June 27, 2015

For years I had the same home-made First Aid Kit in a big long tackle box (pictured bottom right). I felt pretty good about it, but as time has gone on, I knew I needed to update it. Upon looking around, I decided to also build another kit and organize it better. When I saw this rolling cart, I knew I had to do a kit that could be mobile and hold more things.

My biggest motivator is knowing that in an earthquake, it would be days and possibly weeks before help might arrive and I wanted to have things on hand to help my family and others.

This “tool box” is called: Keter Master Pro Sliding Box. I got it on Amazon for around $55. The price seems to fluctuate and I’ve also seen it well priced on Walmart and Home depot sites.

The top compartments slide open with an open bin inside for bigger things. It is lockable, although it’s not too rugged of a lock but I think it would do well enough to keep unwanted little hands from exploring the contents when you have it out. For the top portion, I keep books and resources on the left and easy access items on the right.

Above is a closer look at the top right. It has small red compartments that are removable. This is where I put my Quick-Grab items like band-aids, hand sanitizer, antibacterial packets, tweezers, and other small tools. I love to label everything so I can get it quickly. I put in a multi-tool pocket knife, tick remover, and added safety pins (not on the label).

These are the books I am storing in the top left of my Rolling First Aid Kit for now. Polly’s Birth Book is one-of-a-kind booklet that covers pregnancy and birth – a GREAT resource. The RNotes is another great resource with descriptions and pictures of what to do in various medical situations. It can be used for triage like situations when you need help understanding symptoms and how to treat them. The Duct Tape 911 book has drawn pictures of how you can use duct tape medically. Now I need to make sure I have duct tape in there! Another book to consider is the Living Ready Pocket Manual First Aid. Lastly, it’s smart to have a notebook and pens/pencils to write down information and/or keep notes on any injuries or person’s you treat.

Here are all my items in the bin inside the Rolling First Aid Kit. Items in plastic containers are labeled so when you are going through this in a hurry, you can quickly look at the labels to find what you need. I feel like labeling is imperative. It took me a while to find a way that everything would fit nicely, but it worked!

This is the “spread” of what I have in my Rolling First Aid Kit (minus the pack of N95 face masks that you can see in the picture above this one). I love having organizers so I don’t have to rummage through items to find what I might need. I tried to put items in categories to be able to find more quickly. I used plastic containers I found at Walmart where the lid snaps closed effectively. (This is the style of containers I used, just smaller and at the store itself) I didn’t want containers where the lids might slip off or come off too easily and make a mess.

In the biggest container I have pain relievers (aspirin, ibuprofen, Tylenol), allergy medicine, cold and flu medication, cough and congestion syrups, Halls cough drops, vapor rub, bag of Epson salt, large and small heat patches for painful muscles, and sleep aid pills.

The next biggest container I have a skin stapler, stapler remover, box of simple tourniquet/forceps/scissors, anti-itch cream and Hemorrhoid ointment from Dollar Tree, Silver gel, and first aid shears which can cut clothing off quickly when needed.

In another container which was the same size as the last one I keep Burn Jel (This works awesome), Dental care items like dental pick and mirror, dental fillings repair that can be found at Dollar Tree, and dental topical anesthetic.

Also things for the eye/nose/ear/foot care: nasal strips, nasal relief spray, eye patch, ear plugs, athlete’s foot cream, Moleskin, liquid corn and callus remover. And some simple face masks I got at Dollar Tree (not to be confused with the N95 face masks that specifically designed to filter out tiny particles)

A smaller and taller container has 4 Cinch-Tight bandages. These are great for treating wounds that are hemorrhaging. A must have for every kit, I think! Look up YouTube videos on using Cinch Tight or the Israeli bandage. There is another one called the H bandage that is also similar. It’s important to see how they work.

The other smaller and taller container has items related to stomach and digestion: activated charcoal capsules, antacid/gas relief/laxative easily found at Dollar Tree or a pharmacy, Pepto bismol, and a small pack of trash bags (also from Dollar Tree).

The two smallest containers have Ace Wraps and Sensi Wraps (the kind that sticks to itself when wrapping up a wound or area); and different sizes of gauze and dressings.

The orange rolls there are padded aluminum splints. You can unroll it and form it to the limb needing the splint, getting it just as you need it. Then bend the width of the splint to make it firm and immovable. This is a great resource for your First Aid Kit and is like those used in many ER rooms. Also a bite and sting kit is important. And petroleum jelly.

Exam gloves are important to have on hand. You can get some excellent exam gloves that are non-latex at Costco in a two pack for $20. Cotton balls and swabs can be easily gotten at Dollar Tree. I also like keeping some colloidal silver on hand as it has helped my family get over many illnesses and even cured my daughter’s strep throat. The one pictured here is called St. George Nano Silver, but there are other kinds and brands that are effective.

Other items you might want to consider having in your first aid box or preps:

Items you might need during a baby delivery like: hemostats (clamping cords), resuscitation masks ranging in sizes, and an infant suction bulb.

Reusable nitrile gloves that can be disinfected and used over and over.

Perineal Irrigation bottle – to clean out a wound with clean water.

Triangular bandages

CPR Rescue Mask

One way to determine what you might want in YOUR kit, is to think of what disaster or possible trauma would MOST LIKELY occur in your area or even just to your family. So for me, I’m thinking earthquake. When there is a big quake, I know we won’t have access to help for days/weeks. The most common injuries from an earthquake are broken bones, crush injuries, blunt force trauma, penetrating wounds and contusions and head trauma. So I try to have items in my kit that can address those issues. In a different area or with certain family health concerns, the issues may be related to other things. Let that help determine what you put in your kit (other than the basics, of course). You will be SO GLAD you have those things when a tragedy or emergency happens!

Here is the INVENTORY list of all that is in my Rolling First Aid Kit. I’m sure there are many things we can add to this, but it’s a good start.

It feels good to prepare some items in-case of an emergency and help our families become more self-reliant. I know it really helps bring me peace of mind each time I make effort in becoming more prepared – especially in strengthening my faith. I know I will need faith in emergency situations where I may see injury and even death. I need to be able to keep my wits about me and not panic, and KNOW that God has a plan for each of us. 🙂