The First Aid Kit.

I'm sure those few of you who care to read this are fully aware of my efforts to be prepared for anything?

Well, I've just created a better First Aid Kit for our night walk up Snowdon in a few weeks.

I've based it around the Lifesystems Mountain Leader kit, a kit that costs in the region of £45 - £50.

I managed to cobble it together with my box full of random supplies in my office, and it has probably cost me in the region of £10.

Here's the blurb from the Lifesystems website. ( www.lifesystems.co.uk )

MOUNTAIN LEADER
FIRST AID KIT

The Mountain Leader First Aid Kit provides the equipment needed to care for a large group of between 1 and 14 persons. This kit is also used by survival training schools in the UK. It has been designed with the help of expedition doctor Hugh Montgomery and members of the British Special Forces medical team.

(I'll point out here that mine looks NOTHING like the pictures,and my case is inferior to the Lifesystems originals equipment cases. I reckon the contents aren't as good either, but they'll be good enough)


Oh good, you're still here :-D

Ok, I'll get on with the list.

General
1 x Primary Care Leaflet
1 x Tweezers
6 x Safety Pins
1 x Scissors (5.5cm Blade)
4 Pairs Vinyl Gloves
1 x Shears (6cm Blade)
1 x Glo Stick
1 x Resuscitation Face shield
1 x Spot Check Thermometer

Medication
16 x Paracetamol Tablets
16 x Ibuprofen Tablets

Bandages
2 x Open Woven Bandages 7.5cm x 5m
1 x Crepe Bandage 5cm x 4.5m
1 x Crepe Bandage 7.5cm x 4.5m
1 x Triangular Calico Bandage 90 x 127cm

Preparations, Disposables & Tapes
10 x Hygienic Cleansing Wipes
1 x Micropore Tape 2.5cm x 5m
1 x Zinc Oxide Tape 2.5cm x 2m
1 x Duct Tape 2m Roll
10 x 4-Ply Gauze Swabs 5 x 5cm
3 x Burn Gel Sachets (3.5g)

Dressings
1 x Pack of Assorted Plasters
1 x Medium Wound Dressing 12 x 12cm
2 x Low Adherent Dressings 5 x 5cm
2 x Low Adherent Dressings 10 x 10cm
1 x Small Plaster Fabric Strip 4cm x 1m
1 x Large Plaster Fabric Strip 7.5cm x 1m
6 x Wound Closure Strips
1 x Small Eyepad Wound Dressing
2 x Blister Plasters

In addition to the above, I have added the following,
1 x Patient Report Form and Pencil, there's also a section on this for the Goffer to take with them.
1 x Foil Blanket
1 x Tick Removing Tool
1 x Small Tub of Vaseline
8 x Asprin
5 x Anti-Hystamines
1 x Finger Dressing
2 x Tubes of Saline Solution
2 x Hand Warmers/Heat Pads
1 x Roll PVC Tape
1 x Cold Wrap Bandage
1 x Bites and Stings Kit
1 x Head Torch

I also threw in a couple of hand and surface cleansing wipes.

I'm sure the Lifesystems kit comes with mini (1.5cm) light sticks. I have 2 of these, plus 4 x 8inch light sticks. Intense 5 and 30 minutes plus a green and red 8 hour sticks.

I've also added a Combat Application Tourniquet.

Before anybody leans back and says What. The. Hell. Don't worry. I know how to use it, and it is there for the very most extreme cases. It will not be used unless ABSOLUTELY neccessary.

Fortunately, with the training I've had and the books I've read, I feel confident that our group will be able to cope with anything first aid orientated.
We have somebody VERY well trained (a Firefighter) somebody who I think will be quite good, and Me, a St John First Aider. (Although very new to it I will add)

There's absolutely nothing wrong with Lifesystems gear, in fact, I think they are well put together kits and reasonably priced, I just wanted to use some of my surplus. I did follow their model after all ;-)

So there we have it. Thanks for reading. Hope it wasn't too boring for you. Please feel free to comment.