First Aid Kits, what do we NEED in them?

Tech11

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2007
Location
Greensboro
I've noticed most/all clubs have in their rules about having first aid kits with them during rides, and really there should be one available anyway. I realized it when I had my thumb gently compressed with the bucket of the bobcat in URE, and didn't have a first aid kit.

Sp now I'm getting a SMALL one together. Not a trauma/EMT kit, but a basic one.

Through trial and error what works, and what needs to be scrapped/left out?
 
bandages, tweezers, scissors, GOOD tape, superglue :D
basic bloodborne pathogens kit
mouth guard for CPR
more i'm sure...
 
condoms:D
 
what kind of bandages? ace bandages? gauze? yes to both? superglue for cuts i guess?

found this while looking:
MYTHS: Stopping Bleeding From Minor Wounds
• Apply brown sugar
• Apply a paste of flour and vinegar
• Apply dusty cobwebs
• Bind with a leaf of natural tobacco
• Rub in soot from a chimney
• Apply a spread of dried sage leaves
• Apply browned flour
• Apply salt
• Cover with sugar
• Cover with the lining of an egg
• Apply wet tea leaves
• Rub with charcoal
• Apply ink
• Apply vinegar water

MYTHS: Wound Cleaning, Infection Prevention & Healing
Clean with:
• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Thimerosal
• Alcohol

Heal or Prevent Infection with:
• Honey
• Lemon juice
• Heat Lamps or Hair Dryers
• Air (leave wound uncovered)
• Paste of sugar and soap
• Paste of lard, beeswax and resin
• Turpentine and salt

FACTS: Stopping Bleeding, Wound Cleaning, &Infection Prevention
The best way to treat minor wounds is to gently wash them with mild soap
and warm water, apply an antibiotic ointment to help prevent skin infection,
and then cover them with a bandage to keep them moist, which helps
minimize scarring. Minor wounds usually stop bleeding on their own. If they
don't, apply direct pressure to the wound with a sterile 3x3 gauze pad until it
stops.

If the bleeding is heavy or continues to flow, apply additional gauze pads and
maintain direct pressure over the wound. Call 911 for cuts that are deep,
continue bleeding, may require stitches, or scrapes with imbedded particles
that can't be flushed away. Consult your doctor if the wound does not heal in,
one week or less or if any of the following warning signs of infection appear:
increased pain, redness, swelling, or a yellow discharge from the wound.

• Hydrogen Peroxide
o The risk/benefit of antiseptics in wound care has not been scientifically
established. Substances such as hydrogen peroxide, iodine or an
iodine-containing cleansers while acceptable for cleaning INTACT skin,
may irritate living cells and inhibit healing in open wounds

• Thimerosal
o Products containing these ingredients for these uses cannot be
introduced into interstate commerce after October 19, 1998

• Alcohol
o Isopropyl alcohol may be used on intact skin as a cleanser with no
adverse effect; however it should never be introduced into the wound
as it injure tissue and delay healing.


MYTHS: Bites & Stings
Snakes
• Cut & Suck
• Place a chew of tobacco on the bite
• Drink whiskey until you are drunk
• Wrap a leaf of natural tobacco around the bitten limb.
• Remove the wing of a live chicken and place it on the bite to draw out the
poison.
• Rub mud on the bite
• Rub plantain leaf juice on the bite

Bees & Wasps
• Remove an Insect Singer with Tweezers
• Apply a mixture of vinegar and clay
• Cover with chewed plantain leaves
• Cover with ear wax
• Cover with a piece of lean raw meat
• Rub with a mixture of yellow clay and juice from peppermint leaves
• Rub a slice of onion
• Apply tobacco

Jellyfish or Stingray Sting
• Urinate on it

FACTS: Bites & Stings
Snakes
• Calm and reassure person.
• Keep the affected limb still and below heart level.
• Do not attempt to suck the venom out of the victim.
• Call the Poison Control Center and/or EMS.

