Events in Paris provide an excuse for med kit upgrade

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Precision
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Events in Paris provide an excuse for med kit upgrade

Post by Precision »

The wife has previously agreed that having a BOK (Blow out Kit) (or 3) might not be the worst idea. Now she has agreed that funding that idea may not be the worst use of our resources.

Now I need to figure out what to buy, be that individual components or a ready made kit.

Suggestions wanted - and reasons why if individual components are suggested.
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rightisright
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Re: Events in Paris provide an excuse for med kit upgrade

Post by rightisright »

I build my own kits (based on advice from this forum and others across the 'net) from goods purchased mainly from this site: http://www.redflarekits.com/first-aid-kits

I use a swing-out tool box for my home kit.
323074_2275441524646_1881293433_o.jpg
I have similar, albeit smaller, kits in all my personal and work vehicles.
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D5CAV
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Re: Events in Paris provide an excuse for med kit upgrade

Post by D5CAV »

Any suggestions on blood clotting bandages?

I've heard the Israeli Army has good bandages, but medic is not my specialty.

http://www.chinookmed.com/cgi-bin/item/ ... ge---4%22-

TIA
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Kommander
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Re: Events in Paris provide an excuse for med kit upgrade

Post by Kommander »

The Izzy bandages are supposed to be good but the do not have any blood clotting agents on them. From what I have read the important things to have to stop bleeding are compression bandages such as the one you linked to, gauze impregnated with clotting agents for wound packing, and tourniquets for stopping blood flow. Chest seals are nice to have too.
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Jericho941
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Re: Events in Paris provide an excuse for med kit upgrade

Post by Jericho941 »

D5CAV wrote:Any suggestions on blood clotting bandages?
People besides Quik-Clot make those? :?
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Rumpshot
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Re: Events in Paris provide an excuse for med kit upgrade

Post by Rumpshot »

This is designed more for the home, but is a good start. Linky.
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Kommander
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Re: Events in Paris provide an excuse for med kit upgrade

Post by Kommander »

Rumpshot wrote:This is designed more for the home, but is a good start. Linky.
I read that article until I got to the line where the author wrote "There are pros and cons to BOTH homeopathic remedies AND to traditional western medicine." There are pros to homeopathic remedies? Bullshit. It's all bunk, up there with the flat earthers and anti-vaxers. This woman was an ER nurse? Do they not teach this stuff in the various medical schools and whatnot? This person might have honestly put together a decent first aid kit, but I will never know because I would prefer not to trust a medical "professional" who is ok with homeopathy.
BDK
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Re: Events in Paris provide an excuse for med kit upgrade

Post by BDK »

Homeopathy in the vibrating water molecules sense - clearly garbage. Homeopathy in the herbalist sense- eg, where we get lots of medicines from in the first place

No idea about the particular sense she was using it, though
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JAG2955
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Re: Events in Paris provide an excuse for med kit upgrade

Post by JAG2955 »

Jericho941 wrote:
D5CAV wrote:Any suggestions on blood clotting bandages?
People besides Quik-Clot make those? :?
There's Celox as well, and Hemcon, two other hemostatic agents. The best one out there in my opinion is QuikClot Combat Gauze, or the civvie counterpart. It's a gauze impregnated with a hemostatic agent. Much easier to use and for the docs to remove afterward. I don't know if Celox granules are still approved or not, as they had the potential to flow through the bloodstream into the brain or heart. At least I think it was Celox. All things considered, if I'm bleeding out, go ahead and dump them into me. Oh, and ChitoFlex, that's another.

Any of the granule products, or the Hemcon patch/cookie require training. If you can stuff a wound with gauze, you can use one of the impregnated gauzes. Note: there is a right way and a wrong way to stuff a wound.

