How to Choose a First Aid Kit for Hiking Trips

Video Transcript

"Hi, I’m Kate I’m here with Zoar Outdoor on behalf of Expert Village and we’re going to talk about hiking today. We’re going to be talking about first aid kits in when you’re hiking. There are a lot of first aid kits out there that you can buy pre-put together and you can put your own first aid kit together. The most important thing is to know how to use everything in your first aid kit, to know how long you’re going to be out in the back country and to know what to do if an emergency happens. Some easy to put together things, to have in a first aid kit is a nice blister kit, in case you start getting blisters. I like to have moleskin, some duct tape, Band-Aids, those are all really good. They have blister pads that you can get at the store. This is something you’ll probably be using every time you go out because blisters are one of those things that happen. Sunscreen should be in your first aid kit and any other band-aids, gauze, sterile stuff, iodine to clean out cuts you might get. I like to bring aspirin and Tylenol in case I get sore at night and you should have some gloves in case you have to deal with blood in somebody else. A mask in case you’re doing respirations or CPR would be good, triangle bandages are nice to be able to splint people. It’s most important that you know how to use all of this, if you are in the woods and you’re going for an extended amount of time it would be a good idea to get some sort of wilderness training for medical protocol or just how to do any of that sort of stuff. ___ Trail has it, if you’re out in the woods for a long time it would be good to get it your self and then you can use anything to put your first aid kit together. I like to use nalgenes and I shove all this stuff in here, you can use bags that you can get at any store for toiletries would work or you can use a dry bag, which will keep everything nice and dry. Nalgenes are hard to pack, they stay dry, this is easy to pack, it doesn’t stay dry, this is easier to pack and stay dry, so it’s your decision but most importantly you should know how to use everything you have in your first aid kit properly."