Be Prepared The Importance of a First Aid Kit
Skills in first aid are always important. From helping strangers hurt in the street to cleaning scraped knees on children, these skills are able to prevent infections and make any wound heal more efficiently. And older adults should also be sure to keep first aid kits well stocked with all the necessities, including medical cotton rolls, insulin syringes, and more.
In fact, elderly adults are more likely to experience health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, respiratory disease, and others — all of which could lead to a hospital visit. With a proper first aid kit, however, you can help prevent emergency room visits! Luckily, this guide should help you better understand what to keep in your first aid kit!
The Essentials: What You Should Keep in Your First Aid Kit
- Medical Cotton Rolls.
Medical cotton rolls, also commonly referred to as sterile rolled cotton, is an essential part of any first aid kit. This cotton can be used to stop bleeding, clean cuts and scrapes with antiseptic spray, and even provide a strong bandage. For instance, if your child becomes hurt while playing with friends and scrapes his knee, medical cotton rolls could be used to clean up the wound and prevent infections. In addition, if you or someone else in your household becomes injured and needs to go to the emergency room, you could still prevent infections with this tool. - Antiseptic Cream or Ointment.
After you have cleaned a cut or scrape, it is important to provide antiseptic cream or ointment to it. This will help prevent any bacteria or other pathogens from getting into the wound, protecting it from infections. Ointments are particularly useful in helping the wound to heal, as well.
Generally speaking, you should keep any cuts or small scrapes cleaned, moist, and covered. This means you should clean it out with water while it heals, then pat dry, keep it moist with ointment and then cover it with a bandage. The ointment allows your skin to heal better, preventing it from drying out and even scarring! - Emergency Inhaler.
For adults over the age of 65, about 10 to 13% are living with breathing conditions, like chronic bronchitis or asthma. If you or someone in your household has such a condition, then it is usually a good idea to keep an emergency inhaler in a first aid kit. Should an asthma attack occur, and the afflicted individual is unable to get to their normal inhaler, then the first aid will act as a sufficient back up! This could easily prevent any emergency room visits, by the individual before the issue becomes even worse. - Emergency Diabetic Syringes.
More than a million people in the United States are diagnosed with diabetes every year. Similar to asthma, while this condition can mostly be kept under control, there are still times of stress when an emergency kit can be life-saving. In this case, it would be beneficial to keep diabetic syringes in your first aid kit. Should blood sugar suddenly crash or the individual is in need of insulin, but doesn’t have access to their normal supply, then the emergency supplies in your first aid kit could save their life!
From prevention of infections to life saving supplies for chronic conditions, your first aid kit contains plenty of tools that you never know when you will need. And by keeping it stocked with up to date medications and medical supplies, you can rest easy in knowing that you’ll be prepared for any emergency!
