or kill it. Do not drive yourself. Keep calm, sit or lie down, take off rings and watches. Do not cut it, suck it, put ice on it or use a tourniquet.

  Open: Snakebite: what to do right away, what not to do, and the signs →

• A spider bite

  Trouble breathing, or signs of a severe allergic reaction? Call 911. Otherwise: wash the bite with soap and water, put something cold on it, raise it if you can, and do not try to remove the venom. Get care for a small child or for severe symptoms.

  Open: Spider bites: first aid, the signs, and when to get care →

• A bite or scratch from a dog, a cat, a bat or another animal

  Bleeding that will not stop, or feeling faint or weak? Call 911. Wash the bite or scratch right away with soap and water. A wild animal, a bat, a stray, or a pet whose rabies shots you do not know? Talk with a health care provider or your health department right away.

  Open: Animal bites: dogs, cats, bats, and rabies →

• A tick attached to the skin

  Take it off now: clean fine-tipped tweezers, as close to the skin as you can, pull away with steady, even pressure; do not twist or jerk it. No petroleum jelly, heat or nail polish. Clean the bite and your hands. A rash or fever within several weeks: see your doctor. Trouble breathing, chest pain, or fainting: call 911.

  Open: After a tick bite: taking it off, what to watch for, and Lyme disease →

• A sting from a bee, a wasp, a hornet, fire ants or a scorpion

  Trouble breathing, swelling that spreads, chest pain, or slurred speech? Call 911. Stay with the person to see if an allergic reaction starts. Bee, wasp or hornet: wash with soap and water, scrape the stinger out with gauze or a fingernail (never squeeze it or use tweezers), put ice on it. Fire ants: rub them off briskly. Scorpion: contact a health care provider or a poison control center.

  Open: Bee, wasp and fire ant stings, and scorpions: first aid and the signs →

• Touched poison ivy, poison oak or poison sumac

  Swelling or trouble breathing? Call 911 or go to a hospital emergency room. Rinse the skin right away with rubbing alcohol, a poison plant wash or dishwashing soap, and lots of water; scrub under the nails. Wash the clothes separately in hot water with detergent. Do not scratch the blisters. On the face or genitals, or severe: get medical help. Never burn these plants.

  Open: Poison ivy, oak and sumac: first aid, the rash, and when to get care →

• An asthma attack: coughing, wheezing, a tight chest, shortness of breath

  Use the reliever inhaler now, the way the person’s asthma action plan says. If the inhaler is not helping, or breathing is still very hard: call 911.

  Open: When it’s hard to breathe →

• Low blood sugar: shaking, sweating, a fast heartbeat, irritability or confusion, dizziness, hunger

  If the person is awake and can swallow, give sugar now. If they cannot swallow, are very confused, have a seizure or have passed out: use their glucagon if they have it and you know how, and call 911.

  Open: When blood sugar goes too low or too high →

• Someone very hot who is confused, slurring, passing out, or having a seizure

  Call 911, then cool them while you wait. A child or a pet alone in a hot car: call 911.

  Open: When it’s dangerously hot →

• Someone very cold who is confused, slurring, fumbling, very drowsy, or can’t be woken

  Call 911. Try to move the person to a warmer place, and wrap them in dry blankets, towels, or coats.

  Open: When it’s dangerously cold →

• The carbon monoxide alarm is sounding, or a headache, dizziness and an upset stomach in more than one person at home

  Don’t look for the source. Get everyone outside to fresh air, then call 911 or the fire department.

  Open: When it might be carbon monoxide →

• A smell of gas, or a hissing or blowing sound

  Leave now, and take everyone with you. On the way out, touch nothing that can spark. Don’t phone from inside: call 911 or the gas company from somewhere else.

  Open: When you smell gas →

• Fire, or the smoke alarm is sounding

  Get out. Close doors behind you. Call 911 from outside. Don’t go back in.

  Open: When there’s a fire at home →

• Someone is struggling in the water, or is out of the water, not responding and not breathing normally

  In the water: shout for a lifeguard and call 911. Throw them something that floats. The United States Lifesaving Association says: never enter the water without a flotation device. Out and not breathing normally: call 911 and start CPR now, with rescue breaths if you can. If you can’t give breaths, push hard and fast on the center of the chest until help arrives.

  Open: When someone is in trouble in the water →

• An arm, leg or joint that looks bent or out of place, a bone showing, or someone who can’t get up after a fall

  A bone is showing, or they hurt their head, neck or back? Don’t move them. Call 911. A hip, or they can’t get up after a fall? Don’t lift them. Call 911. It looks bent or out of place? Leave it the way you found it. Don’t straighten it and don’t push anything back in.

  Open: When a bone might be broken →

• Someone is touching something live, got an electric shock, or was struck by lightning; or a power line is down

  Still touching it? Don’t touch them. Call 911, or have someone call. Turn off the power: pull the plug, or turn it off at the main switch or the breaker box. A power line? Stay away from it and call 911. Struck by lightning? They are safe to touch. Call 911 and help them.

  Open: When someone gets an electric shock →

• A chemical splashed in an eye; a cut, or something stuck in an eye; a blow to the eye; or sand, dust or a speck in an eye

  A chemical? Rinse now with water, eye held open, for at least 15 minutes. Then get emergency care. Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222. A cut, or something stuck? Don’t rinse. Don’t pull it out. Don’t press. Cover it with the bottom of a paper cup and go to an emergency room, or call 911. A blow? A cold compress, with no pressure. A speck? Don’t rub.

  Open: When an eye is hurt →

• A permanent tooth knocked out; a baby tooth knocked out; or a chipped, cracked or loosened tooth

  A permanent tooth? Pick it up by the crown, not the root. Don’t scrub it. Don’t let it dry. Most of the pages we read say to try placing it back in the socket; one says not to. Can’t put it back? Keep it wet: in milk, or in saliva in a container. Not in tap water. Then a dentist right away, or an emergency room if the office is closed. A baby tooth? Don’t put it back. Call a dentist. A hit to the head as well, bleeding that won’t stop after 15 minutes of pressure, or a jaw that may be broken? Go to an emergency room, or call 911.

  Open: When a tooth is knocked out or broken →

• In labor with the baby coming now, and no way to get to the hospital in time

  Call 911. Put the phone on speaker and say where you are. Unlock the door. Get down low, on something soft; not on the toilet. Push gently. Guide the baby out; don’t pull. A cord around the neck: lift it gently over the head, or loosen it. Baby straight onto the mother’s bare chest: dry the baby, cover them both. Not crying? Rub the baby’s back firmly; don’t spank, don’t hold the baby upside down. Leave the cord; don’t pull on it. Dizzy, faint, or bleeding heavily after the birth? Tell 911 now.

  Open: When the baby is coming and you can’t get to the hospital →

• A hit to the head, and then: a headache that gets worse, repeated vomiting, slurred speech, weakness or numbness, a seizure, one pupil larger than the other, not recognizing people or places, very drowsy or not waking up

  Call 911 or go to an emergency department. On that page: “mild” does not mean small.

  Open: After a hit to the head →

This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). It adds no new facts. Every line on a card is shortened from the “Right now” box of the page that card opens, as that page stood on the day the card was added (between October 3 and October 14, 2026), and that page names the sources each line came from, the day they were read, and where the sources differ. A short line leaves things out: open the page. The words you type in the box are matched against the cards on your own device; they are not saved or sent anywhere. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a clinic, a hospital or an emergency service, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].