Emergency First aide kit

[Mudinyeri]

I know I'm new here but I feel the need to chime in. First, my credentials: I am not a medical professional. I was, however, attached to a medical unit in the Army and received all the same training as the medics (that was 20+ years ago) and was involved in emergency medical care of Army personnel in highly traumatic environments (explosions, bullet wounds, etc). Since that time, I have continued to take advantage of advanced emergency medical training tailored specifically to traumatic events.

With that said, I would like to make two points:
1. Your kit should not exceed your training. If you have no training and/or experience in suturing, you have no business carrying around a suture kit in your FAK or trauma kit.
2. Get more training than "gear"

 

[pat34lee]

With that said, I would like to make two points:
1. Your kit should not exceed your training. If you have no training and/or experience in suturing, you have no business carrying around a suture kit in your FAK or trauma kit.
2. Get more training than "gear"

I agree that training should be first priority, but you never know who will be there when an emergency happens. There may be a doctor or surgical nurse or trained EMT who can use that suture kit or other supplies in your FAK. It may even be you they need it for.

 

[Mudinyeri]

I agree that training should be first priority, but you never know who will be there when an emergency happens. There may be a doctor or surgical nurse or trained EMT who can use that suture kit or other supplies in your FAK. It may even be you they need it for.

In training, we call that preparing for the 1%. Personally, I recommend preparing for the 99%.

 

[MWood]

In training, we call that preparing for the 1%. Personally, I recommend preparing for the 99%.

It is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Always prepare for the worst and hope for the best. If I were in the wilderness with a serious injury that needed sutures, I would sew it up until I got to a doctor, and let him repair the mistakes that I made. Either that or get an infection that could turn to gangrene. So what would you do?

 

[Mudinyeri]

It is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Always prepare for the worst and hope for the best. If I were in the wilderness with a serious injury that needed sutures, I would sew it up until I got to a doctor, and let him repair the mistakes that I made. Either that or get an infection that could turn to gangrene. So what would you do?

How will you keep your suture kit/materials sterile? Perhaps by suturing yourself, you'll introduce the infection that will turn to gangrene.

Have it and not need it works to a point.

 

[pat34lee]

How will you keep your suture kit/materials sterile? Perhaps by suturing yourself, you'll introduce the infection that will turn to gangrene.

Have it and not need it works to a point.

Infection protection is one of the first priorities, along
with pain and fever reducers. You can buy disposable
scalpels and single use sutures, and sterilize any other
items you use.

 

[MWood]

How will you keep your suture kit/materials sterile? Perhaps by suturing yourself, you'll introduce the infection that will turn to gangrene.

Have it and not need it works to a point.

Perhaps. It is just a chance that you have to take. What did the pioneers do 150 years ago? They did the best that they could. When you go on a two week hiking trip, that is what you are doing, pioneering, in the wilderness by yourself or maybe with company, but still pioneering. You do the best that you can. And Pray that it turns out right.
The only thing different is, you will have a lot better eqpt than they had. They only had a hunting knife, a muzzling loading rifle & pistol, maybe a sewing kit for the repair of their clothing. If they received a deep gash, it would be sewn with their needle and thread, by himself and the pain be damned.

 

[Mudinyeri]

The only thing different is, you will have a lot better eqpt than they had. They only had a hunting knife, a muzzling loading rifle & pistol, maybe a sewing kit for the repair of their clothing. If they received a deep gash, it would be sewn with their needle and thread, by himself and the pain be damned.

... perhaps you recall the mortality rate of the pioneers.

As I mentioned earlier, training should always precede equipping. (In the interest of full disclosure, I own a training/consulting company.) Unfortunately, equipment is relatively cheap and doesn't require much time to require so lots of people amass lots of equipment that they don't know how to use. Best case scenario - they end up carrying around a bunch of unnecessary weight. Worst case scenario - they end up causing more damage or killing someone because they tried to use equipment on which they had no training.

