What Should Be In Your First Aid Kit

Here's some products:

https://www.phokusresearch.com/collections/military-trauma-kits

https://www.phokusresearch.com/collections/bleeding-control-public-access-kits

 

Everything including the kitchen sink? Then the problem is carrying it along with your BOB...

 

https://www.phokusresearch.com/collections/military-trauma-kits

https://www.phokusresearch.com/collections/bleeding-control-public-access-kits

As in all military situations, if you are alone, then you are most likely going to die alone. Historically, there have been exceptions ... rare exceptions. Even snipers are part of a team.

These kits are routinely carried by 68 Whiskey troop in combat.

https://www.operationmilitarykids.org/army-combat-medic-specialist-mos-68w/

https://www.dvidshub.net/image/6305626/new-jersey-national-guard-68w-course



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Emergency first aid kits for hikers:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Emergency+first+aid+kits+for+hikers&atb=v140-1&iax=shopping&ia=shopping

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The myth of the mountain men were indeed myths. These folk interacted and traded with the native people -- even sometimes marrying in amongst them so that they would be accepted and have another human at their camp. They routinely traveled to trading posts else there would be no purpose in their trapping operations. The Lewis and Clark expedition would have never made it back had it not been for the aid of some native tribes.
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A couple of days ago , my first aid kit was again called upon . Someone cut their hand to the bone with a new pocket knife , " base of thumb " had squirting blood and had to put on a tourniquet . The emergency room put in inner and outer stitches but failed to wrap it up . I wrapped it up with that stretchy stuff . I noticed my emergency bag's contents keep growing as people around the area keep adding more stuff to my bag during its travels . I need to either get a larger bag or simply go to having two bags . This most recent need for emergency stuff was from cuts , ranging from knives to skill saws was the 3rd time of it being out and about over the last 3 months or so . Someone asked me a few weeks ago if I had something in that bag for removing a splinter about two inches long , that had broken off deep inside. My response , yes there is a pair of bullet removing pliers in the bag .

 

Need to have a good supply of Kerlix and Coban for wrapping. The stretching self-adhering Coban is soooooo useful. The sterile Kerlix is a great blood-absorber. Put down sterile gauze first -- 4"x 4"s, wrap with Kerlix first, then wrap with Coban for tightening purposes (which I love, great product). Don't get this stuff too tight! Perfusion must be allowed. Check finger-tips, fingernails, toes, and toenails for any signs of peripheral cyanosis.

Watch out for arterial contraction. Artery walls have muscle tissue and thus will contract ... not just at the point of injury. The vessel will draw-up, so you must apply pressure higher-up to clamp the vessel. Military term for tourniquet application: "High and tight!" CAT tourniquets are now at generation 7 or more (last I bought were gen.5). And, as I always advise, have a bunch of butterfly closures on-hand.

No sane person counts on getting injured. Tragedies sneak up from behind. Part of the whole "welcome to Earth" dark comedy. I keep 4 foot wrecking bars in each of our vehicles -- never know when you're gonna have to bust/dig a person out of a folded crashed vehicle. Cutting seat belts?, gotta have your serrated edge knife to due that. Regular knife blades slip right off & thus do NOT cut seat belts.

https://www.cardinalhealth.com/en/p...bandage-rolls/kerlix-gauze-bandage-rolls.html

https://www.mastermans.com/itemdetail/J3M-1581

https://elitefirstaidinc.com/shop/first-aid-supplies/cat-tourniquet/

https://72hours.ca/products/medium-size-butterfly-bandage

 

What's in an emergency snake bite kit?

I can vouch for the animal antibiotics. I had a really bad toothache which became infected and couldn't get to a doctor or dentist so used my pooches antibiotic tables, which I had stashed in his medical stuff. They helped enormously. Within 24 hours, the pain had submitted significantly. After 48 hours the pain was non-existent, by which time I was able to see a quack for more antibiotics.

In Australia, we can't simply buy antibiotics online, we have to get a script from the quack. Most doctors here are reluctant to prescribe medication unless they know it's relevant (i.e. you can't always rock up to the quack and get him to write a script unless you actually need it at the time).