Bees & Wasps
• If the stinger is present, do not use tweezers or pinch it with your fingers as
this may cause more venom to be injected.
• Try to remove the stinger by scraping or brushing it off with a firm edge, such
as a credit card.
• Remove rings and other constricting items as the affected area may swell.
• Clean the wound following the basic principles for Stopping Bleeding, Wound
Cleaning, & Infection Prevention (above).
• To reduce pain and swelling, apply ice or a cold pack.
• You may also apply 0.5 percent or 1 percent hydrocortisone cream, or
calamine lotion to the bite or sting several times a day until symptoms
subside.
• Monitor the bite for signs of infection; increased pain, redness, swelling, or a
yellow discharge from the wound.

Jellyfish or Stingray Sting
• Rinse the wound with clean water, then immerse in hottest water tolerable for
30 to 90 minutes.
• Gently extract stinger if present.
• Scrub wound with mild soap and water. Apply a dressing and seek medical
help.
• Consider an age appropriate over-the-counter pain reliever as necessary.

MYTHS: Minor Burns
• Apply Ice
• Apply Butter
• Apply Baking Soda
• Apply Lotion or Ointment
• Apply Petroleum Jelly
• Re-burn a Burn
• Pop A Blister
• Apply cow dung

FACTS: Minor Burns (small reddened area)

• Use cool compresses of water as often as needed to relieve pain. This is the
most effective and comforting treatment.
• When the pain has subsided, gently clean the burn with cool running water
• Allow the area to dry and apply a Curad Hydro Heal bandage to help the
wound heal naturally.
• Be sure to cleanse the wound and change the bandage at least daily or
whenever it becomes wet or dirty.
• Consider an age appropriate over-the-counter pain reliever as necessary.
• Consult your doctor if the wound does not heal in, one week or less or if any
of the following warning signs of infection appear: increased pain, redness,
swelling, or a yellow discharge from the wound.
• Do not use ice or ice-containing compresses as they may further injure the
skin.
• Do not break any blisters.
• Do not use adhesive bandages as they will stick to the skin and may
further injure it.

Don't yell at me old timers, I just found this and it's from ASHI authorized first aid instructors.
 
My 2 cents, i could stock non-stick gausze, i modified my thumb with a hammer and chisel one day and had a co-worker give me pouris gauze and needless to say if i had non-stick gauze i prob would have been ok, but the gauze clotted to my thumb and i had to go to hospital after trying to remove gauze and opened up the wound . had to get 7 stitches in my thumb
 
good tape, snake bite kit, super glue, non-stick gauze( like khwrx said) a few clean rags to splint with or tourniquet or even a sling, an ace bandage, band-aids for the minor stuff, and white likker to clean wound with (or if it is real bad to calm your nerves when you call your buddies wife) also carry some bee sting swabs and some benadryl for allergic reactions. Just what i try to have in my rig not the best kit probly but it is fairly effective thus far.
 
Got a 2 pocket canvas ammo pouch to make my FA kit in. will this meet most clubs requirements for a fa kit?
 
First off, snake bite kits are BS, and can do more damage than good.

Snake-bite kits, which cost $4 to $15 and are sold in sporting-goods and camping stores, are intended to be used before antivenom can be administered. Kit contents vary, but often include a scalpel, a suction device and a constriction band to be tied around the limb to slow spread of the venom.
Doctors say the kits are, for the most part, based on outmoded ideas. The best thing to do is call 911 or get the patient to a hospital as soon as possible, says Lori Weichenthal, a wilderness-medicine expert at the University of California-San Francisco in Fresno. If possible, Dr. Weichenthal adds, immobilize the bitten limb and keep it below the level of the heart -- but more important, get to help fast.
Never use the scalpel in the snake kits, Dr. Weichenthal and others say, as it could damage the skin further. Some physicians say the constriction band may help, but make sure it is loose enough to slip in a finger. Cutting off circulation could damage a limb.

I carry the basics to take care of nuisance stuff -- bandaids and stuff. And enough 'big' stuff to keep someone alive. Definitely gloves, if I don't have anything else. The most important thing is training to know what to do, a good head to be able to improvise, and the ability to stay calm to do what needs to be done.

Hard part is at a place like Uwharrie. How long do you think it would take to call for help, and for help to actually arrive on-site? An hour? Then to get the person to the ER? Can you keep someone from bleeding out? CPR?

Here's a story of a 96-minute CPR (granted, much of it was with paramedics on scene, with drugs, etc) http://yourlife.usatoday.com/mind-s...o-save-heart-attack-victim/44427376/1?csp=ylf
 
Gauze, good medical tape, bandaids, asprin, benadryl, alcohol wipes, tournaquet, duct tape, plastic baggies, tampons.

