Car FAK

After doing lots of reading and lots of looking, I decided my best bet for putting together a good car FAK was to buy and supplement a commercial FAK. (I thought I already had one . . . until I came here. )

I purchased this one because it seems to be a pretty good kit just by itself:

1 Softpack bag
1 96 pg. AMA First Aid Guide

1 1/2" x 5 yd. First aid tape roll
1 Tweezers
1 Scissors
2 Medium safety pins
4 Exam quality vinyl gloves

1 2" x 4.1 yd. Conforming gauze roll bandages
1 4" x 5" Instant cold compress
1 6" x 3/4" Finger splints*
10 Cotton tipped applicators

50 3/4" x 3" Adhesive plastic bandages
20 3/8"x1-1/2" Junior adhesive plastic bandages
3 2" x 4" Elbow & knee plastic bandages
2 2"x3" Non-stick pads
3 Knuckle fabric bandages
3 Fingertip fabric bandages
5 Butterfly wound closures

14 Alcohol cleansing wipes
12 Antiseptic cleansing wipes
3 Insect sting relief pads
3 Castile soap towelettes
5 Antibiotic ointment packs
2 First aid/burn cream packs
1 Burn relief packs

6 2" x 2" Gauze dressing pads
2 3" x 3" Gauze dressing pads
2 4"x4" Gauze dressing pads
1 Triangular sling bandage
2 Sterile eye pad
2 5" x 9" Trauma pad
2 2" x 2" Premium grade moleskin

2 Thermometers, one time use
4 Ibuprofen tablets
6 Aspirin tablets
6 Extra-strength non-aspirin tablets


*It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out why there was a tongue depressor in the kit.

I checked expiration dates, and everything's good through Nov. 2010 or later.


The scissors and tweezers are both cheap, so I'll replace them. I put in a notepad and pen, and I'm going to add fabrics strips, and a flashlight/headlight.

Anything else anyone would suggest for a civilian with good 1st Aid knowledge, but no CPR training (yet)?

Edit: This is an Urban FAK.

For the tweezers check out the Sliver Gripper.

Do you have a link to the specific kit you're modifying?

Kerlix, more AB pads and 4x4's, tape, more kerlix, and oh yeah...

MORE KERLIX (Preferably vac packed)

This one: Link

As far as I can tell, it's actually a pretty nice kit. I paid more for the one currently in my car and it's not as complete.


Kerlix = regular gauze or cling gauze? Or are they actually the same thing?

AB Pad = Trauma pad?

+1 on this. You will be shocked at how quick you will run out of this stuff in a real emergency or just dealing with one bad wound.

Craig.

I love mine! They are great EDC on my keychain.

Kerlix, Israeli bandages.
REDFLARE

Did I mention Kerlix???

Maybe some vet wrap tape also.

Hmmm...

Kerlix, Kerlix, and Kerlix
More trauma pads
An Israeli bandage

And I've thought of:

Elastic Bandages
Eyewash


I'm gonna need a bigger bag.

Buy a vacuum sealer and make little sub-packs with 4x4's, Kerlix, Gloves, etc in them. They take less space (there is a reason its called bulk bandage material).

I won't even get into some of the MVA's I have happened up on.

Wander thru this thread to see what last Thanksgiving was like for my family and me.

Did I mention Kerlix and 4x4's????

Throw in several more of the triangular bandages. They don't take up much weight or space and I know I need a lot of them for splinting or slings. They can be cut from old sheets if you can't find them easily.

Add a watch even if you are usually wearing one.
It does not even need a band, really, just store it with the notepad and pen. It could even be stuck to the note book. A sweep second hand is preferred. Timex is more than good enough.
You will use it for taking pulse and counting breathing.
It is good to note down the time when you do stuff too.

If the kit is in the car you could put an old blanket or two with the kit. Wool blankets are great, synthetics are OK.
Injured people get cold fast, especially when on the ground. Whatever helps keep them warm.

Add a CPR mask. It will give you piece of mind when doing CPR or any other rescue breathing.

People have different opinions about what they want to have with them. I would likely never bother to use the tension (elastic) bandages in a first aid kit.