Anyways, on to the kits. I have mine organized into three main groups:

1. Boo-boo kit

-Carried in small pouch inside my EDC backpack, this kit contains things like:

-Medications that make your life easier/more enjoyable. Some of them have alternate life-saving uses. Mine are carried in a travel-sized pill tube that originally held Tylenol. Look for them near a drugstore checkout line.
Tylenol, Motrin, antacids, aspirin, Benadryl, Alavert, Immodium, etc. Tylenol will break a fever and is a painkiller. Motrin (or Mobic in my case) is an anti-inflammatory for pains and sprains. Aspirin works for headaches and can help heart attack victims. Benadryl and Alavert will allow you to enjoy your vacation instead of dripping snot or sneezing every five seconds. Benadryl can also help with stings and allergic reactions. For some people, it can help you fall asleep if you're stuck on the plane next to a screaming child. It doesn't make me tired. Shitting your brains out? The Immodium. This one helps prevent those embarrassing shit stains and can save your life if you choose to eat the gas station sushi right before that desert day-trip. I also have the tendency to keep a few cold/flu meds in there, at least enough to get me through a work day.

-A few bandaids and a travel-size Neosporin. Prevent that small cut from killing you from infection when you get stuck on the side of a mountain due to a mudslide. The bandaids will keep you from bleeding on your hot date if you scraped your knuckles and makes for a great conversation starter.

-Chapstick. Chapped lips sucks.

2. A blow-out kit/IFAK

-On your armor, SHTF gear, and DEFINITELY IN YOUR RANGE BAG. Why the caps? Because tcourtplayer and I were at the range, and as we were setting up, I noticed a hole in the roof and a fresh blood stain on the concrete. "Hey dude, I'm going to go get my kit, watch my stuff..." It probably happened a day or two before we got there, but still, are you going to rely on a range employee to have anything better than bandaids? The dude probably lost a liter of blood or so. You've probably seen the Vulcan .50 kaboom-"Go get a shit-ton of towels!" while the guy is hemorrhaging from his neck.

-This should contain things to treat a gunshot/stab wound, it can range in size from the equivalent of a double magazine pouch to a Combat Lifesaver Bag

Should contain (at an absolute minimum):
-A pair of gloves or more, because it might not be your blood you're dealing with. That cut on your hands could be getting the AIDS or worse from the guy you're treating.

-Tourniquets, I like the SOFT-TW, ones. CAT Tourniquets are fine too, but tend to break more often and have lots of counterfeits. Buy from a reputable dealer. Have at least two. If it's on your SHTF gear, one of them should be readily accessible by either hand in an instant. Be sure to protect them from things like sand and UV rays so they don't break when you go to use them. In the interest of fairness, I have broken just about every kind of tourniquet, even a NATO tourniquet, which is a big hunk of cast metal.

-Gauze/hemostatic agent. I'd recommend Quik-Clot Combat Gauze, as above. You are going to pack a wound with it, in the end, if you cut a cross-section of a bullet hole, the gauze packing should look like an ice-cream cone because you've stuffed it so well. If you're doing it on your buddy, he should be cussing you because you are jamming your fingers into his new orifice to fill it with gauze. A good gauze packing will control most any bleeding.

-Ace bandage/pressure dressing. I wouldn't carry both, but I can see why some people would. Ace bandages are good for putting pressure over top of a large laceration because they are longer. Most pressure dressings aren't that long. You've got a few choices in pressure dressings, Olaes modular bandages, Israeli dressings, and Cinch-tights. I like the Olaes dressings in the 4" variety because they fit in the kits better. That said, most of mine are Israeli dressings. Between the gauze and the pressure dressing, you should be able to control most bleeding. Ace bandages are great if you're trying to lock a dressing down someplace weird like a groin or neck injury.

-Occlusive dressing. These vary from things like Halo chest seals, Bolin chest seals, Asherman seals, petrolatum gauze, to the wrapper that your pressure dressing came in. They're expensive and don't always stick. I have some Halo seals from work, but I don't know how much money I'd spend on them if I didn't have the training to use them. Duct tape, also part of your kit should work in a pinch with a driver's license, hunting license carrier, or wrapper from your Snickers bar. Anything in the box cavity (your chest/high abdomen, sure why not) will get an occlusive dressing if you get shot in front of me.

