Hey all,

As soem of you may or may not know... I just got a house.

There are a lot of posts in here for the BOB med kits and what-not, but what about a comprehensive home kit?

Anyone have any good suggestions? whether they be a list of items to add to the kit, or a complete kit you can buy thats all inclusive, lets hear 'em!!

thanks in advance!

-Tim

tim-

there are alot of kits out there, but most are over priced or over rated..
basics, are always going to be the best.
worst case scenario, it always comes down to, stop the bleeding.
different kinds of gauze
2x2's
4x4's
chucks
rolled gauze
(always has a million uses from deep penetrating wounds, to a make shift sling,or banding for a splint)

ace bandages of all different sizes( compression for wounds or sprains)
( 2" great for hands and feet, 4" for larger extremities)

tounge depressors for splints, tourniquets etc

band aids
all work, but i really like the 3m duct tape ones

a couple bottles of water, puncture a hole in the cap, great for debreeding wounds

iodine (bottle or packets)

small ( travel size )bottle of normal saline ( also great for irrigation, but also for ocular issues )

small bottle 2 oz of bleach ( for hasty purification of water )

take a clean t-shirt and fold it , place in a 2gal ziplock bag with enough water to saturate the shirt, and place it in the freezer. easy portable cooling, and intended purpose is for rapid cooling for a heat related injury also a clean extra shirt.

super glue ( great for sealing , after cleaning, lacerations, NOT PUNCTURE WOUNDS )

dental floss

alchol swabs

cotton swabs ( balls or q tips )

small container of petrolium gel

a couple packets of ky jelly ( great for dry nose, or irritated skin over eyes nose etc. )

trauma sheers if you can find them

zip lock bags,
( sterile storage, and used as a flutter valve in sucking chest wound, or gross area trauma )

and my favorite .. duct tape.



very very basic bob emt kit.



just my honest opinion and 2 cents.

also
congrats on the new house.

Thanks Las, thats one hell of a comprehensive list!

I'm gunna print it out and start picking the things up.

First thing I would do is take some first aid training. Then get supplies for your level of training. Using the wrong thing at the wrong time can make some things worse rather than better. I keep alcohol, neosporin, bandaids, maybe an ace bandage or 2 and a commercial military grade tourniquet. anything between bandaids and TQ I can either get to the hospital or get an ambulance to me.

ya know, thats nothing I really ever thought of... I should look into that...

Have any TSC or other farm stores near you, check out the vet supplies you can get the exact same stuff cheaper at these places, plus some other items for animal use but work equally well on humans.

Betadine is some great stuff, easy to use & kills germs either watered down 50/50 or more or straight up. We have a couple bottles of it and it seems like somebody is always using it....

How about the two tier medical approach

The Boo Boo kit and the IFAK.

the Boo Boo kit is to treat your minor everyday incidentals. THE IFAK is the "trauma" kit for one person for one injury & wourk for somebody going to college or such.....

Boo BOO kit:
2x3 bandaids x 5
knuckle band aids x5
regular bandaids x10
Vacuum packed kerlex x1
2in ace wrap x1
2x2 gause pads x5
alchol pads x5
idodine pads x5
antibiotic ointment packets x 2
OTC benedryl 50mg x 10
OTC Lopidamide(imodium) 2mg x 10
OTC neproxin (aleve) 220mg x16
OTC Tums tablets x8
EZY dose baggies x4
walmart 1.77 tactical bag x1 in red

You could substitute Sudafed for the Benydryl so it doesn't make you sleepy. Also anybody under 18 years old DO NOT take aspirin because of the risk of developing Reyes syndrome. I like Aleve because I don't need to carry as many to get the same duration as Tylenol or ibuprofen. I would recommend being under 18yo to use Tylenol (acetaminophen). EZdose baggies you can get at any pharmacy just ak the counter help they will know where they are.

