Family First Aid Kit
A family first aid kit can keep summer running smooth!
Summertime often means bumps and bruises and insect bites and rashes caused by poison ivy or swimmers itch. Being prepared for simple summer time first aid is a great tool and I have to admit to being a bit of a geek about it. I have taken many first aid courses of course but the one that influenced me the most was a short 3 hour course I took two years ago at a paddle festival that my family and I go to each year. The topic was canoe tripping first aid and safety and it revolutionized my family first aid kit.
First of all, I took my jumble of a first aid kit that I have been carrying around for years and re-organized it so that I can find stuff much faster. I divided everything into four categories – four mini kits if you will:
- Ouch Kit
- Meds Kit
- Wound Kit
- Miscellaneous
What this means is that instead of rifling through my enormous kit of various zip lock baggies and things I really don’t need in a kit that I am able to open my kit, find the ouch kit and have a bandaid in my hand in about 20 seconds, which is great when a child has fallen and has presented themselves to you with a bloody gash on their arm.
Ouch Kit
This is a mini first aid kit that contains everything I need to deal with lifes ouches and bruises. I have designed this kit so that I can also remove it from my larger main kit and put it in my purse or backpack if we are off to wonderland for the day or going on a hike where I cannot lug my big kit. This kit contains:
- Small bandaids
- Q tips
- Eye Injury Patches
- A roll of Gauze
- Medical Tape
- Sterile gauze compresses
- Moleskin blister dressings
- Alcohol Swabs
- Small container of Rescue Remedy
Meds Kit
Of course my kit contains all kinds of homeopathics and other natural products that I have been trained how to use. Barefoot Health runs a course each June that if you are interested in Natural first aid that you should try to take as it’s always full of great information. Essentially what I am going to outline are things that you may need in an emergency that are easy to use. The smartest thing I learned in my wilderness first aid course was the concept of a blister pack. Lots of meds come in blister packs now and this allows you to take 4-6 tablets of lots of different medications in a small container. My meds kit contains:
- Anti itch cream
- Arnica Cream
- Clove oil for tooth aches
- Slippery Elm lozenges for sore throats
- Eye drops
- Charcoal for sick stomachs or bug bites
- Benedryl for allergic reactions
- Tylenol for pain
- Anti nausea medication
- Polysporin
- Bactine
- Insect repellant
- Sunscreen
Wound Kit
My wound kit, because of my more advanced training, is designed so that I can treat more serious injuries if needed. It contains:
- Surgical scissors
- Medical tape
- Butterfly bandages
- A suture kit
- A finger splint
- Sterile Gauze
- Tweezers
- Safety pins
- Alcohol swabs
- 2x menstrual pads (for bleeding wounds)
- Bandaids
- Triangular slings
- Tensor bandages
Miscellaneous Kit
This is the kit I have the most difficult time keeping small because I would just like to include everything! However, in this kit I have odds and ends that I may need when our family travels like:
- An epipen for serious allergic reactions
- Iodine Tincture
- Tiger balm
- Hand cream and chap stick
- Nose ointment
- Paper and pencil for charting details of accidents
- Matches and a fire starter kit (cotton ball with Vaseline in an old pill bottle)
- Nail clippers
- Emergency blanket
- Pen light
- Nitrile Gloves
- CPR mask
- Sam Splint
- Instant Cold Compress
- My own address and name and information and my mothers phone number
- $10 cash
Every family has to tailor their first aid kit to their needs and everyone will have great ideas of what to include. Last year while camping in the interior or Algonquin my trusty small Rubbermaid container with a top handle that I have used for years as our family first aid kit ended up in the bottom of Billy Lake when our canoe capsized. After my kids had fished our camp stove and our first aid kit from the bottom of the lake I have a better understanding and appreciation for my instructors insistence that a waterproof case from an army surplus store or a pelican case is the best way to go for first aid supplies that are going to be going on adventures in the wild. My next investment in family first aid will be finding and adapting a waterproof, floating pelican case that will hold all my supplies.
For more information about wilderness first aid please check out the excellent courses offered at: http://www.wildmed.ca/
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