First Aid Kits

Shorts weather is sadly still a long ways off, but when spring finally does arrive, skinned knees are going to become a common occurrence again.  When Oliver fell on the sidewalk last week and got a nasty bump on his head, his injury reminded me that even ahead of spring, I need to be more prepared if an accident happens farther from home.  So I finally put together first aid kits for not just my home, but for my car, my husband's car and the nanny's car. 

If you google first aid kits, you'll find lengthy lists of what every kit needs.  Given that I'm never far from a hospital or pharmacy with the kids, I limited the contents of our kits to what I would need to treat bumps and cuts and left out things like medications and a thermometer.  I was not trying to copy the kits we learned to put together in the Wilderness First Aid course I took in college in preparation for leading groups of freshman into the wilds of Maine. 

First aid kit contents:

• Band-aids of various sizes
• Size small and medium gauze pads
• medical tape
• instant cold pack
• tweezers
• hand sanitizer
• alcohol wipes
• antiseptic spray
• latex-free gloves
• extra baggies

I bought all the supplies and then divided them into plastic baggies and packed them together in either plastic bins or a large plastic bag.  The bags are able to fit in the glove compartment and the bins underneath the seat of the car.  I printed the national Poison Control number (1-800-222-1222) on the front of the kits.   

I was surprised to learn that some items I thought were supposed to be staples of first aid kids are not recommended anymore, the main one being ipecac syrup to induce vomiting.  Research has shown that vomiting does not prevent a person from getting sick from a poison and that syrup itself can cause other problems.  Not only does Poison Control not recommend its use, it's difficult to even find in stores anymore.  Instead of ipecac syrup, the advice now if you suspect your child swallowed something harmful is to simply call Poison Control.

If you have recommendations for other items I have missed, please let me know!