Vet wrap
Better than rolled gauze. Slightly stretchy, adheres to itself, reusable. Available at pet shops & feed stores. Made for humans too, for more $$. What’s the difference, since neither is sterile anyway? Got this tip from a first aid instructor.
right…
– Last Updated: May-21-13 6:32 PM EST –
Over last 3 years I've seen a guy on a bus stung by a hornet who developed a pretty interesting reaction to the sting (good thing there was a lady on the buss with an inhaler) and had to give a shot of lidocaine to a fellow who had dislocated his ankle hiking. Somehow carrying extra 50 grams of supplies does not hinder me much. And yes, after years of working in hospital I have an extensive background in first-aid, CPR and so on, so I actually know what I'm doing. But it was certainly educational to see a group of 7 people giving aspirin to a bloke with badly dislocated ankle in great deal of pain (and some bleeding!). I figure that's something you would recommend as well. Pop an aspirin and try to walk it off :D
These cases are great for a small kit
http://www.witzsportcases.com/emergency-cases/first-aid-kit.html
Slightly bigger than a pack of cigarettes. Buy a first aid kit and add to it or get an empty case and build your own. I’ve seen them at all the big box stores and marine places. I carry one on me with band aids and packaged wipes. Everything else is in a bigger kit in a bail out bag.
I have a weekly pill organizer to carry aleve,Tylenol, Benadryl etc
Guess what? My entire career was in
hospitals. If you have the specific training to give injections and hand out medications never prescribed to people on your trip, go ahead. I might do the same if I was absolutely sure it was what the “patient” needed. But my idea of wilderness medicine is to be conservative and cautious, not to pretend I’m an MD.
Although I will say that in all the CPR training I’ve taken, the doctors were often the clumsiest at it.
ah…
– Last Updated: May-22-13 7:23 AM EST –
So if someone has a heart attack or open fracture you'd wait for a "real MD" to get there, so he will tell you what to do, to save yourself the "effort" of "playing" a doctor? Right. People who are terrified of resposibility are the ones usually leaving people to burn alive in a car wreck and then quote the rules that you are not allowed to move a car crash victim without a neck/spine brace... Sorry, I don't subsribe to that view. I was taught that it is a person's duty to take resposibility for others when no one else is around to help. But by all means, don't let my view of life dissuade you from your belief that the only people who can help when you are sick you are the ones with an MD after their name. Next time you break a leg, remember, paramedics are not MD's and you should not really allow them to give you "unpresribed" medicine and "play doctor" untill the "real MD" gets there :).
But I admit, I have not laughed as much as I did for a long time at your suggestion that aspirin and rest is everything that applies for a stroke or heart attack in the wilderness. I pray you will not give aspirin to someone who just keeled over with hemorrhagic stroke! Listen to your own advice and don't give people medication they do not need...
Many things already in the home
I assembled a good first aid kit from the many things I already have in abundance in my medicine cabinet. I second duct tape which can be used over gauze for a major wound. Can it actually happen? I was on a paddling day trip and someone stepped on a broken glass bottle underwater. Jelly fish stings are also quite common on LI Sound and alcohol in a bottle is good.
Witz cases
I think a small hard case would be great for soft stuff in tubes such as antibiotic ointment. Good idea.
I was told by posters on PNet a long time ago that Witz cases are not reliably waterproof if submerged, and they were right. I now keep phone and meds and fire-making supplies in Seal Line envelopes (like ziplock bags), and they have not failed me. (i have done rescue practice with all that stuff in the back pocket of my PFD.) But I can see the use of a Witz case inside something that’s truly waterproof if it and I go for a swim!
G
Nalgene Bottles
I carry my small first aid kit in an old Nalgene bottle. It is waterproof, crushproof, and easy to lash to something. You can fit quite a few items in the smaller, wide mouth bottle.
“Uncoated” aspirin
– Last Updated: May-22-13 3:28 PM EST –
fer dem pesky heart attacks...
"Dis is da big one, Elizabeth! Ah'm comin' ta join ya!"
Coated aspirin takes too long ta do any good.
