First Aid is the emergency care given to an injured person before reaching proper medical help.
First Aid: The Basics
It’s important to protect products and shipments in transit. It’s even more important to protect the health of a living person.
Accidents can happen in the home and the workplace. From small cuts to more serious wounds, you need to be able to take care of them. That’s where a first aid kit comes in.
First aid kits carry all the basics needed to stop bleeding, clean and disinfect wounds, and help protect them from further damage. First aid kits are a must, whether in the home, at work or on a road trip.
The Packaging Company is proud to have partnered with the oldest and most reputable first aid organization in Canada. For 133 years, St. John Ambulance has provided what’s needed to help treat wounds and prevent further injury. Their kits come in various sizes and assortments and can literally be the difference between life and death.
And remember, first aid is meant to stabilize an injured person so they can reach proper medical help. It’s not meant to replace it. In cases of potentially serious injury, always go to a hospital.
First Aid: How to Choose
When you’re choosing a first aid kit, identify where it will be kept and used. Then look at the kinds of injuries possible in your location, how many people may need to use it and how far from a hospital you are.
If you’re at home, a standard kit will fit your needs as accidents in the kitchen, bathroom and backyard are most common. Workplace kits are for offices and retail outlets and are designed to cover a greater number of people. And in warehouses where serious injuries to one or more people is possible, large federally-mandated kits are required.
A car should always have a first aid kit in its trunk. Keeping energy bars, water and warming blankets with it are a good idea, just in case you have to wait for help to arrive. And if you’re on a hike, a kit with plenty of gauze and bandages, along with splints for potential broken bones is a must.
Keep in mind that different provinces and areas have their own requirements for what must be in a first aid kit. It’s important to do your research and make sure you have all you need in case an accident does happen.
First Aid: Kits & Contents Types
Alcohol & Peroxide clean cuts and wounds, disinfect surfaces and help prevent infection. They’re available in bottles, ready-to-use pads and treated swabs.
Bandages cover minor scrapes and wounds to stop bleeding and prevent infection. They’re often waterproof and made from fabric or latex to stand up to movement and use.
Blood-borne Pathogen Kits help with containment and disposal of blood or bodily fluids. They include gloves, shields and masks, aprons and plastics.
Burn Kits help soothe and protect burn victims until help arrives. While they specialize in gels and cold packs, they often carry first aid basics as well.
Cold & Heat Packs treat minor injuries like sprains and bruises, and can help cool burns until a hospital is reached.
Compresses & Wraps keep gauze and sterile pads against the skin to protect it from further damage and infection. Pressure is used to help stop the wound from bleeding or re-opening.
Cotton Balls & Cotton Swabs are sterile and all-purpose. They’re used to apply liquids like rubbing alcohol or peroxide, and medications such as polysporin and cooling gel. They can also help absorb bodily fluids or remove foreign objects.
First Aid Manuals are key to learning how to properly clean, sterilize and dress wounds while waiting for medical help to arrive. All first aid kits come with a basic manual, but purchasing a more in-depth one is always a good idea.
Gauze & Pads absorb bodily fluids, stop bleeding and protect a wound from infection and further damage.
Medical Tape is sterile and safe to use on bodily injury. It adheres bandages and gauze to skin to stop or reduce bleeding, and in some situations can be used as a skin closure on its own.
Medications include Polysporin to aid in healing, and painkillers or analgesics to assist with pain caused by an injury.
Refill Kits carry the most-often used first aid supplies and are used to refill your existing kit.
Skin Protection includes products such as sunscreen and insect repellant.
Splints are wooden or hard plastic slats of various sizes used to immobilize broken bones or at-risk limbs during transportation to a hospital. They can also be used to secure abdominal walls or help prop up an injured person.
Standard Kits contain what is needed to clean, sterilize and dress most wounds until medical help arrives or the injured party can reach a hospital.
