Must have medical items?

[goonstroke]

thanks for the mention of the rehydration meds, I need to check the expiry on my pedialyte powder...

That's the really tough thing about keeping a well stocked first aid kit, so much of the stuff you need has a short shelf life. The Neosporin/Polysporin/anti-infective goop seems to be good for about two years. Despite regular boo boos I'm always throwing out a 90% full tube. I try to make a point of checking everything in the kit with the first overnight trip in spring.

 

[Mike McCrea]

Stepping away from the medical supplies and equipment realm, for travels away from home, or long paddling trips, a simple photocopy of your health insurance card, prescription card, even dental if you are lucky enough to have such. One piece of paper, photocopied front and back.

Yeah, all those cards are in my wallet. I like to have a copy of them in the first aid kit.

Same action with an ID; I keep my last (expired) driver’s license in a PFD pocket. The photo and description is still me, same address, same birth date, same Soundex # etc, and the State already laminated it for me.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

. . . a simple photocopy of your health insurance card, prescription card, even dental if you are lucky enough to have such.

Yeah, all those cards are in my wallet. I like to have a copy of them in the first aid kit. . . . Same action with an ID; I keep my last (expired) driver’s license . . . .

Along this line, I have folded in my wallet a small sheet of paper in very small fonts listing all my medications, the medical conditions they are for, my dosages, the dates I began taking them, and the prescribing doctors' names. It would probably be a good idea to also have a copy of this information in my tripping canoe.

However, I'm not sure the medical kit is the best place for this information or the ones listed by Mike. After all, all these things are for the benefit of someone else when you are presumably incapacitated, unconscious, dead, or missing. I'm not sure a medical kit is the place someone would think to look for identification and other personal information.

It might be better to put copies of all these things in a small waterproof pouch, like a cell phone pouch, with a label saying something like "Personal Identification and Medical Information". You could clip this I.D. pouch onto your canoe or your person, or put it in your day bag.

 

[scoutergriz]

That's the really tough thing about keeping a well stocked first aid kit, so much of the stuff you need has a short shelf life. The Neosporin/Polysporin/anti-infective goop seems to be good for about two years. Despite regular boo boos I'm always throwing out a 90% full tube. I try to make a point of checking everything in the kit with the first overnight trip in spring.

last time I replaced my polysporin I found some that came in "single use" tubes which actually contained enough for about 5 uses, I spread them around different kits- house, garage, pocket kit, main kit, and car kit.
Interestingly, consumer reports looked at expiry dates for antibiotic ointments and found they could still be good for several years, BUT that they degrade faster with heat and humidity, 2 factors considered normal with tripping.
“To assure that medicines stay effective after their expiration dates, don’t store them in bathroom medicine cabinet,” suggests Marvin Lipman, chief medical consultant, Consumer Reports. “Heat and humidity accelerate how fast a drug deteriorates, so store drugs in a cool, dry place and well out of the reach of children.”

Is it OK to Use Expired Neosporin?

It it OK to Use Expired Neosporin? Consumer Reports explains what you need to know before you do.

www.consumerreports.org

https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/health/using-expired-neosporin#social_fb_comments

 

[scoutergriz]

Along this line, I have folded in my wallet a small sheet of paper in very small fonts listing all my medications, the medical conditions they are for, my dosages, the dates I began taking them, and the prescribing doctors' names. It would probably be a good idea to also have a copy of this information in my tripping canoe.

However, I'm not sure the medical kit is the best place for this information or the ones listed by Mike. After all, all these things are for the benefit of someone else when you are presumably incapacitated, unconscious, dead, or missing. I'm not sure a medical kit is the place someone would think to look for identification and other personal information.

It might be better to put copies of all these things in a small waterproof pouch, like a cell phone pouch, with a label saying something like "Personal Identification and Medical Information". You could clip this I.D. pouch onto your canoe or your person, or put it in your day bag.

View attachment 128594

I do the same but my card also mentions WHY I take the meds on the back such as the date and what the diagnosis or surgery was- such as my 2 cardiac events, the surgery that followed and the surgeons name, all in 8pt font, then that card is laminated and copies kept in my wallet, cell phone case, and with my wife.
Luckily here in Ontario the driver's licence, health card, and even boat operators card or fishing license are all plastic and my medical benefits card from insurance is too so I can safely carry my wallet in a zippered pocket.

 

[ErktheRed]

I almost always wear my watch, it’s one of those items in the “keys-phone-wallet-check”, and knife.. etc etc. I purchased one of the newer road i.d’s for our dogs collar, it slides right over her collar. I thought, that can fit on my watch band… so I bought one. I have emergency contacts like wife and doctor as well as two of the illnesses engraved right on it.

Let’s just hope if I’m ever needing help or assistance, that person had an eye for gear and looks at my watch

 

[Robin]

I have a pretty minimal first aid kit, just the basics, a lot less than has been mentioned here. I added some bigger bandages, tape, an ace bandage, and some pain meds but in hindsight, I have never used it.

 

[billconner]

I have never used it.

Yeah, kind of like my life insurance.

 

[Seeker]

I created a first aid kit a few years back and have pretty much stuck with its contents since then. Fits in a Mentos container... several bandaids, a couple Q-tips, a pair of tweezers, tick key, and a few tablets each of Motrin, Pepto, Immodium, Zyrtec, Benadryl, and a sample packet of Neosporin (yes, it all fits). I keep a small container of dental repair putty in my repair kit (it's the size of a chapstick tube cap), and sometimes use a SAM Splint as a pack frame if I'm using one of my two GoLite bags. I usually have a bandana as well. I'm not an EMT or doctor, and don't know how to use anything else. I've found over my years that most of my needs are met with this kit. I can improvise most other things. My "fears" are small cuts or punctures, sprains, burns, and digestive upset, maybe a headache, and maybe a reaction to an insect swarm (if you've ever been tagged by a hornet or black widow, or stepped in a yellow jacket nest, you know what I mean).

 

[Black_Fly]

I now carry a surgical stapler.