AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION 12 November 08 GPS saves man bitten by snake

A lone camper has been airlifted to hospital in a serious condition after being bitten by a brown snake in bushland in the far-south of the ACT.

The 27-year-old man was camping alone near Tharwa, some distance from the nearest road.

He was able to direct a helicopter and an ambulance to his campsite using his portable GPS.

Paramedic Helen Petro took the triple-0 call and reassured the man for an hour-and-a-half until help arrived.

"He was by himself and he'd been out camping, he'd just started to boil his billy for a cup of tea and the snake came out, chomped him on the leg and slithered off," she said.

"He was a good kilometre-and-a-half from the nearest road, so we had a good job trying to find him."

Ms Petro says the man offered to walk to the road but she advised him against doing so.

"The more activity you engage in the faster you spread venom," she said.

"One of the most important things you can do after you've been bitten, be it spider, snake, dog, it doesn't matter, is to remain calm and to remain still."
GPS saves man bitten by snake

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• AUS Press: GPS saves man bitten by snake - W von Papineäu, Sun Nov 23 18:37:00 2008