The funny thing about emergencies is that you never know when they’re going to strike. But, medical emergencies, at least minor ones, can be planned for. A good first aid kit that’s well stocked can really help take the panic out of an emergency situation and help you and your loved ones get back to the business of living quick. Every home should have at least one well stocked kit to enable family members to handle minor situations that arise.

A first aid kit in a home should be put in a location that’s agreed upon by everyone. If it contains items that might be dangerous for little people, keep the kit out of their reach. But, do make sure family members who can use and benefit from it know its whereabouts.

When stocking a first aid kit for a home, it’s important to include basic items. The list includes:

Band-Aids. You should have several sizes of bandages included in a good first aid kit. It’s hard to tell when these will be needed and how large they need to be, so multiple choices help you cover your bets. Burn cream. Burns happen at home. There’s no way around it. Whether it’s from cooking or lighting a fire, they just happen. A good, medical grade burn cream included in a first aid kit can help take the sting out of the situation. Speaking of stings, bee stings, mosquito bites and other such insect run-ins can be real problems around the home. Inasmuch, a good kit should include anti-itch cream to help combat the effects of these critters. Peroxide. If a wound is present, it should be properly cleaned out. Peroxide is therefore a smart thing to include. Aspirin or baby fever reducer. If you don’t think these things belong in a kit, trying being up at 3 in the morning with a little one who has a high fever. If the medicine is kept in the first aid kit, you always know where to find it. Cold compresses. Sprains, strains and so on can require fast treatment to help avoid swelling. These portable first aid kit created compresses are wonderful for getting the job done and they are easier to bring with you if an emergency room visit is in order. Butterfly bandages. These are vital to include. These close small wounds effectively until medical treatment can be sought out.

Depending on any special needs in your home, you might need to have other items in your first aid kit. A home with a diabetic, for example, might want a glucose shot for crash emergencies and one with a small child might require lotion for diaper rash and so on.

Store bought first aid kits are great, but the ones that really pay off are those that have enough room for you to add items you think are important. Medical needs in each home can differ, so first aid kits should not be one size fits all.

There are times when you’re sick and only home remedies will make you better; antibiotics may get rid of the bugs that cause illness but they don’t do anything for the symptoms while you’re waiting for them to work, and sometimes they even add symptoms of their own.  For other problems like small burns, chapped lips, irritated skin or blisters, the only real solutions are home remedies.

Cold home remedies can take a variety of forms.  There are teas you can brew—one recipe Italian grandmothers swear by is a combination of cayenne, garlic, ginger, honey and lemon, but if you can’t stomach that, you may want to use a medicated ointment that will at least open your nasal passages and help you breathe better.  Choose one with camphor, eucalyptus or menthol in the ingredients list (a combination of all three is unbeatable) and you’ll be using time-tested home remedies that are guaranteed to make you feel better.  

If you’re a cook, a gardener, or a handyman, having an antiseptic salve on hand for those occasions when you burn yourself, cut yourself, or get a scratch should be at the top of your list of home remedies.  A medicated ointment like Rawleigh salve that contains soothing plus lubricating ingredients will keep your injury clean and dry and make it feel better while it heals.  (Recent medical research shows that cuts and burns heal much faster when they’re bandaged, as opposed to the previously held belief that you should “let them air.”)  

If what’s bothering you is constipation, home remedies have been used for centuries to combat it.  (Remember all those old books and movies where the kids would be sent to bed after a teaspoon of castor oil?)  Some well known home remedies for constipation include molasses, mango, figs, dates, guava, fennel seeds, and Epsom salts.  These are more palatable than cold home remedies like the cayenne-garlic tea, but in the future, if you want to prevent the problem rather than treat it, drinking lots of water will help.  

Whether your problem is a cold, a small injury or constipation, keep home remedies such as antiseptic salves and digestive aids on hand at all times so you don’t have to go scrambling during those minor household emergencies.  For example, stock your medicine cabinet with Rawleigh salve and you have a one-stop solution for everything from cat scratches to sunburn.

Over one million children experience accidents in and around the home each year. Falls are the most common causes of accidents with 66,000 youngsters aged between 5 and 14 taken to casualty departments just in the UK alone.

In addition, around 15,000 children are admitted to hospital suffering from burns.

However, Nurse Kathleen McGraw said the statistics aren’t as scary as they sound.

