First Aid at Home – Are You Sure You’re Up to Speed If Someone Starts to Bleed?
The first thing one should do in planning a first aid kit is where to put it. It has to be easy to find, have a natural location in other words, and it should be easy to move around as needed. That means that if someone gets hurt, the kit needs to be in the place you would look first. Imagine if you will, that you’re visiting an acquaintance, in a house where you don’t really know your way around. If the need arose, where would you look for a first aid kit, if no one was able to tell you where it was?
The first place that comes to mind is where you should place yours. Good suggestions are the bathroom, a wash room or perhaps even in that walk-in closet. Wherever you deem is the best place, it should be visible the moment you walk in there.
Second is what form it should take. Some people opt for a fixed cabinet on the wall, maybe even locked. That, and excuse the strong language, is the worst idea ever. The first aid kit should be highly portable. What if someone gets hurt out in the yard, or out back, or even gets run over in the street? Are you going to go running back and forth, first looking frantically for the key that you hid from the kids, and then commute between the injury and the cabinet because you couldn’t fit everything in your two hands the first time around? No. You should be able to pick up the whole kit and run with it to whomever needs your assistance, and it shouldn’t have to take you more than thirty seconds to do so.
A backpack is your best choice. Get a good size backpack – that doesn’t mean one of those 180-litre monsters, but a good 40-litre tactile backpack. Your local army surplus store or an online such will even have specialized medic backpack that are just perfect. Most of them are even marked with the very universal red cross. Once you have one of those ready, you can start filling it with the tools you need to care for the wounded. And what might that be, you say? Here’s a list.
Must-Haves:
– Two pairs of sterile gloves. Be careful with Latex, as many people are allergic to it. Get something else, and choose a brand that is powder free!
– Sterile dressings to stop bleeding. There are many types of these, but make and model is not that important. Sterile dressings are sterile dressings.
– Cleansing agent/soap and antibiotic towelettes to disinfect.
– Antibiotic ointment to prevent infection. For a first aid kit, this is only important if help is far away. Disinfectant soap and towelettes will do if an emergency room or an ambulance is available within a couple of hours or so. Also, antibiotics are not things to be taken lightly. The wrong one can, in worst case scenarios, cause allergic reactions and worsen the injury.
– Special dressing for burns is essential. Burns make up a good portion of home injuries, and applied soon enough, one of these will decrease the chance of scarring.
– Adhesive bandages in a variety of sizes.
– Eye wash solution to flush the eyes or as general decontaminate.
– Thermometer. If emergency services are far away, this will help monitor for infections. A fever is always something to take seriously.
– Prescription medications you take every day such as insulin, heart medicine and asthma inhalers. Watch those expiration dates!
– Prescribed medical supplies such as glucose and blood pressure monitoring equipment and supplies.
Go over your kit once every month to check for expired medication and other things that may be broken or in need of attention. Making the kit is only half of the mission. Maintaining and replenishing is the other half, and just as important. Note that pain killers and such don’t become dangerous if they are out of date, but they may loose some of their effect after a while. Even so, never take or administer more than the dosage recommended!
If you want to know more about being ready in the home, check out Ready.gov. The government actually does make an effort to help you from time to time, you know.
SnallaBolaget.com is a public and private resource for security information, being added to every day and run by experienced security professionals.
G. Sommerfeldt is closing on a decade of security experience in both private and public sector, and has been a security supervisor and manager for several of those years.
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