TESTED: ARB FAMILY FIRST-AID KIT
IT’S ONE PIECE OF GEAR WE SHOULD ALL CARRY AND THE ONE WE LEAST WANT TO USE.
WE ALWAYS carry a pretty extensive first-aid kit whenever we are heading bush, whether that’s for a day or for a few months. We’ve had to use them on a few memorable occasions – twice at road accidents we came across and once when a fishing friend of ours caught himself along with a nice barra. We’ve also used them for a few deep splinters, some knife cuts and a few burns from around a fire or from handling hot camp ovens. In all of those cases a good firstaid kit helps to work wonders.
Our last one was getting a bit tatty after having been ransacked for odds and ends over the years, so we thought it time to get a new one. In amongst the plethora of first-aid kits available on the market, we opted for ARB’S large Family First Aid Kit.
Packed inside the very extensive kit are many different sized wound dressings, conforming bandages, non-adhesive bandages, triangular bandages and adhesive strip bandages, as well as handy items such as a thermal blanket, wound closure strips, burn gel sachets, disposable gloves and even a CPR face shield. In addition, there’s an antiseptic spray and even a tube of sunscreen lotion, along with a number of plastic vials of eye wash.
Included in the Family kit is a dedicated ‘Snake & Spider Bite’ kit (also available as a separate item) as well as an ‘Eye Wound’ kit, with all the bandages and necessary fluids to treat a bite or an eye wound. In the case of snake bites, there’s a checklist of things to do and not do, like don’t try and kill the snake and do not cut the bite site or try to suck the venom out.
The full list of items included in this extensive kit – I prefer to see it as a remote area kit – is too comprehensive to go through here, so check out the website listed above for a full list of items included. As with all first-aid kits you’ll probably add some things that you feel are important, including your own personal medication. In addition, we’ve also added some ‘Zipstitch’ wound closures (as far as we know only available from the USA) along with a flexible universal ‘Sam Splint’, which helps support and immobilise broken bones.
Plus, if you’ve forgotten your first-aid training there are a couple of brief reminder cards included in the main kit on what to do in an emergency, and to remind you of your DRSABCD Action Plan. If you don’t know what DRSABCD stands for, then you really need to do a first-aid course. Even if you have done a first-aid course but it’s been more than a couple of years, then you’d better check out what’s around – you’ll be surprised at what has changed and what you’ll learn. You never know … the lives you save may well be those closest to you! Start here: www.stjohn.org.au