First Aid Kits: Emergency Preparedness 101

Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.

In the event of a real catastrophe, a great first aid kit may be all that’s available in terms of medical assistance.  The question, once again, is how involved to get. Do you want to be ready for anything or do you just want to be sensible?  Do you want to be prepared to splint broken bones, open obstructed breathing passages, diagnose cardiac issues, or do you simply want to be able to deal with the basics like cleaning and dressing wounds and taping sprains?

Naturally the marketplace has everything on offer.  A basic first responder backpack has a lot in it.  This one of many sold on Amazon comes in orange or blue.  For your $125, you get LOTS of bandaids and a bunch of other useful stuff and cool toys including 6 airway kits, tweezers, a stethoscope, a finger splint, and a CPR mask. 

If you want to get more serious, this version, at triple the cost, has a compartment for an oxygen canister, hemostatic blood stop spray, a C-Collar, burn spray, a tourniquet and (among other things) an emergency blanket.

The Mayo Clinic’s emergency first aid kit list comes down somewhere in between the two above, and this one from the Red Cross is a bit more limited.  Of course you can use either to build your own kit.

Keep in mind that some first aid kit items don’t last forever.  An old alcohol swab might be completely dry when you need it, so calendar a check-up for your kit every year or so.