I do tend to use up a lot of cloth for padding though, so +1 on extra gauze and 4x4pads. I would likely add a couple more abdominal pads too.

A bottle of sterile water or standard saline solution comes in handy for flushing dirt, oil or other chemicals out of wounds if they are contaminated.

If the water bottles have an eye cup with them there is your eye washer. You can even get eyecups that screw onto the bottle.

Add some sugar, sugar syrup, or other sweets. This is for diabetic emergencies.

Add any special items for any medical conditions you or people you are near might have. (heart pills, EpiPens, etc)

If you happen upon somebody with a sucking chest wound you will want something to make a flap valve for them.
If your bandages are in plastic baggies you have good material for that. If not you might want to add a plastic baggy or two.
Baggies are good for putting anything personal the injured need to have with them when they are transported too.

Take the first aid courses. The life you save might be your own.

Coincidentally, I just rebuild my car trauma bag yesterday:

http://zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=50991

And for those that are at work:

http://edcforums.com/index.php?topic=31494.0

Seriously? ABD pads are wonderful, but basically as good, and dual purpose, carry some Maxipads! Cheap, and some woman may thank you someday

I second the feminine sanitary products. We used to use those in the military ALL the time-get the scent free ones though.

I'd add:

PVM (pocket valve mask) for CPR
safety glasses
towels (warmth, bandage, splint, sling, padding voids, etc.)
tourniquet
seat belt cutter/window breaker
diphenhydramine (benadryl) - liquid form
triple antibiotic ointment
irrigation syringe
bottle of saline
large plastic bags or aluminum foil (like someone said earlier,can use to make an occlusive dressing - plastic bags can also be used for biohazard bags and a million other things)
duct tape - can also be used as an improvised occlusive dressing, tourniquet and a million other things.
paper or plastic cups (can be used as shields for eye trauma, etc)
water bottles

EEP!

I'll have to do some choosing, because I need it to fit under the passenger seat (I have a tiny car, and the trunk is already more than half full), but there's nothing here that isn't a good idea, even for me.

Maxipads as trauma dressings, yeah, I read about that!


Jim: I read and enjoyed your thread yesterday.


Great suggestions, all, I'm making notes.

Jim, that's a great use of the EOD bag, it inspires me too. I have everything in a car kit except the Celox-D, but it is lost among lots of kerlix and 4x4s etc intended for larger trauma. I even have an empty EOD bag to organize a new kit into this weekend. Your method of organization is excellent. I think the idea of having a grab and go kit for specific care such as an MVA is a better way to go.

I remember when you came onto equipped.org and were learning medical care, its great that you are contributing back to this forum the way you do Jim. Learn something new every day. Thanks!

After doing research over the last couple years (I forget why now) I removed the quick-clot from my kit...

I need to make a FAK for my cars, so this thread has already provided a lot of great information.

I have a couple SAM SPLINTS in my kit.

Other than that your kits are > than my BOB FAK.

Where are you guys buying all your supplies?

-Todd

Jim introduced another distinction between the boo-boo kit and the FAK. Jim's bag is like he said, for treating serious life threatening traumas, not for treating small boo boo scratches.
A lot of what is in most first aid kits is for boo-boos instead of hardcore trauma response.

It is an idea worth thinking about.

Maybe you could put the bulkiest stuff like extra bandaging and abdominal pads into a second bag.

If the bandage bag is soft it might be able to be stuffed into a odd space. It would still be handy in the car if you had to deal with broken limbs or serious bleeds.

Some of the other things like water you should have with you in your car anyhow, even if it is not in a FAK bag.

I had to put my car in the shop last night with a leaking radiator hose. When I went to get it today (about noon), I decided I just didn't want to carry that bright red bag with me as I walked over to the mechanic. It's not bad neighborhood, but it's not a great one, either.

So I'm sitting in the office, waiting my turn, just idly looking outside, and I see a car run the stop sign and t-bone another!!!

After the first second or so of "Oh crap, did that really just happen?!", I checked that someone was calling it in, and headed on over (others were closing, too).