The average person would be far better served carrying butterfly bandages than a suture kit. We see what we call "equipment geeks" in our classes all the time. Most of them have no actual experience using their equipment and almost as few have any training for specialized equipment in their kits. You may or may not fall into this category. I'm just doing my good deed for the day and warning readers against carrying and using equipment for which they have inadequate training and experience. Not many of the pioneers sued other pioneers who tried to help them.

 

[Mudinyeri]

Infection protection is one of the first priorities, along
with pain and fever reducers. You can buy disposable
scalpels and single use sutures, and sterilize any other
items you use.

Assuming you're carrying something to sterilize those items.

 

[MWood]

Assuming you're carrying something to sterilize those items.

Boiling water does an adequate job. Or the blaze of a fire, red hot coals. To eliminate the problem of soot or ash use a metal pot or pan. Heat will kill bacteria or germs that cause infection. A man has gotta do what a mans gotta do!

 

[Mudinyeri]

Boiling water does an adequate job. Or the blaze of a fire, red hot coals. To eliminate the problem of soot or ash use a metal pot or pan. Heat will kill bacteria or germs that cause infection. A man has gotta do what a mans gotta do!

Yup, pouring boiling water into a wound works great. (That's where a lot of the potential bacteria comes from.)

 

[pat34lee]

Assuming you're carrying something to sterilize those items.

Yup, pouring boiling water into a wound works great. (That's where a lot of the potential bacteria comes from.)

Boiling water is available nearly everywhere, and alcohol
is not far behind.

You changed the parameters from sterilizing to disinfecting.
For the wound, you have alcohol, Bactine, povidone iodine,
witch hazel, colloidal silver, not to mention using local or
dried herbs for those with that knowledge.

 

[Mudinyeri]

... for those with ... knowledge.

Yes! Finally! My point.

 

[seashale76]

... perhaps you recall the mortality rate of the pioneers.

As I mentioned earlier, training should always precede equipping. (In the interest of full disclosure, I own a training/consulting company.) Unfortunately, equipment is relatively cheap and doesn't require much time to require so lots of people amass lots of equipment that they don't know how to use. Best case scenario - they end up carrying around a bunch of unnecessary weight. Worst case scenario - they end up causing more damage or killing someone because they tried to use equipment on which they had no training.

The average person would be far better served carrying butterfly bandages than a suture kit. We see what we call "equipment geeks" in our classes all the time. Most of them have no actual experience using their equipment and almost as few have any training for specialized equipment in their kits. You may or may not fall into this category. I'm just doing my good deed for the day and warning readers against carrying and using equipment for which they have inadequate training and experience. Not many of the pioneers sued other pioneers who tried to help them.

Thank you. I'm a nurse and I wind up doing a lot of tracheostomy care on patients. I noticed that someone earlier in the thread listed all of the supplies needed to insert an emergency airway as being part of their usual first aid kit. I shudder to think of random people walking around potentially giving others trachs. When you've seen patients that already have trachs having to have additional surgery to make their airway bigger so they can use different sized cannulas, et cetera, you realize that the field tracheostomy Joe Blow Citizen wants to do during "the apocalypse" is nothing more than a hero fantasy and is not based in reality.

 

[Gaz54au]

OK, I have read enough. I am a prepper and ex Australian Army Medical Corps, I was a First Aid trainer with St Johns Ambulance here in Australia.
So instead of telling people what they should not do, how about we help them to get trained and encourage them to learn how to use what they have on hand for emergencies.

As preppers we need to be prepared for any situation that may arise. We may be Christians as well as preppers but we bleed the same as anyone else. First aid training, senior F/A (First Aid) and advanced training can save lives, if you are serious about being prepared then it is up to you.
I don't know what courses are available in other countries other than here in Australia but a Google search will help you find courses for medical and first aid in your are.

Get your Wife/Husband even kids or even close friends involved and make it fun and enjoy the fellowship.
Besides standard medical practices the is also alternative medicines and having knowledge may help you if you could not get medications or medical treatment like in a SHTF scenario.

