CEN FAQs: Emergency First Aid Kits

Scalding hot oil spills from the stove burning you or a child, a serious cut needs immediate attention before medical help arrives, or a major disaster means help may not be available for some time are all reasons to have a well-stocked emergency first aid kit in the home. Some kits come pre-made, others choose to build their own kitchen scratch. The easiest option for most of us is to buy a pre-made kit, and then supplement additional items.

A good plan is to place a medical kit in your home and also in each vehicle, you never know when you may be called upon to administer first aid or possibly have the supplies used to treat you. If you ride ATVs or go boating great to take the medical kit with you.

 The last of basic supplies is a good starting point:

• Elastic wrap bandages

• Adhesive tape

• Rubber tourniquet

• Non Stick sterile bandages 

• Gauze in roles, in assorted sizes

• Bandage strips including butterfly bandages in different sizes

• Aluminum finger splints

•  Duct tape

•  Petroleum jelly

•  Plastic garbage bag

•  Plastic food bags in different sizes

•  Safety pins

•  Hand sanitizer

•  Scissors and tweezers

•  Instant cold packs

•  A space blanket for heat retention

•  Cotton balls

•  Cotton-tipped swabs

•  Disposable examination gloves in different sizes

•  Eyewash solution

•  Antibiotic ointment surgical mass

•  Hydrogen peroxide

•  Sunscreen

•  Insect repellent

 

In addition to the supplies there are medications that are good to include:

• Aloe vera gel

• Laxatives

• Antacids 

• Calamine lotion

• Hydrocortisone cream

• Cold medicines

• Cough medicine

• Antihistamine, such as Benadryl

• Pain relievers like Tylenol, aspirin or Advil 

Other emergency items and information should be included with your medical kit.  An example is a flashlight, in a crisis you don’t want to be scrambling looking for emergency lighting. Key items to include:

• Emergency phone numbers and contact information for all family members including all of your doctors

• Emergency phone numbers for poison control, road service and EMS

• Medical consent forms, you don’t want to be scrambling to complete forms under stress

• Medical history for each family member, including physician. Contacts

• A waterproof flashlight with extra batteries

• A notepad with a pen to take notes

Store your medical kit in a safe place out of reach of small children but ensure each family member, age appropriately, understands where the first-aid kit is located. An excellent reference to add to your supplies is the book When There is No Doctor.  

We all have a tendency once we put together a medical kit to forget about it until there’s an emergency. If you take items out of your emergency kit, then replace immediately or what you require will not be there during a crunch.

A minimum of once a year take the responsibility to go through the items in your emergency medical bags and refresh as needed. For example, hydrogen peroxide will start degenerating every year and lose effectiveness, other items may have longer shelf life but many of the items on the list will become useless after a period of time. Place on your calendar a task to review and refresh your first-aid kits to keep them available.

In Scripture we read about the good Samaritan, “He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.” (Luke 10:34) A good first aid kit will help you be prepared, like the Samaritan.

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