Why You Need First Aid Kits

Whether you are lounging around at home or playing a sport outside, a first aid kit is essential for your overall wellbeing. From deep cuts to dark bruises and everything in between, your first aid kit is the initial step to finding relief from unforeseen injuries.

When you put together a first aid kit with common risks in mind, it provides emergency care in various situations and acts as the primary mode of treatment in some cases. That is why these kits are considered an essential part of home and workplace safety and travel and sports support measures.

There are many reasons for having a first aid kit by your side. Some of the most common benefits include the following.

• Swift Support. When you place a first aid kit in your vicinities such as your home or your car, it offers you immediate help against common injuries. This makes sure that you don’t have to wait for medical professionals such as emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to get quick support against common emergencies. While you wait for professional help, you can get critical care through your first aid supplies.

• Prevention of Blood Loss. One of the most significant benefits of having a first aid kit is to prevent excessive blood loss. Whether you face a sharp cut from a kitchen knife or a sudden injury from a road accident, your first aid kit can ensure to provide the first line of defense against major loss of blood. In addition to stopping small injuries in their tracks, this also streamlines the subsequent treatment process for significant trauma.

• Prevention of Bigger Risks. No matter if you sprain your ankle or tear a ligament, your first aid kit can ensure to provide proper support against the injury. This makes sure that any issues that can turn bigger with neglect don’t go that route. As a result, even if you wait to get proper care from a professional, you don’t have to face the risk of your injuries turning into larger issues in the meantime.

• Compliance With Regulations. While it is heavily advised that you keep a first aid kit at your home and car at all times, it is a compulsory requirement for many businesses. If you don’t have a first aid kit at your premises and face an unforeseen accident, it can expose you to problems such as lawsuits and fines. To make sure that you steer clear of unnecessary issues, you can put together a proper first aid kit according to your workplace risks.

Keeping a first aid kit comes with many other benefits, such as taking care of your family, employees, and teammates in painful situations. Depending on your setting and type of injury, having a first aid kit can also help you save costs on emergency room (ER) visits and allow you to address common injuries before you seek professional opinion through an appointment.

The History of The First Aid Kit

Administering first aid through available equipment at hand goes as far back as an ancient civilization. But the first commercial first aid kit that put essential supplies together can be traced back to 1888.

As the result of a fateful discussion between a businessman and a medical doctor, the first aid kit was launched by Johnson & Johnson. The company’s founder Robert Wood Johnson is largely credited with the idea.

The suggestion came to Johnson’s mind after he heard about railroad workers’ constant injuries and the time it took for them to get care through a hospital. Since these workers typically worked on sites far from the center of developed towns, they had to travel a significant distance just so they could reach a medical professional.

In cases where they could administer basic care by themselves or company doctors, they often had to face the issues of unhygienic supplies and treatment methods. This increased their risk of infection.

As a result, many of these injured workers faced issues such as pain and blood loss, which created discomfort issues and problems in subsequent treatment. In scenarios where they ended up getting some form of care, they had a high risk of their wounds getting infected. This often led to fatalities and created a world of other problems.

Once Johnson learned about these issues, he started to explore the idea of administering immediate care to minimize fatalities and risks for these workers. Due to the logistics involved, Johnson wanted to provide a sustainable solution in emergency situations, yet helped workers find temporary relief until the injuries could be addressed via a professional.

After pondering over the idea for a while, Johnson put together the sterile medical supplies produced by Johnson & Johnson into one place. But these kits were nothing like the modern, compact, and accessible designs that you may see everywhere these days. Instead, their packaging was made out of wooden or metal materials, with their contents being tailored for railroad companies.

But even though these kits remained a purpose-built solution for these transportation businesses, they paved the way for the concept to develop further. Since these kits already had the basics, such as bandages, gauzes, emergency plasters, and sutures, these supplies were soon adopted in other kits.

While today’s first aid kits have a variety of basic supplies that anyone can use even without surgical knowledge, the 1888 edition of Johnson & Johnson’s kit remains the reference point for their origin.

Essentials in A First Aid Kit

Today’s modern first aid kits carry more than a few essentials that could address various medical emergencies. While all kits have a collection of basic supplies in them, some of these kits address a particular setting or location’s specific needs.

For instance, if you are getting a first aid kit for home use, the essential items would include common yet important items. But if you are getting a first aid kit to use for your sports team, you would need to pay attention to athletes’ specific injuries and learn about the common emergency treatments behind them.

In most cases, you may find these first aid kits and corresponding supplies all in one place. But if you decide to build your first aid kit, you can do that as well. While the activity may end up costing you more in terms of both your investment and time, pedantic people with no budgetary or scheduling issues find that to be a suitable option.

With that being said, getting a pre-prepared first aid kit is often the desired solution due to its overall affordability and accessibility.

To help you learn about the essentials, you can find a list of the different settings for using first aid kits and their relevant equipment. This information will help you prepare for disasters and have access to the right materials when you need them. View the list below to learn more about the range of things and products you may require as you prepare to be on your way.

General Equipment For Home and Office Use

First Aid Manual

Adhesive Tape

Gauze

Elastic Wrap Bandages

Adhesive Bandages

Eye Pads

Cold Packs

Cotton Balls and Swabs

Safety Pins

Scissors

Tweezers

Disposable Gloves

Antiseptic

Antiseptic Wipes

Aloe Vera Gel

Over-the-counter Painkillers

Antacids

Laxatives

Anti-diarrhea Medicine

Cough Medicine

Anti-inflammatory Tropical Medicine

Antibacterial Tropical Medicine

Additional Equipment for Travel Use

Multi-size Splints

Powdered Electrolyte Mix

Sunscreen

Space Blanket

Insect Repellent

Hand Sanitizer

Additional Equipment for Sports Use

Multi-size Splints

Cohesive Wrap

Athletic Tape

Powdered Electrolyte Mix

Depending upon your workplace’s or situations specific requirements, you can look into other equipment that addresses safety hazards for your specific environment. This allows you to minimize medical issues and ensures that your employees, as well as visitors, can seek help against common injuries.

Why First Aid Kits Need To Be Durable

While getting a first aid kit, your complete attention should not be on the equipment itself. You also need to pay proper care towards how you are storing your emergency medical and aid supplies. Otherwise, you might find the items to be unusable at the time of need.

It may happen due to various reasons, which include but are not limited to exposure to weather, water, shock, and impact. If your first aid kit is not made to hold its own against such situations, the supplies that you need from it are often compromised.

For instance, if you carry your first aid kit under rainy conditions, a lack of waterproofing material can drench the supplies within. Similarly, if you are lugging your first aid kit in a travel bag, impact and shock can harm its components.

Due to this reason, your first aid kit must be built with durability in mind. By using kits made from high-quality material and special structure, you can ensure that you can save your equipment from deteriorating with time and regular handling.

With that, it is also essential that the supplies in your first aid kit are made from high-quality materials. If you store cheap quality supplies in your first aid kit, they might prove to be of no help when you need to use them. On the other hand, high-quality supplies last for a long time. This ensures that you are not putting your trust in unreliable products when your very health and wellbeing hinges on their durability.

That is why you should make it a point to get your first aid kit from reliable vendors. By taking this simple measure, you never have to hold any doubt about the strength of your precautionary measures.

With that, take a look at our first aid kit details below.