Lightweight First Aid Kit

   

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This is a suggested lightweight first aid.  You'll want to add to or adapt it to your needs.  Carry only those items that you know how to use.  From time to time, check your kit and restock worn products and replace old, expired drugs. Remember that you also need knowledge to go along with your first aid kit, and it's important to take basic first aid and CPR classes.  You may also want to consider taking a Wilderness First Responder course if you go on extended trips in the backcountry.

 

Thanks to the following for their assistance in assembling this information: Dana Olson, former director of the Idaho State University Outdoor Center, and Lance Taysom, Air Idaho Rescue Flight Medic and Wilderness Medicine Instructor.

 

◻ 3-4 Sterile gauze pads (4" x 4")
◻ 2 Rolls of 4" wide sterile gauze
◻ 8 Band-Aids (Include a couple large-sized Band-Aids)
◻ 6 Butterfly bandages
◻ 2 Triangular Bandages (Useful for slings and lashing to improvised splints)
◻ 1 Roll of athletic tape
◻ 1 Wrapped sanitary napkin (for nose bleeds, or to clean up blood from wounds)
◻ 1 Microshield (lightweight mouth shield for giving CPR)
◻ 1 Small bottle of tincture of benzoin (for cleansing wounds)
◻ 1 Tube of Neosporin or Providone-iodine ointment (to dress wounds)
◻ 1 Piece of moleskin (4" x 4".  Use for blisters)
◻ 1 Elastic wrap (4-6" wide)
◻ 2 Safety pins
◻ 10 Pain killers (aspirin or Tylenol)
◻ 8 Benadryl (antihistamine tablets)
◻ 5 Pepto-Bismal tablets
◻ Any special medicine you need to carry.
◻ 1 Pair of scissors and tweezers (Scissors and tweezers are also available on Swiss Army knifes)
◻ 1 60 cc Syringe (For suction of vomitus or irrigation of wounds)
◻ 2 Pair of rubber gloves

 

Other Items You May Want to Consider:
◻ Snake bite extractor (also useful for bee stings)
◻ Sam splint
◻ 1 oz Ipecac Syrup (To cause vomiting in the case of poisoning .  Know when & when not to use.)
◻ Charcoal Suspension (To absorb poisons remaining in stomach)
◻ Silvadyne (a water-based burn ointment)
◻ Cavit, 6 gram tube (temporary filling material for lost fillings)

 

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