Every home should have a first aid kit suitable for the whole family from the youngest member to the oldest. Building your own kit is the best way to accomplish this essential need.

Your container should be made of a durable plastic with a latch closure and an easy to grab handle on top. On the top or side of the kit write down your emergency number "911", the poison control center number and the number of a relative or friend that lives close by. Use either a permanent marker or laminate a piece of paper and securely tape it to the kit.

It needs to be stored in an easy accessible place and out of reach of small children. A bright colored sign should be put on the door or above where it is stored, in a panic situation people tend to forget the "simplest" things.

The first and most important three items to put in your kit is a basic first aid handbook, a small CPR instruction chart and a medical information card for each member of the family; include name, date of birth, current age, current weight and height (the dose of a medication may depend on the patient's weight and age.) Any allergies to medicine or environmental such as latex, dyes used to perform certain examinations such as Cat Scans and the reactions the allergies cause. Include all past surgical procedures, especially internal pace makers, preexisting conditions (heart disease, pregnancy) and all medications currently taken, dose and times.

* Essential Items and Checklist for Your Home First Aid Kit.

- Latex or heavy duty vinyl gloves size large (2-3 pair.)
- Gallon size zip lock plastic bags (2-3) for lost fingers or limbs.
- Tweezers, scissors, small, medium and large safety pins.
- Antibacterial liquid no water needed soap, hand towels, wash clothes.
- Small, medium and large tourniquets.
- Instant ice and hot packs (2-3)
- Solar blanket (these are thin and used to treat shock.)
- Thermometer (Forehead strips will work on infants to the elderly.)
- Syrup or Ipecac and Activated Charcoal (Call poison control FIRST.)
- Large assortment of Band-Aids including, butterfly, triangle and steri strips. (Steri strips will act as temporary stitches.)
- First aid spray, antibacterial ointment, alcohol rubs, peroxide, cotton balls, Q-tips, Burn spray or gel and Vaseline.
- Sterile gauze pads and rolls assortment of sizes.
- Ace Bandages assorted sizes.
- Waterproof adhesive tape and latex free waterproof tape.
- Small and Large craft sticks (to stabilize broken bones.)
- Blood Stoppers known as a compress bandage, assorted sizes (3-4)
- Non-Stick pads (for burns.)
- A liter of bottled water (to clean an open wound)
- Sodium tablets and Pedilyte (for dehydration.)
- Pen Light (to look in dark places for foreign objects)
- Ammonia Inhalants (Used to wake a person who has fainted.)
- Plastic eye wash cup and solution, eye pads and patches.
- Travel size packets of pain relievers, liquid pain relievers for infants and small children.
- Plastic breathing mask for CPR.

* If you have an allergy that requires you to carry an Epi-pen or bee sting kit do NOT put it in your first aid kit (unless you have 2 or more.) You need to carry these items on your person at all times!

All of the above listed items will get you through an emergency situation until help arrives. Replace all the materials you use as soon as possible and check the dates every six months.

For a Basic First Aid instruction guide visit the website listed below for a FREE printable version.
www.healthy.net

For a FREE printable CPR chart visit: www.depts.washington.edu

Sources
www.fema.gov
www.redcross.org

Learn more about this author, Tammy L Mahan.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Essential first aid kit supplies for your home?
We want to hear your view. Write now!