-14ga needle for chest decompression. Carry this, even if you don't have the training, because you never know who might around you. Don't let some idiot who saw a Marky Mark movie use it, but there might be a Corpsman or Army medic around who does. I got the training, and I'm not going to do it unless I have to, but if you're gasping for air while we're waiting for the ambulance, stand by, because I'm sticking you. Note that the military found that the 3" needle was too short for us beefcake Americans, so now they issue a 3.25" needle. If you're planning on sticking a fatty, make sure you've got the longer ones.

-Nasopharangeal Airway. A nose-hose to prevent you from having your tongue obstruct your airway. If you don't know how to use it, don't carry it, just know the chin-lift/head tilt method or whatever.

-Trauma shears if you so desire. I think they take up a lot of room, plus I always have a pocket knife.

FYI, I did the Deployed Medical Operator's Course, and they treat casualties using MARCH

Massive hemmorage
Airway Obstruction
Respiration (tension pneumothorax)
Circulation (shock)
Head Injuries and Hypothermia
3. A First-Aid Kit

We have one for the house and one for the truck. The truck one, in a CLS bag doubles just about everything listed as above in both the blow out kit as well as my boo-boo kit, and adds more medication of all types.

-It also adds a mylar blanket or two to prevent hypothermia, treat for shock, and wrap for transport. Let's say that you're out in the high desert and you come across a motorcycle victim who drove through a cactus patch, a set of decorative glass shelves, and fell down a canyon before getting a sweet compound fracture. As you're calling in the medevac chopper, it sure would be nice if you had something to keep the sand out of his wounds when it lands. So after you bandage and splint everything, he gets wrapped in a mylar blanket before the dust cloud from the chopper comes. They also make great signaling devices.

-More Ace bandages for treatment of sprains and SAM splints for splinting broken limbs. I think I have a few cravats in there as well to do slings.

-I have a few packs of Water-Jel in there to treat burns.

-I also have a flashlight, whistle, and half of an air panel in there to help attract attention.

-Seeing how this one is the most likely one to get used, I have many pairs of nitrile gloves and Hibclens in there. Because people are nasty and I don't want to get AIDS from treating some moron who crossed the road because he didn't wear his seatbelt.

-Speaking of disgusting humans, I have a quality CPR mask in there, not just a shield. I don't feel like french-kissing some fatty after a heart attack. (Note that current CPR protocol does not include rescue breaths, I think)

-Tweezers to get out splinters.

-Without looking, I think I have a spray bottle of saline in there as well, to get shit out of your eye, or gravel out of sumdood's road rash because he was too cool to wear a riding jacket.

The house kit contains stuff that we'd need to survive if the SHTF and is in a Pelican EMS case. I spent the extra money, because the most likely SHTF around here is a hurricane, and I wanted it to remain waterproof and crushproof.

-This one is predominantly a medication vault, containing the necessary meds to survive. It's heavy on things like Benadryl and Immodium. We also have some leftover meds that had been prescribed of a few types that could be useful. It would also be a good location to store your fish antibiotics, for your fishtank, you know. It has the "non-emergent" types of bandages, like suture strips and 4x4 non-stick pads. Lots of gauze and lots of tape, Ace bandages, Iodine, etc. If you can get a hold of an epi-pen or two, what a great spot for them. We have a few more advanced things, like King tubes, a bag, and a suture kit, because of my wife's paramedic training.

There's probably more qualified people out there that will tell me how my kits suck, but I'll take pictures if there's interest.
Precision
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Re: Events in Paris provide an excuse for med kit upgrade

Post by Precision »

very much information. I will need to print an digest.

Yes, there is interest. I am looking at this as a build from ground up, there will be a lot of recycling, but I will need to add lots of new.
"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." ~Thomas Jefferson
My little part of the blogosphere. http://blogletitburn.wordpress.com/
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