“You do have to put it into context, children do tend to be accident prone when they first start to walk and crawl and move around. It is part of the way in which we learn,” she said.

So, what should be in your first aid box?

“You may have cuts and bruises to deal with so think of the ages of people who are in your house. A scrape is a scrape whether you’re eight months old or 80 years old, the principles remain the same – have things that can cleanse the wound.

Have things that you can treat cuts and bruises with. These are things that will stop wounds from getting infected. Things like antiseptic creams, gels and sprays.”

Kathleen says there are many old wives tales regarding how to deal with cuts and burns. She warns to ignore these tales.

“The most dangerous one is probably one of the oldest I’ve heard about putting butter on burns. No, no, no and many times no. The best thing to do with a burn is to run cold water and run that over the injury for 10 or 15 minutes and then cover it with a cold bandage.

I’ve been asked an awful lot about putting steaks onto black eyes. Once again this is an old tale and should be avoided. The best thing for bruising is to have a packet of frozen peas in you fridge. It can take away irritation and inflammation. For children have ice lollies in your freezer. If they cut their lip or chip a tooth this will take down the swelling and reduce the pain.”

What about pain relief for kids? Kathleen advises: “proper paracetemol medicine is perfectly safe from the age of 3 to 6 months onwards.”

So, to sum up, always have a first aid box in your home, and if you use medicine or plasters make sure you top them up when you have used them. There’s nothing worse than searching for a plaster only to find that there’s none left.

Imagine that it is about eight o’clock in the evening and your little boy is experiencing abdominal pain. Nothing can be more heart-wrenching than to see your child suffering. Would you know the difference between a possible appendicitis attack, constipation or simply something he ate that did not agree with him. Or, if your husband became dizzy. Would you know how to tell the difference between something minor that was affecting his equilibrium or if the dizziness was a symptom of something more serious?

Having a first aid manual available is certainly not a substitute for treating an illness. Nor should consulting a first aid manual cause any delay in seeking medical attention.

However, having a first aid manual available around the home can help you to determine how to treat minor injuries in addition to be an invaluable educational resource.

How To Manual

First of all, it is important to reiterate that a first aid manual is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. However, a first aid manual can be a tremendous resource by being a how to manual.

This how to instruction can help to identify what to do when injuries are obvious. Some of these injuries could include a nosebleed, what to do when a loved one may be choking on a piece of food or what to do in the event of a minor burn. If summoning medical help, any actions taken prior to their arrival may provide the necessary life saving moments required until help arrives.

A good first aid manual will inform you step-by-step as to what first aid measures you can take. A quality manual will also provide illustrations that depict the various levels of the injury; an example would be burns, and what can be done right away if professional medical help needs to be sought.

It is also important to remember that not all accidents happen conveniently near a medical facility. For example, a vacation or camping trip could be the scene of a medical emergency. Having a first aid manual available during these times could be the difference between saving a life or preventing even further damage.

Educational Resource

A first aid manual will also serve as an educational resource for your entire family. Medical emergencies are unexpected and as such are not planned. Therefore, it is important that the family is prepared at all times to respond to medical emergencies within the home.

Simply teaching your children the importance of dialing 911 can be a basic life saving lesson. Also, it would be prudent for the adults in the home to become acquainted with the first aid manual.

A good idea may include the anticipation of certain emergencies that may occur around the home. Some of these emergencies could include a child being burned, falling and hitting their head, getting their fingers jammed in a door, ingesting a poison, animal bites, etc. Preparing and practicing in advance is an excellent strategy in providing for your family’s safety.

First aid or medical kits should be found in every household and automobile. Accidents happen when we least expect them and being prepared can sometimes mean the difference between life and death. The most common types of accidents include cuts, scrapes, burns, and insect bites. A large percentage of accidents happen in and around the home, then out in the great outdoors, and final in and around vehicles.

A kit should be readily available both inside the home and when the family is outdoors. It is also important to keep a kit in your garage for outside emergencies and in your vehicle for emergencies that may occur when you are traveling. A kit should also be a part of every emergency preparedness plan. When preparing for a natural disaster, most experts believe everyone should have emergency supplies for at least the first 72 hours. It is a good idea to include at least a 72 hour supply of any prescription medications as well. First aid or medical kits are a must in households that have children. Children can be very accident prone and it is better to be prepared than caught unaware. It is important that each member of the family be familiar with the contents of your kit and knows how to use them.

