BUILD A FIRST AID KIT: WHAT DO YOU NEED?

BUILD A FIRST AID KIT: WHAT DO YOU NEED? HEALTH Magazine, Winter 2025 Published by the Southwest Utah Public Health Foundation This podcast episode is an AI-generated narration of the HEALTH Magazine article. The full article text is provided below as the official transcript of this episode. BUILD A FIRST AID KIT: WHAT DO YOU NEED? by Austin Smith, Healthcare Preparedness Coordinator; Narrated by Austin Smith using AI-assisted voice. Building a medical kit for your home or go-bag can seem like a daunting task, especially if you have no formal medical training. During my 13 years of service as an Army combat medic, I built many medical kits for different applications, so here are some recommendations to consider when creating your own emergency medical kit: When I’m starting from scratch on a medical kit, I like to break it down into three categories: Urgent, Non-Urgent & Medications. It is helpful to select a bag or box that has separate compartments to keep your items organized and easily accessible. URGENT includes tools to treat immediate life-threatening injuries. Arrange these items so that they’re the easiest to find and access in your kit: TOURNIQUET, COMBAT GAUZE PADS AND GAUZE ROLLS (like Kerlix), ACE WRAP OR PRESSURE DRESSING, OCCLUSIVE DRESSING (air and water-tight), EMERGENCY BLANKET, TRAUMA SHEARS, MEDICAL GLOVES, LIFE-SAVING MEDICATIONS LIKE AN EPIPEN (to treat dangerous allergic reactions) OR NALOXONE (for opioid overdose) NON-URGENT includes basic household first aid components to treat smaller cuts, bumps, and bruises: SMALL ADHESIVE BANDAGES (like Band-Aids), GAUZE PADS, SALINE FLUSH, ANTISEPTICS (like hydrogen peroxide), ANTIBIOTIC OINTMENT PACKETS, COBAN (self-adherent) WRAP, MEDICAL TAPE, MOLESKIN, TRIANGULAR BANDAGES, INSTANT COLD COMPRESS, SPLINTS, TWEEZERS, EMERGENCY FIRST AID, INSTRUCTIONS/MANUAL MEDICINE Include reserve prescription medications as well as commonly used over-the-counter medications. I save space by placing a few doses of pill-form medicine in a small fly fishing case and using a label maker to identify the drug and the dose. Consult your doctor if you’re unsure about taking any of the medications you’re including. If you are unsure at all about whether you can take a certain medication, consult your doctor before adding it to your kit. Here’s a basic list: EXTRA PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS, PAIN / FEVER RELIEVERS, COLD / FLU MEDICINE, ALLERGY MEDICATION, ANTACIDS, COUGH DROPS, SLEEP AID, LIP BALM, SUNSCREEN, ELECTROLYTE REPLACEMENT POWDER Write down or print cheat-sheets describing recommended dosing and intervals of medications; it can be a lot to remember! It’s better to have something to reference than accidentally causing a new issue by getting a dose wrong. Also, I recommend getting these supplies from a reputable vendor. Cheap knock-offs can easily be found online but are much more likely to fail. Having a kit, along with basic knowledge of first aid principles and techniques, can be invaluable, especially during a disaster. The main cause of preventable pre-hospital death in trauma victims is uncontrolled extremity bleeding, so being able to quickly stop blood loss is vital. Consider taking a STOP THE BLEED® course, along with basic or wilderness first aid, CPR, and AED training (see page 26).