First Aid Essentials You Need To Have
By Adelia Ladson
Having a basic first aid kit is not enough when you're camping, hunting or bugging out! In fact, since anything can happen when you have kids, it's not even enough for your home. There are essentials that don't come in your standard first aid kit that need to be included.
What Do I Need To Add?
Bandages, first aid creams and chemical ice packs are okay for minor injuries but when a major medical trauma occurs, you need serious first response equipment. Being able to immediately address a major injury before professional medical assistance is available, especially if you're camping or hiking, could be the difference between life or death for the victim.
QuikClot Combat Gauze
One of the most life threatening injuries that someone can sustain is one that causes profuse bleeding. It needs to be stopped as quickly as possible and that's where QuikClot Combat Gauze comes in. Impregnated with kaolin, it promotes clotting within minutes and doesn't generate heat. The combat gauze is soft and pliable so that it contours to all wounds. It's effective and is simply used like standard gauze.
Israeli Military Bandage
The key to stopping any kind of bleeding is pressure. So with profuse bleeding, even with QuikClot Combat Gauze, you need to wrap the wound tightly, if it's possible to do so. An Israeli Military Bandage allows you to quickly do just that. It has a non-adherent pad combined with a pressure applicator and closure bar so that pressure is effectively applied to the wound. Just place the pad over the gauze, wind the sturdy nylon material around it and secure it tightly with the closure bar.
Reusable Splint Set
If the most common minor injury is a sprain, then the most common major injury is a break. Both of them need to be immobilized as quickly as possible so that no further damage can be done to the limb or digit. The Reusable Splint Set offers different sizes of splints that all fit neatly in a nylon case with a zipper. It includes two small finger splints, a medium splint and a large splint. So, if you break that finger playing catch in the backyard or if your kid falls out of a tree and breaks his arm or, even more seriously, someone breaks their leg on a hike, you'll have the tools that you need in your first aid kit to immobilize the injury until a hospital can be reached.
BurnTec Burn Dressing
Burns can happen anytime, anywhere! They range from sunburn level to third degree level and aid needs to be rendered in minutes to stop the damage in its tracks. Most first aid kits have some kind of burn cream in little packets, but they won't work if someone falls in a campfire. BurnTec Burn Dressing is a technologically advanced hydrogel dressing that can be used for all degrees of burns. It cools the injured area and ensures a soothing effect for up to 24 hours, plus, the non-stick properties allows for painless replacement of the dressing without destroying new epithelium. The hydrogel stays over the burn area, preventing the gel from spilling off body surface area and the dressing is absorbent, trapping woud secretion and bacteria within the gel.