First Aid Supplies, How Much is Too Much?

When it comes to prepping, the old adage two is one and one is none comes to mind. This is extremely accurate, with maybe one exception when it comes to first aid supplies that you should have when preparing for the unknown.

When you think you have enough medical and first aid supplies, multiply that by about 10 and you should be good for an unexpected emergency. If you think you have everything you could possible need, and have never had an emergency to use it for, trust me, you will need more.

Unfortunately for me, I actually had a medical emergency recently that I had to put my emergency medical kit into use. Now it was not a human medical emergency, but it was an emergency nonetheless.

I know most of you don’t have horses, but the reason I am writing this is because of the lessons I learned, and how it applies to an emergency situation for humans as well.

Lesson Learned…

If we need to deal with a major injury in a SHTF scenario, this is a good lesson learned. This even applies today if we need to bandage them up until medical help is available.

SPP 144 First Aid Supplies, How Much is Too Much?

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For those of you who don’t know, we have two horses. And of these two horses, one is always getting himself into mischief. So he has earned the nickname Dennis the Menace. He is always getting into trouble. And about a week ago he got into the worst trouble yet.

I am not sure what happened, he got spooked somehow and put his back leg through the back of his stall. The back of his stall was metal, and he kicked clean through it. I was awake at the time (thank god) and I heard a ruckus coming from outside. I quickly grabbed my headlamp and went outside to investigate what was happening.

I pointed the light at the horses, and Ethan (aka Dennis) had blood gushing down his back leg. Somehow I kept my witts about me, got his halter on and tied him to a hitching post. I grabbed my equine first aid kit out of the barn, and proceeded to use EVERYTHING in the kit to create a compression dressing to stop the bleeding.

I went through three rolls of vet wrap, three abd pads, and a roll of duct tape, and there was still blood coming through the dressing. I grabbed more duct tape and created a tourniquet as best I could to cease the blood flow. Thankfully I have a vet who is available 24-7, and about 45 minutes later, he got to us.

The horse managed to gash his leg and cut through his saphenous vein, which is why there was such a large amount of blood. This is a little gross, but the bold was actually squirting out every time his heart pumped.

The good news is horses have a lot more blood than humans. Since I got to it right away, he did not lose enough blood to be in danger of bleeding out, however the amount of blood lost, that I witnessed, was incredibly scary, and all I could think of was getting it to stop bleeding.

He is recovering from his injury now, and as long as I can keep the laceration clean, and infection free, he should recover well, and no permanent damage done.

But now that I have had time to think about this situation, and how I quickly, in one emergency depleted my equine first aid kit, I have determined I was in no way prepared to handle multiple emergencies in a long term situation. So, just how many supplies would I need to have on hand to deal with whatever would come our way?

The answer is; much more than I have right now!

The good news is emergency’s don’t happen on a daily basis. And a lot of the first aid supplies that are a part of a good medical kit have very long expiration dates. So you can keep adding to your kit over time in order to have a lot of supplies.

But once you start accumulating more and more first aid supplies, you will need a storage plan to keep it all. Plastic storage bins are an excellent way to keep your extra first aid supplies together in one place.

If you have livestock, you will need to incorporate their first aid supplies in to your plan as well. So you will need a first aid kit for people as well as your animals. And you may want to plan for longer term, so bulk up your supplies as much as you can, when you can.

You will want to have supplies for every day cuts and scrapes as well as the more life threatening emergencies, such as blood loss, fractures, and infections.

Don’t overlook the everyday things, such as daily maintenance medications for conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes. In an SHTF scenario there may not be help coming any time soon, so you need to be prepared to deal with the emergency on your own.

To go back to my own emergency that happened, after the shock had worn off (sort of, I’m still on edge honestly) I had to go back and replenish my first aid kit(s), and add extra.