Your kit should consider the needs of each individual family member. It is very important to change the medications in the first aid kit periodically. Most medications have an expiration date, which can be written down on a piece of paper and kept inside the first aid kit. Also, include items such as glucose monitors and blood pressure monitors for family members that have diabetes and/or high blood pressure.

Every kit should include the following basic items, a assortment of gauze pads, adhesive tape, various bandages, antibiotic ointment, cotton swabs, eye drops, latex gloves, a tweezer, bottled water for cleaning wounds, and a first aid handbook. All kits should include prescription medications as well as non-prescription medications such as syrup of ipecac used to induce vomiting if instructed by a poison control center, medicines for treating bee stings, antihistamines for itching and allergic reactions, and pain medications such as aspirin.

If you had an emergency in your home or vehicle today, would you be prepared? Most people don’t like to think about emergencies and this often results in not being prepared for household accidents. Don’t leave your family’s safety to chance. Be sure your home and vehicle are properly equipped with a first aid or medical emergency kit today!

Most emergency survival kits you see in stores are designed for outdoor trips. While they would certainly do as well, they would nevertheless cost more than it should. Here are a few tips to make your own budget-friendly emergency home kit.

One Kit Per Person

To ensure that every person’s need is covered, it’s best to have one emergency kit per person.

For maximum safety and protection, consider basing your emergency home kit on a 72-hour period prior to receiving help. Lastly, every emergency home kit must be capable of meeting any type of disaster or emergency, whether it’s natural or man-made.

Food and Water

Medication can only go so far. To stay alive in any emergency, you’ll need sustenance. Include a sufficient amount of Aqua Blox water boxes – at least a gallon of water per person per day, but you may need more depending on climate conditions. Remember also that shelf life for Aqua Blox is five years. Bottled water, water purification tablets, and water storage bags should also be included.

As for food, carbohydrate-rich foods are your best bet because they’re effective in replenishing your energy. Canned goods are always useful as they require little to no preparation.

Clothing and Shelter

Instead of thermal blankets, you’ll be a lot dryer, warmer, and safer with 2 large-sized garbage bags per person. Wool blankets would be better while sleeping bags, albeit bulky, are the best. Include one set of working clothes and boots.

First Aid

Bandages of all types, adhesive tape, gauze pads, various kinds of antiseptics, analgesics, and antibiotic ointment are the basics of first aid. Be sure to take note of special medication needs of your loved ones such as diabetic medication or a spare pair of eyeglasses for those visually impaired.

Tools

Include flashlight, matches, camping stove with fuel or burner if possible. Forks, spoons, and various sizes and types of knives (not just for culinary use) would be handy. Swiss army knife sets, screwdrivers, and a hammer and pry bar would definitely be helpful.

Special Needs during Emergencies

Your emergency home kit will naturally differ in terms of content and size if you have an infant with you. Because their immune system is not as strong as those of adults, you need to be extra careful in choosing the right foods, medicine, and supplies to ensure their health and safety. Last but not the least, remember to have an emergency home kit ready for your pets, too!

A first aid kit is a collection of supplies and equipment for use in giving first aid, particularly in a medical emergency. Most first aid kits contain bandages for controlling bleeding, personal protective equipment such as gloves and a barrier for performing rescue breathing and CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), and sometimes instructions on how to perform first aid.

Experts strongly urge homeowners to purchase an emergency kit for the treatment of minor household accidents, but these experts may not have visited a department store’s pharmacy area lately.

One element to consider in an emergency kit is versatility. Some kits offered in stores contain little more than various adhesive bandages and a few antiseptic solutions. This may be okay for a travel emergency kit in the glove box or in a backpack, but not enough for a comprehensive home first aid box.

Think of the different types of accidents that could occur in your home and then match the emergency kit to the hypothetical need. Kitchen burns could require burn creams, gauze pads, and tape or freeze packs. Cuts and scrapes require antiseptics and bandages. Body aches and sore muscles could require analgesics or heat-generating creams. Look for an emergency kit that contains the largest variety of healthcare items.

The emergency kit may have to be portable enough for a first responder to take to the victim. Look for first aid kits designed to be carried like luggage if you think you may need to bring it to the accident scene.

