My focus with this kit was to provide everything I might need to close the gap between a terrible accident happening and the arrival of professional ambulance services. Even when response times for ambulances are really short over here there are situations where they might not arrive in time and someone providing first aid might save a life.
This focus leads to a situation where I often got laughed at by people who knew my passion for EDC but found that I carried big bandages and tourniquets won’t even carry a small bandaid. Therefore I changed that and do now carry bandaids. The simple reason why I didn’t before was because they are only made for wounds that will stop bleeding event without treatment. I instead carry stuff to treat wounds that won’t stop until the wounded has bled out completely. It’s a matter of focus if you prepare for situations that a very likely to happen but you will live through them without preparation and situations which you might never get into in your whole life but if you do, you won’t make it without the proper kit.
Another thing I always kept in mind is what I think I personally can handle. Therefore I only include items I really know how to use and I won’t do more harm then good even if I make a mistake. There are medical supplies that can inflict severe damage when used wrong so I always make sure to adjust my IFAK to my level of training.
As I said I’m not completely satisfied with my setup so I started to build my kit in levels. This way I can adapt to the situation. There are more items I want to have in my IFAK but they would make the pouch so big that I couldn’t carry it really every day. To deal with this dilemma I’m thinking about adding another level between the “EDC Pouch” and “Bigger kits”. A medium sized pouch to keep everything I miss in my EDC pouch but still doesn’t need a backback to carry.
This one is small enough to fit into every pair of pants I would wear outside of my home. It would even fit into swimwear if I wanted. It only holds the following:
This pouch enables me to at least try to help someone. You can always improvise, apply direct pressure and so on but if you don’t protect yourself it might not be a good idea to help at all. And this is a situation I never want to encounter.
As a pouch I’m using the Helikon Micro Med Kit. You can get yours from Perunika or Amazon.
This is the one I almost always carry around. Sometimes in the cargo pockets of my pants, sometimes in a smock, sometimes in a bag or backpack – you get the idea.
I use the Helikon Pocket Med Insert for this. Again available from Perunika or Amazon. Since the chest seals won’t fit, I use a rubber hair band to connect them to the pouch.
Whenever I’m using a bigger bag or a backpack I like to add two items that wouldn’t fit into the pouch. They are bigger, better alternatives to what I have in the pouch and I might end up using both alternatives because wounds tend to come in quantities bigger than one.
Whenever I think I might up with the need for more supplies I pack bigger first aid kits in addition to the above. Especially when I’m attending group events I’m always planning that someone might hurt themselves. Call me paranoid but I won’t be the one thinkig “If I had only…” when someone close to me get’s hurt real bad.
These kits aren’t fixed but are built for the occasion. I will return to describe some of these in other posts in the future.
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