For the IFAK:
4 roller gauze 4in( vaccum backed even better)
2 4 or 6in ace wrap
duck tape on an old credit card
2 Triangle bandages
small stick or object to use as a windlass
large safety pins x5
Barrier device for CPR
stored inside a 1 qt ziplock freezer bag.

All good info guys.

I'm losing my mind with everything thats going on with work, home, and the online classes I am taking though...

Anyone have any suggestions for a decent and not overpriced kit to get me jump-started?

Do you want a FAK for boo-boos or for trauma that you can use if you need to bug out, or in, for that matter? If you want a boo-boo kit than most of the ones they sell at wally world will work. Find a place that sells industirial safety equipment for a one with a little more stuff. If you want more of a trauma kit look on google for the US IFAK, or maybe one of these kits from Fox Kits. I know the guy that owns it and he is a first rate guy that teaches survial, first aid, and even wilderness first responder here in TN.

I bought off the shelf camping first aid kits at Walmart and added a few packets of quick clot.
http://www.quikclot.com/

Not to go old school on you but the best approach is a classic medicine cabinet.

No outdoor kit is all inclusive. You can buy one to start your medicine cabinet. As you buy the things to supplement your field kits, you put the excess into the medicine cabinet. Buying a little here and a little there, before long you have a small clinic in your house.

Besides the usual meds and bandages things I consider essential is a stethoscope, a good approach to this is buy a classic blood pressure kit which will have one, hemostats, scalpels, magnifying glass, good tweezers, probes, picks, and syringes. Man there's a gazillion uses for syringes. Not limited by size, you can have hot water bottles (damn does that come in handy), stretch bandages, and large bottles of antiseptic like hydrogen peroxide for initial cleaning of wounds. With rolls of gauze and tape, you never have the wrong size bandage.

In short, at home you're not limited by size, weight, and space so take advantage of it.

I'd much rather go to a cabinet with too much stuff, grab what I need and throw it into a box than grab a box and not have what I need.

Tj


BTW, About the only place I actually take my time and browse to shop and see what's new or what I can pick up other than a sporting goods store is a pharmacy.

If I remember right the military medics I know were saying that http://www.hemcon.com/ is much much better than quick clot in actual use.

Yeppers it's much easier and cheaper to go shopping, grab stuff & then get a box to put it all in.

hydrogen peroxide kills live tissue and causes more damage when cleaning wounds unlike betadine....Small girl child buggered her foot today while playing and cleaned it out nicely with betadine

Ya might want to get something like this and learn how to use it:

http://www.allheart.com/ah140011.html

http://www.allheart.com/select.html

I've got one like this http://www.allheart.com/littmann2159.html and love it

also a couple pairs of these & the big 7" Stainless Steel Utility and EMT Scissors are great for stripping people naked.....

http://www.allheart.com/bandage-scissors.html

We were using hemcon but they stopped because they are made from shrimp and to cram a clotting agent into an open wound, and there for into the blood stream of a person that has a shellfish allergy might not be the smarttest thing to do.

Man what a tremendous amount of information here, you guy's are great! I can't get over the amount of things i have picked up on from reading the threads here at the Armory, this is freaking great!!!

I asked about this (to guys that had been boots on the ground & seen nasty stuff) and they both said it's better to get a shot of epi and live than to bleed out & they used it by the truckload...{shrugs shoulders}

They were saying quick clot get's way to hot, causes burns & one guy got burns on his hands when using quick clot....

This post has been edited by Rampy: September 17th 2009 4:29 PM

I just got message traffic to turn in all Quickcot because guys were getting distal clot formation after having this stuff poured into wounds and then covering/packing them prior to medevac.

Looks like an impregnated gauze is going to be the recommended replacement for the loose granules.

We have stopped using the the loose QC and are using the QC sponges. I see what they are saying about hemcon and an epi pen but they dont give COmbat life savers epi pens. either way you go you need to get training before trying to use any clotting type item like this.