Last Thursday and Friday, your Red Cross leadership team sat down and thought strategically. We do this every once in while and I’m always stunned at the really top-notch ideas that come out of such a session.

The other thing that happens? Shopping.

Yep, all of us went a little nuts on the Edgefield gift shop, which is filled with all sorts of quirky trinkets. I got a book on Colorstrology (awesome) and some cute cards. But Stephanie, our Health and Safety Director, picked up the coolest item of all — the Don’t Die Out There deck of playing cards.

From the description:

When heading into the outdoors, you chose multipurpose gear whenever possible–bonus points for equipment that’s both functional and fun. You can’t do better than the Don’t Die Out There Deck, a compact deck of playing cards that tucks easily into any backpack or pocket. From construction of emergency shelters and evacuation techniques to how to care for someone with a fracture or construct a solar still, your poker hand contains basic survival tips that could prove lifesaving! The Don’t Die Out There Deck makes a great gift for anyone who spends time in the outdoors.

Topics are organized by card suit:

Diamonds: survival essentials, signals, locating your position, and shelters;
Spades: assessing the situation, water, fire, food, and evacuation techniques;
Hearts: basic first aid, hypothermia, frostbite, heat illness, and sprains and dislocations;
Clubs: CPR, head and spine injuries, fractures, bites and stings, and evacuating the injured.

If you can’t take our wilderness first aid class (dates coming soon), at least pick up these cards for your friends and family who like to hike, backpack and mountain climb during Oregon spring and summers.

I don’t say this lightly — these cards are VERY COOL. You totally want ’em.