First aid in medicine is defined as “the assistance given to any person suffering a sudden illness or injury, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery.” Its aims can be summed up as the three P’s: preserve life, prevent further harm, and promote recovery. With the exception of the aim of “promoting recovery” this framework is applicable to cryonics, too.

The rationale for allowing laypersons to provide basic medical procedures rests on the recognition that the health condition of a person can rapidly change and/or professional responders may be unable get to the patient in a timely fashion. A major difference between mainstream medicine and cryonics, however, is that in cryonics there often is no local professional response team that can deploy quickly to stabilize the patient. As a consequence, one would expect to see more situations in which the initial, or even all, aspects of a cryonics case will need to be done by local volunteers—and that is exactly what has been observed. This does not necessarily indicate a deficiency on the part of professional cryonics standby organizations. Cryonics is simply not big enough to have professional response teams in every state and major city.

The objective of professional cryonics standby teams and cryonics first aid are the same: stabilize the condition of the patient. What sets cryonics first aid apart from the comprehensive protocols of professional standby organizations is the degree to which this objective can be accomplished and the equipment used.

Cryonics first response entails three procedures: cooling, circulation, and medications administration. One clear advantage that cryonics first aid responders have is that our most effective procedure, cooling, is also the easiest to implement. What usually sets good cryonics first aid apart from suboptimal cryonics first aid is the efficiency of cooling achieved and whether induction of hypothermia is augmented by chest compressions and medications administration. When cryonics first aid is done competently response time is fast, cooling rates are fast, circulation is restored, and a basic medications protocol to prevent clotting, brain injury, and swelling is administered.

The topic of cryonics first aid has not received as much attention as other topics in cryonics. In the early days of cryonics it did not make sense to draw a distinction between cryonics first aid and advanced procedures because all procedures were done by (trained) volunteers. And later, when professional cryonics standby organizations were formed, the topic also received little attention because it was not sufficiently recognized that there would still be a large role to play for local cryonics groups in the provision of cryonics procedures. It is only now when we have come to appreciate the advantages of a “hybrid” standby model in which local team members provide first aid, or interact with professional standby organizations, that there is a need to clearly define the objectives, scope, and physical infrastructure associated with cryonics first aid.

Some of the current questions about cryonics first aid that Alcor seeks to address include: What is the exact cryonics first aid protocol? Which items should be in a cryonics first aid kit? Should cryonics first aid kits be available to groups or also to individual members? What makes a local group eligible for a full set of standby kits instead of a first aid kit? What will cryonics first aid training comprise? What is the difference between Alcor’s first aid protocol and Alcor’s abbreviated protocol designed for professional standby teams in case of a delayed response? How do professional standby teams such as ICE and SA interact with local cryonics first aid responders? Should first aid capabilities be enhanced in areas with many members and an active local community?

Originally published as a column in Cryonics magazine, March – April, 2018