Building a first aid kit for home, car and travel

A good first aid kit only helps if it is complete, easy to find and in date. This lesson helps you build kits for home, the car and travel, adapted for the Gulf climate.

The basic kit

• Better Health Channel (Victoria, Australia) basics: triangular bandages, crepe (elastic) bandages in different widths, non-stick dressings in different sizes, non-latex disposable gloves, a thermal blanket, notepad and pencil, plastic bags, adhesive tape and a resuscitation face shield.
• Useful extras: adhesive plasters, gauze dressings, saline for rinsing wounds or eyes, an instant cold pack, scissors, tweezers, a digital thermometer and a first aid booklet.
• Add cling film (for burns, lesson fa-06) and a clean tea towel for wrapping ice packs.
• Keep a written card inside with UAE emergency numbers: 998 ambulance, 999 police, 997 fire, 996 coastguard.
• Better Health suggests not storing medicines in shared or workplace kits; keep household medicines secure and out of reach of children.

Home kit

• Keep it in a dry, cool place that everyone in the household knows and can reach quickly.
• Many burns and cuts happen while cooking, so keep the kit somewhere quick to reach from the kitchen.
• Keep an ice pack or bag of frozen vegetables in the freezer for sprains and head bumps.
• If someone in the family has an allergy or asthma, agree a fixed place for spare auto-injectors and inhalers.

Car kit in a hot climate

• Better Health recommends having a kit at home, in the car and at work.
• A parked car in a UAE summer is neither cool nor dry, so check the car kit often and replace anything that has melted, dried out or expired.
• Keep personal medicines, auto-injectors and inhalers with you rather than in a parked car, and follow the storage temperature on the packaging.
• Add extra bottled water, oral rehydration sachets and a small towel you can wet for cooling (lesson fa-07).
• A reflective sunshade and a phone charger also help if you are stuck waiting for help in the heat.

Travel and day-trip kit

• A small pouch with plasters, a few dressings, gloves, tape, antiseptic wipes or saline, and a foil thermal blanket.
• Sun protection: sunscreen, a hat and refillable water for desert trips, beaches and theme parks.
• Oral rehydration sachets for heat or stomach upsets.
• Any personal medicines in their original packaging with a copy of the prescription.
• Save the local emergency number of any country you visit; it will often differ from the UAE's.

Keep it ready

• Better Health: check items regularly, as some (such as solutions) have use-by dates, and replace them when needed.
• Replace anything you use straight away.
• Put a reminder in your phone to check all kits every six months, for example at the start of summer and winter.
• A kit is only as useful as the person using it: a certified first aid course teaches you how to use every item.