In 2019, injuries caused over 170,000 deaths in the United States. Many of those deaths could have been prevented with knowledgeable first aid care and the right supplies.
Do you to be ready for any emergency that strikes? To be prepared to treat an injury, all you need are the right first aid kit items and the knowledge of how to use them.
Whether you’re a skilled survivalist or just want to get your home first aid kit fully stocked, this article’s for you. Check out these five super cool multi-use first aid items to add to your basic first aid kit. They’ll make handling any emergency a breeze.
1. Duct Tape
You already have it around your house to solve a vast array of problems, but did you know that duct tape belongs in your first aid kit as well?
Duct tape is a solve-everything first aid item. You can use it for:
- Making a tourniquet
- Holding bandages in place
- Keeping pressure on a bleeding wound
- Holding a wound closed
- Protecting a wound from contamination
- Creating a splint for a broken limb
- Immobilizing a sprain
- Preventing a collapsed lung
- Creating a patch for a lacerated eye
- Keeping impaled objects stable
No basic first aid kit should be without a roll of duct tape. When an emergency happens, whip it out and use it for everything.
2. High-Proof Alcohol
Hopefully, you already have rubbing alcohol in your first aid kit. In an emergency, though, high-proof alcohol can do double duty.
You can use spirits (including vodka, bourbon, or whiskey) to disinfect your first aid supplies, your hands, and the injured person’s wounds. However, you can also get the injured person to drink a few sips of spirits. This acts as an emergency painkiller and keeps the injured person relaxed.
Make sure your first aid spirits are 70% alcohol or higher. This means that they are pure enough to disinfect and strong enough to work quickly as an anesthetic.
3. Blood Clotting Powder
If you want something in your first aid box that’s incredibly useful as well as super cool, you’ll want to get your hands on blood clotting powder. Just apply the powder to an open wound, apply pressure for 15 seconds, and watch the bleeding stop immediately. It even works for people who are taking anticoagulant medication.
You can use blood clotting powder on virtually all open injuries, including:
- Cuts
- Scrapes
- Puncture wounds
- Nose bleeds
You can even apply clotting powder to wounds that are so wide that they’ll need stitches later. The clotting powder will prevent blood loss while you get the injured person back to safety.
Blood clotting powder is a must for any travel first aid kit. Instead of trying to staunch a hemorrhaging wound, you could save a life in under 30 seconds with this ultra-cool first aid item.
4. Hard Candy
Yes, you read that right. Lifesavers, Jolly Ranchers, or whatever your favorite type of hard candy is should make it into your first aid kit. Actually, they have multiple uses.
Calming Down an Injured Person
When you’ve just suffered a major injury, your natural reaction is to panic. As a first aid provider, you’ll need to keep the injured person calm so that their panic doesn’t interfere with your lifesaving aid.
The best way to calm an injured person is to distract them. The flavor of a hard candy is a sudden distraction from the pain and shock of an injury. Plus, they require the injured person to concentrate to keep them in their mouth, which offers a further distraction.
Boosting Blood Sugar
When someone is suffering from low blood sugar, they need a hit of glucose right away. Hard candies are perfect for boosting blood sugar.
Just make sure that the person with low blood sugar is not about to lose consciousness. If they faint from low blood glucose with a hard candy in their mouth, they could choke.
5. Vaseline
Petroleum jelly is a favorite item among survivalists for a reason. It can help you start fires, keep your gear lubricated, and ward off crawling insects.
However, it’s a first-aid multitool as well. In a pinch, you can spread vaseline on a wound to seal it from infection. Vaseline isn’t an antibiotic ointment, but it will keep contaminants and irritants out of the wound until you can dress it properly.
You’ll also want to use vaseline to cover chapped lips and blisters when you’re on a wilderness trek. Not only are these minor injuries annoying, but they can develop into sources of full-blown infection that could threaten your health.
Vaseline moisturizes your lips to stop chapped lips from cracking and prevents infection from getting into the cracks. Similarly, it can lubricate chafing areas that are causing blisters, but it also keeps blisters from getting infected.
It’s cheap, it’s a workhorse, and a little goes a long way. You’ll definitely want to pick up a container of petroleum jelly to throw in your first aid kit before your next hiking trip.
The First Aid Items You Never Knew You Needed
Accidents happen everywhere — at work, home, and on adventures. You can be ready.
Whether you want extra convenience or you just love amazing new first aid items, these five first aid supplies will help you out in a pinch. Plus, they’ll amaze your friends and could even save lives!
Want more great survival tips? If so, don’t forget to check out the rest of our blog. You’ll find more articles on cool new products, lifestyle tips, and more!