A German online marketing website praises a rescue blanket due to these five qualities:
• Compact: The super-light rescue blankets easily fit into emergency kits.
• Heat regulating: The silver-golden foil reflects up to 90 percent of the body temperature of the person wrapped in it and can thus prevent cooling out (hypothermia).
• Multifunctional: The blankets are water-proof and large enough for wrapping both children and grown-up people. They can be used against extreme cold as well as burns.
• Life Saving: A rescue blanket can make the difference between life and death.
• Better prepared: A gold-silver rescue blanket will prepare you for unpredictable situations and might even have the psychological effect of making you feel more secure.
I find the last statement a little odd in the face of such a mundane object that must be included in every vehicle first aid kit according to German industry standards (DIN). Have you ever felt more secure or better prepared because you knew you had a rescue blanket in the car? In my urban environment, rescue blankets are more DIY, especially when they make people feel better prepared for parties. They are really cheap, you can get them easily, and in no time, a living room will have that little shiny something. Yet, as much as I have always enjoyed entering glittering party homes, I could never help thinking ‘oh, a rescue blanket’.
I had my rescue-blanket moment, albeit not life-saving, when I was a child. I had caught a cold during a family holiday and my mother knew how to speed-up the recovery process: She quickly wrapped me from chin to toe into the golden foil. It definitely felt as if this foil was reflecting 90 percent of my feverish body temperature. I was sweating like hell. And got well quite soon – heat regulating indeed.
However, let’s not forget that despite these mundane ‘descriptions’ of the object, rescue blankets really do save lives. In her text “Dead-Bodies-at-the-border” Amade M’charek recalls her visit to a refugee campsite in Tessaloniki, Greece: “I spotted a typical, golden coloured first aid blanket on the track in front of my feet. It was simply litter, laying about. Waste. All of a sudden, and with incredible force, the aluminium blanket articulated the purpose of the place, providing refuge for people who fled their countries.” (M’charek, p. 150)
What a contrast! I leave it to you to further ponder about this multifunctional device. I only want to add that, ironically, it is their quality to reflect electromagnetic waves that allows these compact, shiny rescue blankets to oscillate between saving people from hyperthermia and birthday party decoration. Their shiny surface reflects light in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum as well as heat radiation in the invisible infrared spectrum.