Follow the lead of the person suggesting Quick Clot. Now you can get them in most hiking or camping stores. They are large gauze pads treated with a chemical (Hemostatic Agent) that will quickly clot almost any heavy bleeding. Used quickly it can even be used to avoid a tourniquet. I am former military and have unfortunately used it on several occasions. Each time it saved life and limb. I am an adventure motorcyclist myself and when I am out (usually alone) I carry one on each pocket and my first aid kit in a jacket pouch in the small of my back. Rip it open and hold it against the wound. SImple simple. Enjoy your trip, be safe and keep the videos coming. TJ - The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday
Enjoy the channel Craig. Glad to see you and your biking partners have made the decision to take some basic first aid supplies. May I suggest also, take a bottle or two of liquid bandage. They are small and light and would come in handy in case some one sustains a small laceration that would otherwise require sutures. As a Paramedic for the last 30 years, I have used this product numerous times, and it works great. For small lacerations,and punctures less then 1.5 inches usually. Clean and dry the area first, then apply liberal amounts of liquid and prepare to bandages right away then secure with tape. If you let heal for a couple of days good chances you may not even see a scar when fully healed. Enjoy.
Great Kit! Except for that wire splint! I have worked as a Firefighter/Paramedic for 20 years, now retired. I really don't like the wired splints! You might want to try a Sam Splints, they are compact and easy to pack.
Good vid and covers plenty. Down under in Australia, we had saline solution tubes to wash out eyes (open face helmets) and a couple compression bandages for snake & spider bites.
Hi Craig, it was myself that asked about your first aid kit, and you have some good stuff there. Im not sure how remote you are going to be on your trip, but i imagine on some of the legs it will be pretty barron, and you could find yourself in a life or death situation with no emergency services close to hand (sorry to sound depressing :-) so definately some major trauma items, like Celox Haemostatic Granules, Isreali bandage and even a Tactical Tourniquet, although alot of Medical Professionals dont like the general public using them incase left on to long. Love your channel mate, cant wait to follow you when you finally get going. PS, you going to do any live broadcasts such as what is possible on Facebook?
Thanks for the suggestion, I think it was a great idea. Several folks have suggested the Israeli bandage, and it looks something that would be very useful. I have also thought about a tourniquet but have mixed feelings in that I have not been trained to use one properly. I have had basic first aid and accident scene management classes, but an in no way an EMT. Playing devil's advocate, are we actually more likely (or at least equally likely) to have head and c-spine injuries than severe arterial bleeding? Should we carry a immobilization collar? Not being a smart ass, I am seriously asking the question...how far should the average guy with basic first aid knowledge go? It is kind of like carrying tools, how prepared do you really need to be give the limited space that we have to work with on a motorcycle. It is a difficult question to answer. I am going to try to do some live broadcasts, but I am not sure how that is going to work yet. I don't know how much WIFI access we will have. I might be limited to those days when we are in hotels. I am going to try to figure that out over the next month or so. There are a lot of logistics to figure out and the electronics stuff takes up a lot of room...LOL.
Craig you are heading to Alaska in the summer, its a mosquito playground. Make sure you go to amazon and get yourself two inexpensive Mosquito nets for your face!!!!! also make sure you also have a LED Headlamp with batteries. Marc.
+BLASKO283, Thanks for the suggestions. I do have the mosquito net and head lamp. We will be taking other precautions against bugs that I hope to cover in another video.
Reminds me I need a first aid refresher course.... used to get them routinely on the job but having joined the retiree set, no longer have the opportunity. I've always worried about a motorcycle accident and someone getting herky-jerky in moving a spinal injury victim who needs to be largely immobilized.
I have taken the Accident Scene Management Class through Road Guardians and it was very helpful. A lot of what they taught centered around stabilizing the head and cervical spine. I however could also use a refresher on first aid and more advanced trauma care. I am not an EMT and do not pretend to be one.
I will also be getting an InReach for my trip! They are a far better deal than the SPOT tracker. And you can charge it with USB and I have plenty of USB charging ports set up on my bike.
I agree. the InReach satellite coverage is better and you while it is more expensive to purchase, you can buy coverage on a monthly basis if you will not be using it year round. You can also do two way communication with the emergency services folks, via text message. Thanks!
Great video and some good tips. I am one of the "I've got a knife", but will be picking up scissors. Btw, Harbor Freight sells emergency led flashers for $4. i carry one - small and light.
Adhesive bandages an tape do go bad over time. They dry out. Wire splints....ugh more stress than they are worth. Get a 'SAM' splint if space allows. BZK and alcohol should not be wiped on wounds. Around minor wounds okay...not in wounds. Avoid latex gloves.....nitrile or vinyl.
This is something I don't have. Of course, if I don't built one, I will need it... if I do build one I will never need it. I'm looking for additional items to make it more of a trauma kit (as mentioned in other comments) and keep it in my car when not riding. Maybe I can help someone at some point. Need a tourniquet (mentioned below), gauze with quick clot, an Israeli bandage, and a few other things. Most importantly, stuff to treat road rash. The non-stick pads you have are good (+tape)... but also some lidocaine spray, triple anti-biotic cream, and a small, soft nail brush. The nail brush is to scrub gravel out of the rash (that's what the lidocaine spray is for!). Ouch.
I have since added a tourniquet and an Israeli bandage as well, but I feel about the first-aid kit the same as I do my tool kit. You want to be prepared, but it is easy to start doing the what if game and end up with a very heavy kit and most of the stuff you will never use. I am not saying you are doing that, just that it is easy to do. Your job in most accident situations will be to stabilize the victim, while waiting for the EMTs to arrive.
You might want to consider nitrile gloves instead of latex. A surprising number of people have latex allergies. I'm sure you've done this, but be aware of any medical concerns of anyone in the group. You may need epipens, insulin or anything else a particular person needs. Given your isolation, prescription pain meds and antibiotics are a good idea as well. Your local Doc can probably help you out with both.
good kit i would ditc h the poncho and that flag thingy and add burn cream, sun screen, eye wash, immodium AD (diarrhea on a ride sucks), and antacids these are the most common injuries i have ever ran into..
Yes I was thinking about that. However, I have not been trained in the proper use of a tourniquet. I guess if it is a choice between losing a limb or losing a life, you choose the limb, but I would not want to cause more problems.
Craig Ripley I promise you if someone needs a tourniquet applied they NEED it or they will bleed out within minutes and it will take a really long time to do any damage to the limb. You can't hurt someone with it unless they are not bleeding really bad. I also carry quick clot for non arterial bleeds. Sorry I don't mean to sound negative.
You do not sound negative, you sound serious, and you should, it is a serious situation. I am not belittling the use of any of the things that people are suggesting, I think they are all great ideas. However, I do not have any training in using the equipment that is being suggested and I don't think that most of my viewers or motorcyclists have the training either. I think it would be a mistake for me or the average riding to run out and buy a bunch of stuff they do not know how to use. After reading the post from yourself and others who seem to have EMT or similar experience, the take-away for me is that everyone on my group should have some advanced emergency training so that we can properly use some of these suggested items. I am going to look into setting this up...not sure I can in the time we have, but I am going to try.
I just picked one up and will be making sure I know how to use it before we head out. We leave in late June and will be gone through the month of July.
