How to Make an Outdoor First-Aid Kit

Video Transcript

"Let's talk a little bit about wilderness first aid kits. One of the most important things you can carry with you when you're out in the wilderness is a good first aid kit. When you're out in the wild, you...you're really on your own. There's no hospital, no doctor's office, so, you really have to make sure that you can take care of yourself. So, some of the most important things that we're going to talk about in this first aid kit, which is what I carry out in the wilderness, are the wound management components, such as band-aids, for smaller cuts. Antibiotic ointments for smaller cuts. We have some gauze. We even have some trauma bandages for when things get really bad. You know, if you fall down a hill and cut your leg pretty bad, you need to make sure you're able to control the bleeding. Bleeding to death is one of the main concerns when you're out in the wilderness. That, or sprained ankles, broken bones, things that will prevent you from getting out of the wilderness. So you want to make sure that in your first aid kit you have enough equipment to take care of any bad cuts you might encounter. I'm not just talking about band-aids. Band-aids aren't really all that necessary. If you cut yourself and it's small enough that you could put a band-aid on it, usually it's not life threatening. So you don't need to worry too much about that. But what you're going to want to carry in your first aid kit are some good pieces of gauze, some rolls of gauze. You're going to want some tape so you can keep the gauze on the wound. You're going to want antibiotic ointment, which is key for making sure you can fight off infections. And, if things get really bad, we have what's called Curlex, which is basically super gauze. It's about four yards worth of sterile, pulled gauze, which you can use to pack wounds, cover wounds. It's very good for stopping bleeding. What you want to make sure you do, if you have a really bad cut, is you want to put some of this on it. You want to tape it up good, and you want to apply pressure. Pressure is one of the key things for stopping bleeding when something is bleeding pretty bad. Usually just putting some gauze on it and applying pressure will stop all but the most severe cut. Some of the other important things that you want to include in your fist aid kit, some good moleskin, for combating blisters. Burn gel. If you happen to have a campfire, for example, and you burn yourself, it's always good to have some burn gel with you. A wound irrigation syringe in case you get cut in the wilderness. A lot of times when you'll get cut it will be filled with dirt. So you can fill this up with water, and spray it into the cut to get all that dirt out of there. I also carry some eyewash, which is good, because in the wilderness it might be possible to get some dirt in your eyes. A sling, if you break your arm, for example, you might want to sling your arm. And, the last important thing I want to talk about is just a good pair of tweezers to handle things like splinters, ticks, anything like that."