If you cant get the bleeding to stop in a couple minutes by elevating the injury over the heart and using a compression bandage, go ahead and apply the tournaquet and sharpie the time and date on the person's forehead. Usually it takes a couple hours of no blood flow to cause a limb to have to be removed. I would rather lose a limb than die from bleeding out. *ONLY USE A TOURNAQUET IF YOU HAVE BEEN PROPERLY TRAINED*
 
what are the tampons for sgtbriangreen the guys that cant make it through the hard obsticles?? oh and never even oened my snake bite kit haha wife have it to me and i tossed it in the box good info tho thanks kaiser
 
don't know about the tampons, but maxi-pads are very good bandages, a women can bleed for 7 days and those damn things keep them from bleeding out. (sorry ladies)

i have a standard policy of a shop rag to stop the bleeding and super glue for when the bleeding stops, anything that can't fix......pretty much means i'm going to die.
 
Hard part is at a place like Uwharrie. How long do you think it would take to call for help, and for help to actually arrive on-site? An hour? Then to get the person to the ER? Can you keep someone from bleeding out? CPR?

That's why we keep a 2M radio in the rig now. I had to transport a woman at Uwharrie that had fallen from her horse and had a concussion. I was glad to help, but that was a nerve-wracking trip knowing there wasn't anything I could do for her aside from get her off the trail and then call for help.
 
That's why we keep a 2M radio in the rig now. I had to transport a woman at Uwharrie that had fallen from her horse and had a concussion. I was glad to help, but that was a nerve-wracking trip knowing there wasn't anything I could do for her aside from get her off the trail and then call for help.

I got licensed in 2008 -- KJ4DNF -- after coming up on a lady passed out near the entrance to Cades Cove. Don't know if I could have gotten out from there, but the cell phones sure didn't work. It was mid-week in the off-season, one other car came up right after us, and went for help, it was about an hour before help showed up, and that was just a ranger.
 
what are the tampons for sgtbriangreen the guys that cant make it through the hard obsticles?? oh and never even oened my snake bite kit haha wife have it to me and i tossed it in the box good info tho thanks kaiser

like said, tampons are great for stopping bleeding.
Also good to have to hand to throw at your friends when the time is right.
 
Some good information here. I'll def take notes.

Make it a sticky?
 
Anti- Stupid kit. Easy to use because it is your brain.
The wife and i helped do an emergency evac @ Mt City once.
The wounded dude was a
drunken idiot and illegaly on the property.
 
Assortment of band-aids. The cloth type that stick good, not the shitty plastic ones.
Non stick gauze pads, easy enough to figure out why.
Super glue. you can close up a cut and glue it. After all, that is what it was designed for. And Doctors still use it.
Aspirin, not much of a pain reliever, but a good thing when someone is possibly having a Heart Attack.
Ibuprofen, for pain and reduce swelling, and lower a temperature.
acetaminophen, for pain, and head ache
Some type of sugar candy, good for someone who's blood sugar has got real low(you would think they were drunk if too low)
Bug Bite stuff, if none, chew up a cigarette or find someone who dips, it does pull the sting away.
Major bleeding, large cut, a Kotex will work great, and is sanitary.
Neosporin, or triple antibiotic cream.
benadryl for allergic reactions
Ace bandage, for many uses, great for immobilizing a broke arm or wrist for transport.
Alcohol wipes, many of them.
gloves, CPR kit
 
Chip has a very good "basics" list. Add to that... a 2 oz bottle of all-purpose contact lens solution (eye rinse). Also, Orajel Severe Toothache Pain Relief Liquid. Works well for intended purpose, also works well as pain relief for deep splinters, fish hooks, etc.
 
Also, Orajel Severe Toothache Pain Relief Liquid. Works well for intended purpose, also works well as pain relief for deep splinters, fish hooks, etc.

Huh, now that's dang awesome.

....
Would it be a bad idea to have some oxycotin or a couple of another "stronger" pin relief in there?
 
Something else i never leave home with is black electrical tape. It sticks pretty darn good and will keep cuts closed. I come in from the shop with some on my hand and my wife already knows what happened.
 
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