The Boy Scout motto is ‘Be prepared.’ But you don’t need to be covered in merit badges to handle a crisis! So here’s how to handle some common emergencies.Courtesy of Quick and Simple Magazine:

• You accidentally poured boiling water onto your hand while cooking. If your Rachel Ray impression goes awry, do this: hold the injured area under cool, running water until the pain goes away. Then, loosely cover the burn in some sterile gauze to prevent infection. But whatever you do, DON’T put butter or ointments on the burn! This’ll trap heat in your skin and make things worse. And if the burn is white, charred, blackened, or bigger than the palm of your hand, get to the emergency room.
• You’re at a football game and notice someone slumped unconscious in the stands. First, tap them on the shoulder and loudly ask ‘Are you ok?’ If they don’t respond, call 911 immediately. And while you’re waiting for the ambulance, do this: If the person is breathing normally, roll them onto their side and position their head and neck so it’s angled towards the ground. This helps keep their airway open and allows and fluids to drain from their mouth. If they’re not conscious and you know CPR, start performing it.
• You’re having dinner with a friend, and they start choking on a chicken bone. If they just swallowed it, encourage them to cough as hard as they can.The object might pop out on its own. If that doesn’t work, bend them over at the waist and use the heel of your hand to strike them between the shoulder blades 5 times. If they’re still choking, call 911 and perform the Heimlich maneuver while you wait for the ambulance. And if you’re not sure how to perform CPR or the Heimlich maneuver, I’ll post websites with instructions at ‘tesh .com’.