Here's what you need in a family first-aid kit.
- A cold pack—kept in the fridge or freezer for bumps, swelling, bruising
- Band-Aids or plastic strips in assorted shapes—for bleeding wounds
- An antiseptic cream of your choice—for wounds
- A digital underarm thermometer
- A rescue blanket—to keep an injured person warm
- Adhesive tape—to keep dressings in place and hold bandages together
- Eye pads—for eye injuries such as cuts
- Paper or Styrofoam cups—for eye injuries such as foreign bodies
- Ampoules of saline—for flushing eyes and cleaning wounds
- Gloves—to protect yourself
- Scissors
- Tweezers
- Splinter probes—to make removal of splinters easier
- A light stick—for use in the dark to attract attention, for instance, when camping or bushwalking
- Wound closure strips—good for holding lacerations together
- Zip-lock plastic bags—for amputated parts
- Safety pins—to hold triangular slings in place
- Assorted bandages
- A triangular bandage—a sling for arms or for splinting limbs (tie them or use them to apply pressure)
- Antiseptic wipes
- Sterile gauze swabs—useful for everything!
- Non-stick dressing—for grazes and/or minor burns until you get medical help
- A combine dressing pad—pressure dressing for bleeding
- Heavyweight bandages—pressure bandages for snake and funnel-web spider bites
- A resuscitation mask
- Freezing spray for ticks, e.g. Wartoff
- Red-coloured hand towel
- Timer
- A first-aid and CPR guide
Information Extracted, with Permission, from A Life. A Finger. A Pea Up a Nose, by Sarah Hunstead (HarperCollins, 2017).
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