First Aid Kits

Got ours through the local ambulance centres Truckster. Have a workplace one too plus a travelling one and one in the house. I think it is better to buy a job lot as the gear comes just a bit cheaper. Some things though don't come in the standard kits though and you may need to add them. Have a few odd packs of chemical ice here too for sprains and bruising.

Is in the right front drawer in the tool box..... yeh, organised and know where it is.

Use the St. Johns 4WD kit. The soft pack roll up version. Pretty comprehensive kit.

Cheers Peter

Truckster,
Last year I splashed out and spent about 200 on a decent one made by ACCIDENTAL. It's in a soft bag type thing about 2/3rds the size of one of those fat briefcases some people use. It's got a fair bit of gear in it and I reckon if you started from scratch and did it yourself it'd cost more than buying it as a kit. That's assuming you bought the same brand of products and not some cheap Indian rubbish with band-aids that don't stick etc. How do I know this? .....the kit came with a price list for replacements (which I should do, but haven't as yet); and when you add up all the bits, it's more than the kit cost.
Bit like buying a car really, but on a little bit bigger scale.............If you were silly enough to go to Mr Nisota and purchase all the parts to make a Patruiser, you'd have to sell about 47 of your kids to wealthy, childless yanks @ 20 grand apiece.
Seeya.....

Started a few years ago with St Johns offroad kit and have been adding to it as we go,we found hard box too hard to pack, so use soft sided bag like small sports bag now, excellent, and put tubes of cream and stuff in small plastic container inside of pack.

Truckster,

I have used a few small kits over the years and found the best equipped was the Australian Red Cross one. I thought I better get a more comprehensive one as I am going to more isolated areas these days. I just bought a 4Wd outdoor AUST Red Cross kit after seeing them at a recent show. I went to the red cross the other day and picked one up for $119 and it has everything in it. Also I find the soft case ones pack away better than hard cases.

goodday truckster
if you are in the racv they do several types including a 4b one

steve

I think the ready bought ones are the go, and then just add a few bits and pieces to it as you go. I got a fairly decent St Johns hardcase one with my Fly buy points a while ago. I also have a small one made up for when you leave the car to go for a walk. Surgistrips which are great for nasty cuts are always a great addition if they don't come with them plus a few off the shelf meds like Lomotil to stop the runs, which in the worst case scenario could dehydrate you are in mine.

I also have one of the St Johns soft 4wd ones - with a few extras added as needed.

Extras are mainly sting relief products.

Hi Trucky,

I've got an Equip one, I used to have one of those metal box type ones but that got too cumbersome, the Equip one is a soft bag one and holds just as much as the other - infact more, fits neatly into one of the rear compartments in the cruiser and so is always with us, I also have a seperate one in the caravan that I made up myself with just basic stuff - antiseptic, bandaids, paracetamol for both kids and adults and other potions and lotions....and one for the house as well...of course there's no point in having one if you don't know what to do in an emergency..and to save replying on the other thread...I did a St Johns' course..which was excellent and it was run up here in Romsey by the local child care centre, covered all the stuff you needed to know incl CPR - and because the local centre ran it, the chap focussed on kids ailments, wounds and cpr on children which was really interesting as well as first aid on adults. He also asked us whether there was something in particular we wanted to know and concentrate on....and living here alot of the people wanted to concentrate on snake bites.. Because the centre was running it for their staff and invited members of the public to help make up numbers it was a bit cheaper....

cheers

Lyn

I got one from OE and its soft type...makes for easier storage as most have said

Contrary to most of the above, I prefer the hard case and have the St John's Ambulance "commercial" one, with extra bits'n'pieces added. I find the hard case packs easily into the right space and the case protects the contents better.

Made up my own using a good size fishing tackle box and buying quality gear from Chemist.

About 50% cost of a purchased one with more gear. Mine fits behind the seat on the floor and takes up all the space between the seats on one half of the floor.

Really helps if you know a fair bit about first aid as you need that knowledge to decide what to buy and how much to buy.

In my opinion, the already made up kits are too low on the appropriate gear and too expensive for what you do get. You will notice from the posts above that most people have to add to the kits they buy.

At the end of the day your ability to use a first aid kit is limited by your first aid knowledge and knowing when you don't know what you are doing.

Go with the make up youirself kit. That way you will buy stuff you know how to use or if you don't you will go and find out

Cheers,

and hope none of us ever have to use more than a band-aid or asprin from our kits!!

Magnus

Definitely lean towards a ready made one and add to it as you need. I have even seen them on ebay(I'm sure you have too!) We have a soft,small one that fits into a backpack for walks and a more substantial one that we leave in the car when we are going away. The one in the car is a hard case.We find that the bigger soft ones get things a bit squashed in our car because of all the stuff we take-maybe it's just our packing tho'! Before you get one from ebay I'd check on the cost of similar in the shops. I checked out one on ebay awhile ago but it was actually more expensive on the last bid than what it was in the shops.I'm sure you're awake to this ruse!!

We went for a compromise. We had a basic first aid kit for around the home. Once we started travelling we added extra items such as more bandages, better antiseptics, more dressings etc. I have found by experience that it really is necessary to add to the basic kits if you want a first aid kit that is really useful in the bush. We also went with the solid case. It protects the contents better and we have room for the first aid supplies and the St Johns First Aid manual. Now we just need to redo the course.

Truckster
I've made up my own for a number of reasons.
The Commercial & St John 4WD ones available over the counter don't always have the gear that you specifically need and will have some stuff that you'll never need. We're all different and travel to different places.
Carry cases come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are as cheap as chips these days. You can buy the size container that you think you need, for the space that you have available for storage.

Last week I had a lengthy and most informative session with a recently retired SAS medic and between us we devised a basic list that I can add to as my journeys dictate. Some stuff in there that I would never have thought of and most of it with multiple uses too.
If you or anyone else would like a copy or to know of some of the special items then let me know.
Hope this helps