Lightweight Homemade First Aid Kit Ideas

[hippiepunkpirate]

Instead of buying one of the pre-made ones, I want to make my own custom homemade first aid kit. It should be lightweight and highly packable, yet cover all the bases of essential wilderness first aid. Anyone have any ideas on how to put one together, small lightweight components to use, what to use as a "case" to carry it in, ect?

[te_wa]

rule:
if a bandaid can cover a wound, you dont need it
if a bandaid cannot cover a wound, you dont need it

[Trishness]

I'm a firm believer in carrying a first aid kit and don't scrimp on it. Most of this stuff weighs next to nothing anyway.

1" Adhesive tape (you can cut it into butterflies if needed for deep cuts/wounds)
4X4's
2X2's
Gauze, 2"
Small amount Dakins solution (antiseptic)
Moleskin
Ibuprofen or Alleve or Tylenol
Ace bandage
Bandaids
small needle and some fine fisherman line (great for suturing)

Some of you may not believe in carrying all this but It's proven to be very handy on more than one outing


Trish

[azbackpackr]

Just off the top of my head, I like Trish's list, but I'd add Benedryl for allergic reactions. Tweezers have been helpful at times. Even better, one of those really tiny Swiss Army knives has the tweezers and the little scissors for cutting the moleskin, etc.

Knowledge is pretty helpful too.

And snake bite kits are useless and potentially life-threatening. Glad to see people didn't have that on their lists.

[kingsnake]

Duct tape. If you don't carry hiking poles -- to use as splint / improvised litter -- they also have these really lightweight splints, they're orange, but when you bend them they become rigid. Really cool. REI has them, but I forget the name ...

[cactuscat]

@kingsnake
SAM splints

[kevinweitzel75]

Well... Mine consists of a first aid/emergency situation kit.
Band aids
Alcohol swabs
Hydrocortisone cream
Duct tape
Fishing line and a couple hooks
Needle and tread
Emergency blanket (type that looks like foil)
2x2 and 4x4 pads
Mole skin
550 cord (50 feet)
Aspirin
Lighter
Surgical tubing (3feet)
2 glow sticks
Bug spray
Flint and steel
Small zip ties
And it all is kept in a zip lock bag. I know, maybe a little excessive, but better safe than sorry.

[azbackpackr]

If you're going to have a lighter for an emergency situation, how about adding some sort of flammable material? Cotton soaked in vaseline, or dryer fluff, or small Sterno? Something that will act as tinder if you need to start a fire with wet wood, is what I'm thinking of.

[sneakySASQUATCH]

New Skin covers any wound, it's a disinfectant, and it's flammable so it will help you get a fire started.

[ASUAviator]

A good whiskey!

[kingsnake]

And a bullet to bite on? ;)

[SuperstitionGuy]

A deck of cards so while your waiting for rescue someone will find you and remind you to place that jack of spades under that queen of hearts.

[imike]

for the 1980 Texas Water Safari, which required a first aid kit on board each boat, I qualified with a can of Coors with a Red Cross taped on one side...

[Trishness]

Just don't use Neosporin or anything like that for an open wound. It actually traps any bacteria in the wound. Rinsing with Dakins or alcohol is actually better.

[azbackpackr]

However, people in the Know know that Neosporin or triple antibiotic ointment with the analgesic added is the PERFECT antidote to Backpacker's Butt Rash!

[oceanwithin]

I bought a small zip-up first aid kit from REI (probalby $10 or so), it already had the basics of bandages and first aid but I crammed it full of extras to customize it for the more "remote" adventures:

Duoderm bandages (provides waterproof wound care)
Small roll of duct tape (#1 used item in the entire kit, for sure!)
Mokeskin
Lighter & waterproof matches (these have absolutely come in handy)
Water purification tabs
Extra alcohol wipes
Whistle
Smelling salts
Benadryl & high powered pain pills
It's very small and light-weight even with all the extras thrown in. My emergency bivy and headlamp are too big to fit in it but those are also 2 items always take with me.