 

It seems Aus isn't that different from the UK in a lot of ways!

 

That is SO true!

Most of the doctors who work rural areas here, do it because they have to do their internship as the last step to being a fully fledged quack. Once they finish their prerequisite time, they take off like flies at a barbie. It's very difficult to lure doctors to rural areas on a permanent basis.

When I first moved to this God forsaken State, I went through 2 different doctors because they'd do the minimum required and then leave. Then you have to go through all your medical info each time with a new doctor, (despite them already having it on file).

 

Sounds like you are better off without him. He wasn't like that bloke ... what's his name ... Martin Clunes? The show about the doctor at a seaside area in the UK. I can't remember what the show's called. Ggggrrr. Very frustrating.

Is it still the same in the UK, whereby you HAVE to see a doctor within the area you live in, or has that changed now?

 

Yes, I like Martin Clune. What was the series called? It's really bugging me now.

Doctor Death doesn't sound too flash!

 

Why one should keep tourniquets in your vehicles' emergency first aid kits. Sure, you can use your belt and a stick to tighten it, but that can be awkward, so just keep a CAT tourniquets handy (I just got in some CAT 7s; I think they're up to CAT-8 currently.... whatever). In bad accidents, limbs get severed and arteries get cut. Where I live, people often cut their own firewood. Chainsaws are unforgiving. Know one fellow who almost cut the quadriceps of one leg all the way trough. Just one little touch from a chainsaw will do that. Human limbs are nothing compared to tree limbs.

Lopped off leg or arm, arterial blood shooting out like a garden hose = get out your torniquet right NOW!

"Soldier Raced Against Time to Save Man Who Was Bleeding to Death After Truck Crash"

https://sofmag.com/army-recruiter-saves-man-truck-crash/

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An Army recruiter was driving to his unit’s awards ceremony when he came across the scene of a devastating car crash on a Mississippi highway. To his shock, Sgt. 1st Class Corey Engard saw a man dangling upside down inside a mangled truck, and missing much of one leg.

The trapped man, 22-year-old Colton Rogers, was bleeding profusely.

Engard got Rogers out of the truck.

The combat veteran quickly removed his own belt, and used it as a torniquet. He wrote the time on Rogers’ forehead.

While applying the improvised tourniquet, Engard simultaneously contacted 9-1-1.

Engard asked on-site bystanders for an apparatus to tighten the belt (as a tourniquet,) and firmly secured Rogers’ blood loss.

“The paramedics arrived and saw his [Rogers] injury and seemed to be just as stunned…threw me a pair of scissors and asked that I cut off his jeans,” Engard said.

“I asked how long the helicopter transport would take to arrive and was told 40 minutes,” Engard said. “I knew that wasn’t enough time and urged them, really insisting, they drive him to the hospital right in that moment.”

The paramedics loaded Rogers onto an ambulance, and whisked him to a nearby critical care hospital in Meridian, Mississippi.

Rogers lost four pints of blood and spent three days on life support – but he pulled through.

End quote

 

Pack knowledge in your FAK too, you can have a fantastic kit but not a clue how to use it, go and train.

 

There's millions of us out here who DO know how to use it. Even in my rural county, I'd say that there are at base minimum two to three hundred people who know how to use a CAT tourniquet. There's hospital staff plus heaven only knows how many combat veterans. My truck mechanic (Marine combat veteran) and I were talking about tourniquet techniques.

Here are several videos on how to use a CAT tourniquet:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+use+a+cat+tourniquet

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UqRRPfPR1fo






Applying chest seals

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+seal+a+sucking+chest+wound





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Silly it is but it happens. I went on about 20 'bushcraft' weekend meets deep in the woods...you know...about 50m from your car lol and these 'bushcrafters' would turn up in their Fjalraven clothes with all this titanium bits and pieces and expensive kit and some had FAKs you could run an emergency room on but when you talked to them most had done nothing more than a basic course............bushcrafters my ass they would not last a weekend in Norway...'all the gear and no idea' comes to mind

Off topic a bit but we've had snow on the ground since Sunday...love it.