The whole way I was thinking "Please, please, please, do NOT make me regret leaving it at home!" It was just a city street collision, so it was unlikely there were any serious injuries, but still . . . .

Well, the one who ran the stop sign had no injuries or pains, while the other driver had pain in her shoulder. They ended up taking her to be checked out.

I came so close to taking it with me. Fortunately, I had no reason to regret it. This time.

Keep in mind that what you have as knowledge is what matters most.

The pretty toys and fancy trinkets are nice to have but there are a lot of field expedient substitutions for most of them.
There are no field expedient substitutes for knowing what to do.

As a former EMS'r (like several of the others...)...

Kerlix! Or some other lesser-known brand. Yes, it's different than gauze rolls, they're multi-ply and thicker. In a pinch, you could just smack it onto a wound and use it as a base layer for hemorrhage control.

At least one 10x30 inch trauma bandage. Pricey (for what it is) and bulky, but great if you actually have a big injury, or as padding for a splint. Speaking of which, SAM splints are pretty nice, but the wire cage ones are just as good for a first responder and cheaper. Plus there's even odds that EMS will just pull your off and resplint it anyway.

Maix pads are great. I actually tried soaking one once; something like 6-8 oz of water when sopping wet. Make sure you buy the "heavy" flow, not those stinking panty liners. Fat lot of good those will do you, unless you have leakage issues.

Duct tape... not so great for occlusive dressings. It doesn't stick well when wet. The 'plastic' tape from the hospital is great (3M makes it I think). Just take care you're not wrapping it circumfrentially and making a tourniquet.

Ditto the triangles. Don't do the wussy civilian-size. Go big, like 42" or more a side. Try making one "normal" size and see how comfortable your arm is when using it as a sling. they're tiny.

Just for everyone's edification, some of the ER docs at my work did a study on those commercial "blood stopper" products: Celox, plain old gauze, quickclot and something else. Controlled, identical injuries on animal models (sedated). Essentially no difference in blood loss, though some minor differences in re-bleed rates. granted, it was a small study and a lab environment, but think twice before dropping $30 on something that may be lots of hype. I know I don't carry it. I just have hemostats, and know how to use them

Great info MDinana!!!

It's good when you guys/gals with such great real life examples and experience chip-in

Jup, that's why you need to have your kit in your car AT ALL TIMES. As you've experienced, when you leave it: you need it..

Even when I check up the FAK's in the cars, I replace them with a spare kit just in case another family member takes the car while I'm busy.

FYI, that EOD-bag I'm using is designed to fit under a truck-seat. IIRC that was your intended storage-area right?

Under the Passenger seat in a Ford Escort. Yeah, I think it would slide under there very nicely. There's a "well" about five inches deep, with a "lip" a about an inch high at the front and back.

I still want to know where you guys buy your med stuff online ???

Is there a good pre-made / commercial kit to get me started?

I think I`m going to unpack my BOB and re-analyize my FAK in there and discuss what I should grow/add/remove for my CAR kit.

We did this years ago just or my BOB kit and I think it's time again (New thread! Coming)

I have made purchases from:

Red Flare
Red Flare

LifeView Outdoors
LifeView Outdoors

Sierra Trading Outpost
Sierra Trading Outpost


Ebay




I like the Adventure Medical Kits (AMK) and North American Rescue (NAR) product lines

Adventure Medical Kits

North American Rescue

There are paramedics and doctors here, and then there are people who read Preparedness forums on the Internet all day and stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. Not quite the same...

It's worth perhaps two sets of recommendations, one assuming no practice and no info other than what's printed on the package. For a total medical n00b like myself the $30 product might make more sense if it might work and does no harm, even if a paramedic might find the $10 product more functional.

One issue not raised so far is storage temperature. If this is a car FAK that stays in the car when you go to work then temperature matters a lot. I'd need not less than 20F - 160F tolerance and many medicines aren't rated for that. Even adhesives in bandages might have problems.