You could probably make your own with one of those zip-up camera cases for a p&s camera, they are roughly the same size as the kit I bought at REI. I find it's hard to buy the small first-aid kit versions of stuff on their own outside of an already pre-made kit though.

[kevinweitzel75]

Alcohol wipes work great for a fire starter.

[Hippy]

I was just talking about making myself a new FAK last week! GOYAAH went to a WFA class last year or the year before and he got some decent info from the instructor, here's what was sent along to me from him, hope it helps you as much as it helped me!



"I have three different first aid kits that I carry based on the situation:

1.The kit I carry all of the time, regardless of the situation, is my personal first aid kit. It is deliberately compact and light. This kit is a conglomeration of items that work for me and is not directly commercially available so I have attached an inventory sheet for this kit.
2.When I am responding to a mission and will potentially treat a patient in the field I supplement my personal first aid kit with an additional kit that contains some additional items appropriate for an EMT to provide basic life support. This inventory is also attached.
3.The kit that I carry for guiding large groups (1-12 people for up to two weeks) is the Adventure Medical Kit, Guide 1. It's a little pricey but it is a good kit. You can find it here, http://www.adventuremedicalkits.com/pro ... product=93

Personal First Aid Kit

This is the kit I carry all the time to provide for my personal first aid needs on a day hike or a week-long backpack. There are enough supplies to treat a couple of people hiking with you or an unexpected emergency response but this kit is not sufficient for an expedition or group outing and does not provide all of the EMT-level equipment and has no Advanced Life Support drugs/equipment).

It is important to limit your personal first aid kit to the critical essentials so it will be light and compact and you will not be reluctant to carry it all the time.

This kit weighs 490 gms (1.1 lbs) and is approximately (3”x 5” x 7”).

First Aid Bag (e.g. Red Atwater Carey Ltd)
Tools
•12cc syringe (for wound irrigation)
•Tweezers
•Razor blade
•Comb (for removing cactus spines, etc.)
Personal Protection
•Rubber gloves (2 pair)
•Bio hazard bag
•Face mask (folds flat in kit)
•Laerdal Manikin Face Shield (for emergency CPR)
•Sterile Alcohol Prep pads (10 pads)
Medications
•Benedryl (25mg tabs and/or sublingual tabs)
•Aspirin
•Ibuprofin
•Tylenol (Acetaminophen)

Wound care/Trauma
•Antibiotic creams (Neosporin, Bactroban Cream, Betadine ointment)
•Bandaging materials
◦Sterile 44” gauze pads (Six pads)
◦Bandaides in assorted sizes
◦Steri strips
◦Tape (3M Durapore tape)
◦Triangular bandages (3)
◦Ace bandage ( 3” wide)
◦conforming gauze bandage (“cling”)
Emergency Water Purification & wound irrigation
•Iodine germicidal tablets (Potable Aqua Water Purification Tecnology)
•Iodine neutralizer tablets (removes nasty iodine taste and color)

Eye care

Clear eyes eye drops (0.2 fl oz)
Cotton q-tips (six)
Sterile oval eye pad/bandage)


Foot care

Mole skin (one 4x4 pad)

a good quality pocket knife is a valuable supplemental tool that has many uses including first aid

At the expedition level/Group Guiding level, I have had very good luck with the Adventure Medical Kits. I use the Guide 1 kit with only a few supplements (e.g. SAM splint) which is adequate to care for about a dozen people in a wilderness setting."

[beterarcher]

If you're going to have a lighter for an emergency situation, how about adding some sort of flammable material? Cotton soaked in vaseline, or dryer fluff, or small Sterno? Something that will act as tinder if you need to start a fire with wet wood, is what I'm thinking of.

Fritos corn chips; tasty, nutritious, are good bait for snapping pics of small animals at parks and campgrounds and they burn like a candle......try it ;)

[beterarcher]

a "case" to carry it in

OtterBox or Pelican make good durable water proof containers of all sizes.