DO YOU HAVE A REAL FIRST AID KIT?
Most first aid kits purchased now days are really just set up to treat some scrapes, minor cuts, a sunburn, and maybe a bee sting. These types of first aid kits definitely have their place but what I’m referring to is a kit set up to treat a real emergency such as serious bleeding, respiratory failure, cardiac arrest, penetrating trauma to the chest, serious fractures of the arm or leg, and things of that nature.
Most people never think of having something like this in their possession due to the highly unlikely possibility of needing to use it and I understand the cause of overlooking it. Depending on your hobbies or your type, location, or place of employment you may want to reconsider that. You are far more likely to use a first aid kit to treat a serious emergency than you are to use a firearm in a self-defense situation.
So, what is a real first-aid kit? To me a real first-aid kit is a bag, pouch, etc. that will carry enough medical gear to have the ability to stop, or at least control, serious bleeding using several different methods. It will also have several different air way adjuncts to help keep an open, patient, and secure air way using minimal equipment. I will have chest seals, splints, a space blanket for treating shock and a whole list of other items. I will do a future blog post on what all gear and equipment I carry in mine depending on where I’m going and what I’m doing.
Having spent the better part of a decade working in emergency medicine both in hospital and pre-hospital I have had a front row seat to the results of that I like to call “It Won’t Happen to Me Syndrome”. As a matter of fact, I would bet that the only common factor in every patient I’ve treated or seen is that they all didn’t think it was going to happen to them. So make the effort to be prepared by having a quality first aid kit that is readily accessible whether it be at home or in your vehicle or both. If you carry a gun for a living or work in a dangerous and remote field like logging then I would go as far to say that you should have a first aid kit on your person at all times.
Having a good first aid kit readily accessible is only half the solution to being prepared for that worst day. You must know how to use it and provide care. This goes without saying but there are people out there who will buy a piece of equipment and think that they will somehow rise to the occasion and just figure it out when it happens. This way of thinking is seriously flawed. The best thing to do is to acquire quality first aid training in the form or Basic Life Support, Stop The Bleed, Tactical Emergency Casualty Care, Tactical Combat Casualty Care, or some other high quality first aid training so if and when that “worst day” arrives you will be beyond adequately prepared.