What you need and how you need to stay safe during warm weather season during short car trips or long travel on the road.
Summer is here and along with it come accidents and injuries of all kinds. People travel during the warm weather to satisfy the restlessness they have experienced all winter long. One wouldn't want to be stuck out on the road or in the middle of nowhere without being properly prepared for most anything that could possibly happen. Creating your own first aid and safety kit is a good way to ready yourself for bumps, bruises, or even breaks that may occur while on camping trips. These kits should also be kept in the home and vehicle for emergencies, and can be customized to suit all members of your household such as children and pets. If there is anyone with special needs in your home, you will want to make sure that the right precautions and accommodations are met for them. Make sure and keep any prescriptions and medications on hand and updated inside of your first aid supply so that they are safe and available when needed. Keep a list of allergies each family member has in the kit, which can be written or saved in a PDA or cellphone. Content lists should also be provided in the safety bag, which will help anyone needing information on an injured person and keep you up to date on items inside. Following this simple guide can save you a lot of annoyances as well as injuries.
A good safety kit provides useful items in treating everything from cuts, to burns, and breaks. For cleaning and sterilizing, you will need alcohol wipes, liquid soap, antibiotic ointment, a bulb syringe for flushing wounds with water, tissues, latex gloves for preventing contact with blood, and cotton swabs. Burns can be helped greatly with aloe vera gel and a can of burn relief spray which can be found at any major retailer. Splinters happen often around the house and especially when outdoors. Items needed to help in removing them are tweezers, sewing needles, and a small mirror. To relieve itching from bites or allergies while out, keep hydrocortisone, baking soda to make an anti-itch paste, and Benadryl or other allergy medicine. Bandages are a major essential, kinds to include are a large triangular bandage which can be used for a sling, assorted sized elastic bandages, gauze pads in various sizes, different sized gauze rolls, mole skin band aids for blisters, first aid tape in breathable and waterproof, safety pins for holding bandages in place, and scissors for cutting gauze. A good rule of thumb is to include a bottle of water depending on the size of your bag, and you can never have too much of these items or too large of a kit.
Your local Red Cross and fire departments can provide information and training on proper CPR and first aid practices. This is essential in helping to make you into a calm and efficient rescuer when someone is in need of help. Including books in your first aid kit is a good idea, because they provide an accurate reference in the event of injury. The American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbook can be purchased from $1.63 and up on Amazon.com, and makes for a clear understanding of helping anyone who has been hurt. Pet First Aid: Cats and Dogs by Bobbie Mammato and Susie Duckworth can also be bought on Amazon for $6.99 and more. First Aid for Children & Babies Fast by DK Publishing covers everything from minor cuts to life-threatening conditions, and is $8.95 and up on Amazon.
