Preparing a home first aid kit

Once in a while, someone in your family or someone else you know may have an accident. Of course, right away you want to do what you can to help. You give first aid to the person who is injured to help that person recover and prevent the injury from getting worse. In fact, when you give this first aid, what you do might even save the person’s life.

Today, we’re going to talk about a simple idea that can make giving first aid easier and prepare you better for the next time somebody has an accident. It’s a simple idea but a good one. Why not prepare a first aid kit to keep in your home?

A first aid kit may be a small wooden box or it could be made of other material. In it, you keep certain things which may be needed in case of an emergency. The box should be kept in a special place in your home.

Here are some suggestions for things you can put in a first aid kit:

1. A piece of soap. That’s to use first thing for cleaning wounds.

2. Very clean cloths that can be used as bandages. You should also have some thinner strips of clean cloth for tying the bandages in place.

3. A small container of salt for cleaning wounds. Bathing open wounds in slightly salted clean water helps to ease the pain.

4. A small container of sugar. Small amounts of sugar and salt dissolved in clean water can save the life of a child or baby who has diarrhea.

5. A small bottle of vinegar. Vinegar is good for getting rid of lice eggs.

6. It’s good, if possible, to include a clean pair of scissors in your first aid kit.

7. Two other useful things to include would be clean tweezers and a needle. They can be used for many purposes, especially for removing thorns and slivers.

Those are some ideas of things you can gather together to put in your first aid kit. You may think of other things that you know you could use or have used in the past when somebody was hurt.

Keep the first aid kit in a cool, dry, clean place out of the reach of children but handy enough that you can get to it in a hurry. The box that holds your first aid kit should be closed or at least covered so dust and dirt can’t get into it. Whenever you use something from your first aid kit, be sure to replace it as soon as you can so that everything you need next time will be in it.

Now before I finish, I’ll just go over that list of seven things to include in your first aid kit.

1. a piece of soap

2. some very clean cloths for bandages and some thinner strips of cloth for tying bandages in place

3. some salt

4. some sugar

5. some vinegar

6. a clean pair of scissors, and

7. a clean pair of tweezers and a needle

—and there you have a basic first aid kit.

You never know when an accident might happen. For this reason, it’s a good idea to think ahead and put aside in your first aid kit some things you might need in an emergency.

Serving Agriculture, the Basic Industry, this is _____.

Note

Complete information on the use of small amounts of sugar, salt, and water for saving the lives of children and babies is contained in:

A Special Drink for Your Child with Diarrhea, DCFRN Package 7, Item 10B