First Aid Supplies - Make your own Kit

Despite what your parents always said, you went ahead and ran with scissors and now you’ve hurt yourself. You’re sprawled on the ground crying in pain. Oh goodness, there’s blood all over the place. Luckily we have our first aid supplies handily contained in our home made kit. What’s that? You never got around to putting together your first aid kit? How about purchasing a commercial kit, did you do that? No? What about the first aid kit you keep in your car? You don’t have that either? You don’t even have your car? What happened to your car?! Ok, don’t worry I have a tooth pick, some fingernail clippers, and I’m ready to perform emergency surgery on your wound. Hold on, this won’t hurt a bit...

First aid supplies are the type of thing you rarely need in everyday life, but when you do - you really wish you had them. In one fell swoop you could buy a first aid kit from the store and be done with it, but you can also take the time to assemble supplies yourself to form your own personal first aid kit. The advantage to this is that you will know yourself exactly what is in homemade kit. You won’t have to suffer the shock of opening a commercial kit only to find that it was actually a child’s lunchbox.

The first thing to consider is what type of container you would like to hold your first aid supplies. A simple backpack would do, but they are generally more difficult to keep organized. There are boxes specifically designed to hold first aid supplies that are both durable and compartmentalized. You might want to consider building two kits at a time – one for your home and one for your car.

First aid supplies you will need

Now that you have your container, let’s start filling it with useful supplies. Here are the essentials you will need:

The Basics

Band-aids – A big box of band-aids is a good start to any first aid kit. Resist the temptation to dip into this box of band-aids for everyday use or you may soon find yourself with an empty box. Keep this box separate and full; reserved only for first aid use.

Cleansing Agents – To wash your hands before treating a wound, or to apply to a wound directly to prevent infection.

Sterile Dressings – varying sizes of sterile gauze pads. Several 2 inch and 4 inch should do you nicely.

Bandages – These will be used to wrap around dressings or to keep them in place. You’ll want a variety of roll bandages, elastic bandages and triangular bandages.

Tweezers

Scissors

Needle

Tongue Depressor

Safety Pins

Latex Gloves

Lighter

Alcohol for sterilization

Saline

Thermometer

Aspirin

Space Blanket

After you have assembled your first aid supplies, take an inventory and safely store them in your chosen container. Keep it in an easily accessible place, but also take care to educate your children about proper usage. Remember, kids love to play with first aid kits! It’s not uncommon for people to look into their kits in times of need only to find their children have already ransacked the supplies while playing doctor.

You can also get an idea of what goes into a kit by looking closely at commercial kits and comparing its contents. Some kits are advertised as containing over 100 items, but make sure to check what these items are. There are definitely comprehensive kits on the market that cover all the basics and even more. However, you usually get what you pay for so don’t expect a lot of value from the cheaper kits. If you are going camping, the combination of inexpsensiv supplies and cheap tents is never a good idea. In putting together your own first aid supplies you have the advantage of controlling costs, but ultimately you will probably want to spend as much as it takes to be adequately prepared for any basic first aid situation.