First Aid Kit Contents

Dtank wrote:

CavemanCharlie wrote:
A first aid kit would would not do me any good because I don't know any first aid !

I keep a few simple things on hand like: band aids, triple antibiotic ointment, ibuprofen,and things like that.

Bigredcav1 - followed by the ret doc covered things well.

What do you mean by, "I don't know any first aid !".....:R

C'mon, Charlie.

Do you know how to stop (serious) bleeding?

Do you know CPR?

How about breathing - choking?

Splint a broken bone?

Any of these things could apply to *YOU* or someone else.
You don't need to be a trained "professional", or take classes to render (or use) first aid practices.

Many can be performed without a "real" first aid kit - just some basic knowledge of what to do in an emergency.

The "simple things" you listed are just that....simple, and usually not requiring immediate action. They're most likely already in/on a shelf somewhere in your cave.

Call Fred Flintstone at your local Red Cross chapter or Fire Dept.,
find out when (free!) CPR classes are offered. The other stuff can be found in basic first aid books/pamphlets.

.

I would like to take a CPR class and learn some other simple things to do in an emergency. But, whenever I look up for classes for this sort of thing in my area it directs me to First Responder Classes. That is no what I am looking for.

I am usually camping with Lyla and she knows this sort of thing. I will ask her if she knows of someplace I could go to learn.

P.S. for serious bleeding I have some Anti-Bleeding Gauze I got from somewhere. I've seen CPR on television. For choking I know to look down there throat to see for restrictions and I've seen the Himlick Maneuver on Television. I don't think I would do anything with a broken bone except to call a Fist Responder to come take a look at it. Then they would call a ambulance, then the ambulance would drive out from town and load them up. Quite honestly, in may area it's much quicker to shove them in the truck and drive them to town yourself. Of course, that depends on the severity of the injury.

Another personal problem that I have is that I panic easily. That is why I am not a First Responder. I would not be of any help in an emergency. My best bet is to find someone that CAN help and then stay the hell out of their way unless they ask me to assist in some way.

TV CPR is the worst trainer.

They don't want to hurt an actor, they aren't trained, don't show when/where to be careful and when not!

bigred1cav wrote:
Get or make a good kit. LOts of sterile dressings of various sizes 4x4, and larger, a box of multi-size bandaids. Forceps, scissors, a box of Kotex to be used as dressings. Gauze (Kling) to wrap bandages. Benedryl, Tylenol, wire splint (folded) Antiseptic soap and treatment. Ace bandage, sling. instant cold pack. The bigger question is what will you use it for what environment dictates how much to have. RV Park not so much. Backpacking in 400-year forests as much as you can carry plus a sat telephone.

add military surplus battle dressing and it's pretty helpful you know how to use what you carry. Take a first responder & CPR coarse. Depends are where your going? Not really emergency happen all the time your the first on a serious accident, kid in a campground hurt, man down in the camp site next to you, and minutes count. 25 ears LE I know how fast it happens.

Make sure that you have some basics to go a couple of days treating an injury that didn't require a doctor. Last September we broke down in the middle of nowhere on a hot road in SC. I burned myself but good being stupid. The tow truck dropped us at a campground near nothing and took the Suburban to be repaired. We couldn't get anywhere to supply up, other than what was in the Campground store, which wasn't much at all. I had purchased a first aid kit at a military surplus store. Bloody lucky for me that it had everything I needed to treat burns for the three days we were stuck in the backside of nowhere.

The Red Cross has online training courses that are better than nothing. Some of them are the same videos that they show you in their hands-on courses.

It's pretty simple to learn the steps and the counts and then refresh yourself once a year or so.

I did the full EMT cert training in the 90s and then I take the Red Cross courses every year at work. It always surprises me how often their guidelines change, so it really is worth it to do the refreshers. The more often you do it, the more intuitive the steps will be. Hopefully you'll never need to use it.

https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class

mowermech wrote:
I have been packing around a 12X16X3 inch metal box industrial first aid kit for over 10 years. I don't recall ever opening it.
The same goes for the roadside reflector/red flag gadgets. Never needed them.
Barbecue tool set in an aluminum box? used once or twice.
Yeah, I need to think about the stuff that is laying in the motorhome basement; Have I or will I ever use it?

You might or might not ever use it, but if we all carry one it's guaranteed some of us will and it might just save lives. In my case it probably saved my son's quality of life. He broke his wrist in three places while at Kaibab national forest. There is no medical coverage in the forest or at the North Rim. Luckily the folks that came across him had a fairly extensive kit and they splinted his arm, set an air cast, and gave him a sling. Because the wound had been kept from moving the ER doc in Kanab was easily able to set the break and he recovered without any long term consequences. Since that incident I've upped the quality and quantity of what I carry in the first aid kits in my vehicles to be able to handle more significant injuries so that if I need to maybe one day I can pay it forward and help someone else in need out.

dcmac214 wrote:
Those "First Aid Kits" sold as a kit-in-a-box are virtually worthless. Sure, they've got a "lot" of components but do they have what you need when you need it?

Make your own.

Ours is a smaller version of "Papa's Operating Room" box here on the farm, a largish plastic box with small bottles of peroxide and alcohol (rubbing alcohol, the good stuff is in a separate cabinet), assorted boxes of bandages (band-aides but not necessarily that brand), different size gauze pads, tape, etc etc. You got the idea.

FWIW, no gloves. Neither DW or I have a worry about treating anyone in the family and getting our hands bloody. If any one of us has a disease it's highly unlikely that any of the other of us doesn't have it too.

So it sounds like you don't realize that the majority of what you listed is what is in the over the counter kits. We get the kit and maybe supplement a few extra items that might be in small quantities in the kit.

My first aid kit is comprised of beer, paper towels and duct tape.