As this is the first content entry, I should stick with what I know a little something about. Accidents occur frequently on outings and all experts agree that some form of a medical kit should be included in a backpack, bugout bag, or satchel. What should be in the kit is subject to much debate, and probably will vary depending on the trip, the expertise of the person, the responsibility to others, etc. Obviously, if you are going to snake country, some idea as to how to deal with snake bites would be useful. If you are traveling with children or the elderly, understanding their needs and demands would be appreciated by all. I live in the boreal forest region, where ticks, mosquitoes, and water abound. Pesky and irritating, they probably occupy an inordinate amount of my attention.
Probably the best foundation is to develop some knowledge of basic life support. This will get you through some of the most critical aspect of your own and the victim's care. Maintaining the airway and breathing, perfusion by blood to important parts of the body keep people alive. Courses abound for this education and I encourage everyone, even the young, to take them. In some occupations, they are required to be retaken on a regular basis. Basic life support in its most
rudimentary form does not require equipment, so you don't need to bring
the operating room in your backpack.
After this, survival manuals are a source of incredible information about the many mishaps that can occur in the wild... broken limbs, diarrhea, head injury. They are meant for people like us who need to manage conditions at the acute time period. The amount of equipment for doing many of the things in them is actually not that much... splints, braces, bandages. Many of this can come from the field, the ordinary hiking gear, and small medical kit.
Beyond these medically important conditions are the pesky ones such as bug bites, cuts and scrapes, diarrhea, headaches. While not acutely dangerous, they are a pain (literally) and can ruin an interesting trip to the outdoors. Some bites such as from the deer tick can cause Lyme disease, human anaplasmosis and babesiosis. I will likely write about bug bites some other time. Cuts and scrapes can become infected and potentially life threatening. Headaches can lay up a person so that other important functions such as gathering firewood is severely hindered.
So what should we have in a medical kit? Mors Kochanski in his career as a master woodsman has only come across two severe medical emergencies. This is likely because of his extreme expertise in the Canadian wilderness and bushcraft skills which include staying out of harm's way. When they happen though, disaster could be at hand. So does this mean we should be prepared for all of them? No. We cannot perform brain surgery out in the bush. We can barely set bone. Therefore, the most important tool in a medical emergency is the cell phone. When severe injury occurs, call and get help. Even if the purpose of the trip is to exclude electrical devices, bring a phone and keep it off. The cell phone can save your life.
One condition I wish to mention that may result from a variety of injuries is bleeding. Bleeding from a major vessel can be a big problem. Most people don't have the skills nor need to deal with it. We can't really sew or cauterize in the field well, but we can apply pressure. The key is to not get paralyzed about doing it, but to muster the courage and just press on the bleeding site. Aside from bandages, you don't need anything in a medical kit for this. Press hard enough to stop the bleeding. You don't need to squish the bleeding part to a pancake. The same principles apply even in the operating room where some of the most sophisticated machinery is present for stemming hemorrhage. The heart can pump an incredible amount of blood out of a vessel in a very short time, so try not to loss too much blood.
The vast majority of injuries are the minor burns, cuts and scrapes, blisters, and bug bites. Bad burns need to be dealt with proper medical care, but if you have gauze and tape, most of the cuts, scrapes and burns may be readily treated. Bandages are meant to protect the wound and keep them clean. They don't do much else, but don't underestimate their value. Bandaids are convenient and can handle most skin breakages. This item is likely the most used one in the kit. Have 10 in there, but have some 4x4 gauze too for bigger cuts. You carry some duct tape already right? Anyway, you can start a fire with them.
Antiseptic is what brought modern medicine to us. A bottle of iodine solution can sterilize a wound. In a pinch, it can help with your water supply. Liberally applied to the wound, it can practically sterilize a wound. It's used in surgery exactly for this purpose. I put some in a small bottle about the size of those shampoo bottles from hotels. If you are allergic to iodine, there are other substitute in the drug store.
Tylenol or ibuprofen for headaches. Some anti-itch cream. DEET wipes if you consider that a medical item. I try not to use packaged stuff if possible because of the excess garbage produced, but they are very convenient (alcohol wipes). Water sterilizing pills (if you can't boil). That's it. Tent poles and sticks can be used for braces. Bandanas, clothing, rope can be used for tourniquets, bindings and stabilization. Notice that aside from phone, iodine and bandages, everything else is listed in this paragraph. Not much really is needed... no needles, syringes, lidocaine, nor IV fluids. If you need all this stuff, you are in trouble. Everything can fit in a fly fisherman's fly box.
I hope to continually alter this entry. If you think of anything else you think should be added or substituted, please leave a comment!
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