PS. On the two occasions I was first to the scene both were urban auto accidents were the victim seemed unlikely to get worse before EMS arrived, so I followed the "do no harm" rule and only monitored until responders appeared. One lady had her face rearranged by the steering wheel - at least her unused seat-belt was probably undamaged - but any wrapping or bandaging I might have done seemed likely to just make the paramedic spend 20 seconds cutting it away.

You might like to read what Doug has to say about medical kits.
http://www.equipped.org/medical.htm
Note his distinction between a medical kits for somebody in a more remote situation and first aid kits and materials for when help is close.
Doug has a list of what he thinks kits should have in them too.
http://www.equipped.org/survlkit.htm#MEDICALKITS

I have never bought anything over the internet. I have two stores I buy everything for first aid supply from in Edmonton and a couple of stores I use in other cities that I often am in.

For work site and corporate vehicle first aid kits I bought them already made up from industrial safety suppliers like North (Norton).
http://www.northsafety.com/
You need to click a few times to get to their lists of first aid kits and what they put in them. (These were bought because they comply with OHSA requirements and the compliance is documented then.)

I find all of these good things to look at and then I end up assembling my own private kits with what I know works for me.
I tend to be heavy on bandages and blankets, very light on drugs and lotions.

You actually hit one big nail on the head in the EMS world. There was an article a few years back (JEMS or Annals of Emergency Medicine, or something) talking about just that. LOTS of departments don't cool their storage bays, or they send their units to post at substations or in parking lots. There actually is a BIG difference on medicine efficacy based on how hot it gets. So, for all the states getting >90 degrees on a regular bases, the recommendation was to change the meds out frequently. I forget all the dirty details, but the end result was something like 1/3 of the original efficacy of some meds. It was amazing. It also blows my mind that the article got almost zero press at that time in terms of changing habits.

Actually, having 2 threads, while not a bad idea, also amounts to teaching first aid via online course. I could see this being problematic in several ways. Number one, it opens legal liability to both the advise-giver, and potentially DR as well. Number 2, it deprives several people of financial reimbursement should many folks use said info (mainly, DR as the web host, and whoever writes the stuff). Number 3, some of this stuff you just have to do hands-on. I'm sure there are more reasons. If you're truly interested in the theoretical/book knowledge, there are tons of resources out there: Boy Scout first aid merit badge book, US military training manuals (and one would assume other national militaries as well), all sorts of stuff at any decent bookstore, every dinky FAK from the store has some sort of pamphlet, etc.

Having said that, I think it's probably fair to say that most of the trained folks on the board don't have problems lending piecemeal advice, but none of us would want to "train" online and give someone false confidence that could later lead to harm of another.

Fair enough - if you have to ask you need to take a first-aid class. I was thinking more in terms of cases where some alternatives may need significant practice to be worthwhile whereas other alternatives could be safely used by following the printed instructions.

I wonder if the military has any MILSPEC ratings for FAKs at high temperatures?

A week or two ago my parents measured 122F passing through Tucson AZ, which translates to well over 150F in a parked car trunk and who-knows-what in the passenger areas. It seems pointless to store Neosporin, antiseptic wipes, etc, in a car FAK in such an environment. Perhaps a belly-pack so the thermally "delicate" things can be brought inside to work every day?

Don't have anything liquid or oily loose in your basic container, enclose them in ziplock bags or another easy-open container.

Warm day, weak seam, getting squashed, they can make a real mess of the other stuff nearby if they leak, and either make them hard to open (slippery), or compromise the integrity of some articles.

That is a good kit. I may suggest more alcohol swabs.

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=363783&pCatg=4962

Jeanette Isabelle

As I've mentioned in another thread, this, I think, provides the best bang for the buck. It does not weigh much but it is a bit bulky. However the compartments are well organized and there is plenty of room for modifying.

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=436447&pCatg=4962

Jeanette Isabelle

Look in at your local St Johns Ambulance - they do a whole range of kits that are excellent value compared to outdoors stores. You know that somebody with some sense designed them and the money goes to a good cause.

I found one Order in the United States and I found nothing on their web site pertaining to first aid kits. You are certainly right, though. This is a good cause.

Jeanette Isabelle

I think in USA you get the same types of FAKs through Red Cross.