So this is what I added to my pets first aid kit…

• 10 rolls of vet wrap (generic equivalent)
• 5 rolls of kerlix gauze
• 6 velcro closure ace wraps in various sizes
• 6 2 liter bottles of water
• 1 box of nitrile gloves
• 12 rolls of tape (different kinds, medical, elastic, etc.)
• 2 rolls Elastikon medical tape
• 2 rolls of duct tape
• 3 packages of non-sterile 4×4 gauze sponges
• Wonder Dust (equine coagulant)
• Chlorhexidine cream
• Bute powder (this is prescription pain reliever for horses, I got it from my vet)
• 12 track bandages (for leg wraps-knit material)
• 3 packages of wide cotton roll
• Also various antibiotics, these were all acquired from my vet, I prefer the oral type, but unfortunately, now I have injectable antibiotics for horses now too, penicillin and gentamycin. But I have to say, giving a HUGE injection to my horse every day for 5 days proved to be too much for me and the horse, so I was left to use the powdered oral antibiotic, which is a sulfa based drug.
• 2 tubes of silvasorb gel

And then that made me start thinking about my ‘people’ medical supplies, and how much do I have, vs. how much I should have. Granted a large animal is going to require a lot more due to their size. But it is better to have the stuff, and never need to use it, kind of like an insurance policy. So that is how I look at my first aid supplies, and insurance policy for the safety of my family.

This is what I added to my people first aid supply kit:

• 2 boxes nitrile gloves, medium and large
• 10 rolls of cling gauze wrap
• 10 rolls of thick obsorbant kerlix gauze rolls
• 2 rolls of duct tape
• 10 rolls of medical tape
• 2 rolls Elastikon medical tape (my new favorite)
• 3 packages on non-sterile 4×4 gauze sponges
• 2 boxes of Band-Aids, various sizes
• 6 velcro closure ace wraps of various sizes
• 2 tubes of silvasorb gel
• Chlorhexidine swabs
• 1 box of various sized steri-strips
• 4 – 6 inch Israeli battle dressings
• 1 bottle of each of the following: ibuprofen, muccinex, Benadryl liquid, Tylenol, allergy tablets, like Claritin,
• 5 rolls of vet wrap

It may seem like overkill, but as I stated before, this is an insurance policy, and hopefully I will never have to use all of this stuff. But I would rather be prepared and have it, and not need it, than to need it and not have it. I will continue to bulk up all of my medical kits, and will most likely add things that most people will not need, such as needles, and IV start kits, but that is because I have been trained how to use it.

One thing you may have noticed I did not add to any of my first aid kits is suturing equipment. I am of the opinion if I don’t have the training to use something, I am not going to wing it, and when it comes to suturing, I do not have the experience so at this time, it is not a part of my medical kit. However, this may change in the future, but for now I don’t have it. Going back to my horse story, the vet came out three times in attempts to suture the huge gash closed, but the horse would not cooperate, and the window of opportunity passed, so we decided to leave it open, and let it heal by secondary intention (meaning, no sutures). Yes, it will take longer to heal, and yes, there is a risk of infection, but that just means I have to be more diligent in caring for the wound until it matures and heals. This is something I am willing to do in order to have a good outcome.

I feel the same way in regard to people. If I didn’t make a surgical cut, the last thing I want to do is seal it up. So yes it will be a more difficult task, and take longer to heal, but sometimes that is the better way, especially if there is something in the wound (like debris, or contaminants) that the body will help to push out. If it is sutured closed, you could potentially be trapping the contaminant inside of the body.

When in doubt, don’t do it. Again, this is my opinion. How you choose to handle a situation like this is up to you.

Another thing to think about, if you have never witnessed an emergency happen, attend some classes and get some training. No it won’t stop emergencies from happening, but you will be more prepared to handle a situation should it occur. Then if something does happen, hopefully your training will kick in, and make it easier to handle the emergency.

Get the training BEFORE something happens. Practice what you have learned. Have drills, and run through a scenario to get your hands in there so you will have a plan of what you would do in an emergency situation.

You will never be prepared for every scenario, but the more you plan and practice and learn, the better prepared you will be if something happens.