If you anticipate the patients will come to the kit, you may want to invest in a wall-mountable metal emergency kit. A suitable place to mount such a kit might be in the bathroom near a sink or a wall in the kitchen out of the line of traffic. If the kit contains medications or other dangerous chemicals, you may want to mount it out of the reach of children. They can have a smaller kit of their own filled with bandages and other harmless items.

Another element to consider is expansion. Can other items be added to the basic emergency kit as the need arises? Some homeowners may need to add glucose tablets for diabetics or blood pressure monitors for those with hypertension. There are even home versions of cardiac defibrillators and CPR breathing masks available. Check to see if the manufacturers of an emergency kit also make additional items or refills. Emergency kits have ingredients which need to be replaced periodically, so make sure you can purchase these items independently.

Overall, a good emergency kit should contain enough medicine and medical supplies to handle everyday household emergencies from burns to cuts to accidental poisonings. It should allow you to make the victim stable enough for medical professionals to take over treatment. Nothing in a home emergency kit can take the place of a trained physician, so all you can do in some cases is stop the bleeding or reduce the pain until help arrives.

As with any young being, a puppy needs to learn, run, and grow in order to be able to be smart enough to take care of himself. When you have a puppy in your life and in your family, there are some things that you should be doing to make sure that you are preparing him for the world without allowing him to be hurt by accident.

Preventing Injuries

It is very important for you to prevent puppy injuries whenever you can. Your puppy is a natural explorer – he is going to want to run around, to learn, and to play as much as possible. All of these are learning experiences that he is going to like to have, and they are all going to be good for him – except for the fact that he won’t know the difference between things that are safe for him to explore and things that are dangerous for him. This is where you come in.

As a puppy owner, it is your job to make sure that your puppy is as safe as possible. You need to be sure that you are puppy proofing your home before you even allow a dog to be a part of your family. You need to act as if you are baby-proofing a home. First, remove anything that might be in the dog’s reach that might be dangerous to him. Electrical cords, poisons, and any small objects he might eat should be moved so that they aren’t going to be a problem for him. Remember that when he does get a hold of something that he shouldn’t’ have, you should remove it from him, tell him “no” firmly, and then replace it with something that he can have, like a toy or a treat. Be sure that you give him plenty of things to chew on and play with, because when a puppy is bored they are going to be more likely to be a problem. Therefore, keep him occupied.

You also want to keep your puppy in a safe place when you aren’t around to keep an eye on him yourself. You should be sure that he is going to be somewhere that is safe for him to be, and that you aren’t allowing him to be anywhere that might be dangerous. Keep him in a kennel when you aren’t home, until he is older and you know what he can be trusted to do. If you have him wear dog clothes, insure that they fit him right and that he won’t be able to choke on them.

When you are away from your home with your puppy, always keep him on a leash. Remember that puppies will run away if they have a chance, and it is all too easy for them to be hit by cars, stolen, or to fall into something that they shouldn’t. You want to be sure that you are doing your part to keep your puppy safe at all times, so that he can grow up to be that perfect dog.

 

Everyone must be aware of the necessity of a first aid kit in their home and car. Businesses corporations must have first aid kits with necessary first aid supplies, located somewhere in their facility. If the building is large, they should have first aid kits in each section.

 

It is important to have first aid kits, because they allow someone who is injured, to be rapidly treated with basic first aid, before they can be properly treated at the local hospital. Therefore in emergency circumstances, someone should know where the nearest first aid kit is located and how to use the contents within it.

 

First aid kits are designed to treat non-emergency situations that do not need a doctor and to provide instant care in emergency situations. Kits can be small or large and the size of the pack is generally determined by the number of people who may access it over time. But every first aid kit has basic items that are used to treat minor injuries and hopefully stop or reduce the chances of infection.

 

There are also first aid kits for burns, kitchens and special industries. Having one first aid kit with you does not mean that you are waiting for an accident to happen. Accidents are a reality in life, so whether we like it or not, it is always best to be ready.

 

First aid kits for the office or home should be purchased in a size that meets the requirements of the number of people potentially using the kit. It can be large or small, but should always have crucial first aid items. A first aid kit can provide you with the assurance that minor injuries can be dealt with in a quick manner.

 

 

If you would like to find out more detailed information on first aid kits and fire extinguishers visit our website http://www.budget-fire.co.uk/