I love Amazon...lol I have an extensive library, Yes real books...on medical, alternative medicines and treatments and even field surgery!
Books like:
Where There Is No Doctor
Where There Is No Dentist
The Survival Medicine Handbook
You can get them and many other books on Amazon or other sellers and you can download them for free sometimes, but having a hard copy is worth its weight in gold.
Many preppers sites have some great knowledge articles as well.

It's great to have concerns my brothers and sisters but we need to give the good with the bad. I encourage each and everyone to be the best that God wants us to be...
Happy prepping
Gaz

 

[FreeinChrist]

Starting off with a Red Cross first aide class is a start. Then books are good.

 

[Roseonathorn]

I did something really easy to a slight cut on my finger. Aloe vera flesh on the sore helped it to not dry out and to heal without leaving a scar. I keep pieces in the freezer. The cut did bleed but was not necessary to be sown so it was taped but the two pieces of flesh and one piece of nail did barely hold together and soon the upper piece started to get dry. Then I took off the tape cleanced it again pressed aloeflesh over the wound edges and put the tape over and quite soon it healed. I sometimes have given my Aloeplants too much water and then they started to rot. Then I can cut off what is still good upper part cut in piece and freeze and throw away the rotten roots and downer part. Fortunatedly one I have had for over 30 years. It has alot of babyplants.

 

[Roseonathorn]

Really when I come to think of what we did when we bruised ourself beeing in the woods. We brushed it off with some moss and let it bleed until it stopped. When we got home we washed it with clean water and sometimes added some honey and a slight bandaid. I remember I studied about herbs and herbal medicine and came across chinese artemisia and it was said to cure HIV at a time when there was no known cure against it so I crabbed some curage and wrote some medical researchers that sat on money. I asked them to look into it. Much medicine is isolated compounds from natural substanses. I have no idea if it helped but nowadays people can survive with HIV thanks to research. Still I think one should be careful with ones way of living.

 

[drjean]

The USA has the CERT program and I would suggest any reader to sign up and take the course! It's a government course Community Emergency Response Team... I joined mainly because I became educated in what the government plans to do and I have access now to the emails and behind the scenes info and propac supplies in bulk..... but I've always been a Citizen Emergency Responder type person. I believe the CERT course still gives a nice durable backpack with search and rescue tools, and helmet, gloves etc. More advanced courses are also available.

American Red Cross does have good first aid courses (I used to teach some of them). I think taking water safety is good too, and perhaps small boats. You never know when you are caught in flood or at a bay/beach/lake element.... Try some ACA (camp) courses.

A reminder to download everything you want now. The internet will not be available for one reason or another, if it's up it will be overloaded with users or the sites will be removed and inaccessible.

 

[drjean]

I know I'm new here but I feel the need to chime in. First, my credentials: I am not a medical professional. I was, however, attached to a medical unit in the Army and received all the same training as the medics (that was 20+ years ago) and was involved in emergency medical care of Army personnel in highly traumatic environments (explosions, bullet wounds, etc). Since that time, I have continued to take advantage of advanced emergency medical training tailored specifically to traumatic events.

With that said, I would like to make two points:
1. Your kit should not exceed your training. If you have no training and/or experience in suturing, you have no business carrying around a suture kit in your FAK or trauma kit.
2. Get more training than "gear"

I have to politely disagree. Load your kit with everything you can handle. Maybe YOU don't have the training but someone you meet up with WILL have the training and not the materials. OR you will learn by doing...for example, suturing is not that difficult and can save your life. Funny how you wish for things in emergencies. If you've sewn on a button, you can manage well enough on your skin. EVEN with regular needle and thread! (But you can also use butterfly bandaids for smaller issues.)

You can sterilize the needle tip with a match (needle will get hot, be careful not to drop it). If you have a sterile gauze, wipe the soot off first, otherwise, well it's sterile soot....