Gots me foyst aid kit in a Pelican box.
http://tinyurl.com/qc4ay65
FE
lots of good suggestions
– Last Updated: May-22-13 4:00 PM EST –
already. I use a wide mouth nalgene bottle to carry supplys in. Works well. I probably still bag or seal any medication. I suffer from allergies so benadryl and psuedoephedrine travel with me. I think you should bring something for pain. 800 mg of tylenol really helped when I dislocated my shoulder on a paddling trip. Not near as good as the meds they gave me in the hospital but still a whole lot better than nothing. I'd take footpowder and make a daily ritual of changing shoes right away as soon as you hit camp and powdering. I like moleskin and a small pair of scissors for blisters, be it on the feet or hand. And of course duct tape. An epi pen also travels with me but that's specific to me. Some folks carry small tubes of cake icing for diabetic issues (hypoglycemia)As far as snake bite/bee stings I bought one of the suction syringe style things that Dr. Forgy was talkin up 30 years ago. Have it but have never used it. Truthly, I rarely carry a first aid kit but when I do I prefer Dos Equis errr I mean readily available.
Well, you skew the issues so it looks
like you’re smart. I could paddle two centuries and never see a stroke from a bleed. But I wouldn’t confuse a heart attack for a stroke.
Duct tape?
– Last Updated: May-22-13 4:25 PM EST –
For boat repairs, or human ones?
G
Oh, and like you I bag meds that go in the waterproof case or Nalgene.
And like you I'm a big fan of moleskin.
Wish I could carry IPA on this trip!
Sam Splint
For splinting fractures, takes up very little space. Glad a friend had one when I broke my arm at a landing.
Also, my first aid kit is a Pelican Box. No worries about it getting wet or damaged.
WW
I wondered if a Sam splint was worth . .
The space and weight. But I guess when you need it you REALLY need it!
Very nice kit!
Looks like the right stuff but not too much. Thanks for picture.
I’ll remember the UNCOATED aspirin!
Other thoughts…
A lot really depends on what you’re doing and where you you are. Where I am a snakebite kit is really unnecessary, for example. In my life I’ve probably only seen three or four rattlesnakes around here and never felt threatened by them.
I have a surplus first aid kit that I carry and have everything that could be damaged by water in zip locks in it. Carried a lot of that stuff around for years and never used it, but have replaced stuff that is dated and added stuff to it that I’ve found potentially useful.
What I have found use for, on multiple occasions, is burn ointment and ibuprofen. Minor stuff at campfires happens often enough that the ointment is good to have on hand and isn’t always included in standard kits.
A few times I’ve been on trips where many of the folks I’m paddling with are just plain sore either from paddling harder than they’re used to for longer than they’re used to, or from being bounced down rapids. I once went through a whole bottle of “vitamin I” in an evening when I was with a large group of novice whitewater rafters. Popular stuff. Worth adding…
But if you aren’t going to be around campfires or with a group that is likely to overdo it in rapids, it’d be like me making a big deal about not having a snakebite kit… (But then I’m going south more often than I used to. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to have a snakebite kit on hand.) Never hurts to be a little over-stocked if you have room to carry the stuff. Sanitary napkins in a zip lock are worth having for cuts also… another item I now carry but haven’t needed and hope not to. Its been years since anyone I was with cut themselves and several decades since I’ve cut myself. But we never know, it could happen tomorrow.
I used to follow a variation of the voyageur tradition by carrying a flask of 151 rum for “medicinal purposes”. A couple fingers (and not much more) of that around the fire in the evening takes the aches and pains, maybe the evening chill, away and encourages a good night’s sleep. Good hot in coffee, cold in instant lemonade, and as an antiseptic in a pinch. A little on damp tinder speeds fire starting up also. I hear Che Guevara used it for toothpaste, but I have found real toothpaste to be cheaper, so I “don’t get” that idea.
Spices any first aid kit up though.
Rum! And snakes
I love the thought of some medicinal rum. A separate planning problem we’ve been working on is what to take for the before-dinner dram.
You know, when my family doc neighbors get home, I will ask them their thoughts on snakebite first aid. If anything interesting, I’ll post. “Go to the emergency room” will probably be the extent of it, but who knows.
Thanks to all for excellent suggestions, most of which I’ve added to my list. (I left the bone saw off, since I already have a perfectly good Sven saw. :-). )
preparation H?
a mountain biker once told me he carries preparation H and has applied it to wounds. Any thoughts on this?
Rum
Hey Ginger,
Best wee dram is Springbank 21. Was a big hit when Dawn and Dan and I went to Newfoundland. Pick your single malt!
Best copperhead remedy is emergency evacuation…
Looking forward to paddling/birding together,
John
Steri-Strips …
… I like to have a pack of them on hand in the med. kit .
They act as sutures , and from my experience with them they stick pretty well to a cleaned up wet and bloody gash/cut (the mfg. says dry area 1st before applying) .
They hold really well .