Hi, I’m Mindy Turner with the Curry County
Cooperative Extension Service, your Family and Consumer Science Agent welcome to 2021. We're
excited to have a new series for our January- February. As always, all the information we're
providing is available in writing in our county newsletter for Family and Consumer Sciences.
If you would like to request a copy of that newsletter you can call our office, you can go
online to our website “curryextension.nmsu.edu.” Click on family health and wellness and click on
the link for newsletter request and you'll have the option of getting that mailed to you hard copy
or sent over email either one, is fine with us. This couple of months we're going to be looking at
some safety issues and being prepared in dealing with an emergency or a disaster within our area.
Any of those kinds of things that come up and some things are just valuable for our normal household
needs, all of the time.
So, the first round what we're going to look at is, we're going to talk a
little bit about first aid kits, and I know a lot of you are out there going “Mindy we already know
everything we need to know about a first aid kit.” Hopefully if you get nothing else from this you
remember to go find your first aid kit, make sure where it is, make sure it's still fully stocked
and that any items you are keeping in there; that might be used for medications anything along
those lines that they have not expired.
Part of the things that we run into is we have first aid
kits, we keep things, but we deplete them. If you're like me and you have kids who like to use
band-aids, they go get band-aids and then all of a sudden “hey mom, we don't have any band-aids.” So,
this is your reminder to check your first aid kit, make sure you have it. We're going to talk- maybe
you need one in your home as well as one in your automobile, it's nice to have one in your vehicle
when you're out and about and if you're like us. Again, without buildings around you may need one
in the barn, you may need one in the trailer to take along with you.
So, when we talk about first
aid typically what comes to mind for most of us is our family taking care of our kids, taking care
of ourselves when something happens, don't forget first aid for your animals can be very important.
So, I have a couple other examples sitting out here as well, this is an equine first aid kit;
we've put together some. Especially if you're a hiker, maybe you hike with your dog. You want
to have a few first aid things on hand for them, small containers that you can keep those types
of things in. So, think about, first of all you can purchase pre-made first aid kits there's all
types: all sizes, there's great big ones, small ones, you can get some that are already made/put
together for animals as well as those for humans, there's even little/small fit in your
purse made to go in the glove compartment. Great things to have on hand, just to have all
of the parts and pieces that you need.
The other great thing about these is they come with a list
of everything that's in them. You know you can't, probably can't, read the words but trust me that's
the list of what's included. So, as you use items, as it gets depleted you can replace those
and still keep your containers for that. So, when we talk about containers think about the
size of your family, the people you have around, what you need to have for a first aid kit and
then consider the container that you want to use. You can probably look around your home and find
a container that's not in use that would make an excellent first aid kit. So, some of the
things that work really well; you can see we said for an equine one, we have it in a
five-gallon bucket with a lid that seals tight, makes it great for hauling in the trailer; you can
also have a human first aid kit with supplies like that; they do make a not necessarily a five gallon
but a two- or three-gallon bucket with the top that you can put things that are
nice for stacking in a closet. These types of containers with lids that fasten on
but then also have a handle.
So, if it is in your home somewhere you've put it up. But you need
to take it out to help someone or you want to grab it if it's stored in the bathroom cabinet and
bring it into the living room, where you need it. You grab the handle, take it with you and it's
easy to do, okay. So, that brings up the idea of where do you store your first aid kit? Well, you
want it to be easily accessible unless you have young children, you want to make sure it's not
accessible to them. Older children who may need to find and use and bring you the first aid kit. It's
important that they're going to know where it is but then it's also going to be important when you
have babysitters, house sitters, guests that come, if grandma and grandpa are coming to visit, that
everyone knows where the first aid kit is and that it's easy to find.
We recently relocated here
to Curry County and so I know in pulling this together one of the biggest helps for me was
having to find my first aid kit and all of my items that went with it. Because it's easy to
have them get misplaced or get things stacked on top of it or get it stored somewhere. So again,
this is your reminder get out your first aid kit, check where it's stored, make sure you have all
of the items in it that you might need. Okay another suggestion, these are just simple almost
like tackle box, the tackle box itself can be a great way to do it with the handle. These are nice
because they store flat, they fit under the sink, sideways, in a cabinet- cabinets such as these.
Would be easy to do. These have movable parts so you can make each section as big as you need to
store whatever you would like, to have on hand for that first aid kit. Again: small, simple,
waterproof containers that you can carry with you.
This one would be good for the car, just
to have some basic bandages and different sizes. Duffels, old duffels that you don't use anymore.
I love bags, I tend to pick them up everywhere I go. So, it's something that you can keep on
hand, turn it into a first aid kit. Backpacks, maybe it's they used it a couple years
at school but it's still in good shape- can be an excellent thing to use for a first
aid kit; car, barn and trailer, in the house, throw it over your shoulder and go. You've got all
your first aid supplies contained together, okay and then of course cutesy first aid kits.
This is
a simple zipper type of makeup bag, but you can fill with all of your first aid supplies. These
make great gifts if you're looking for something fun and easy to put together. Again, for people
to keep in their automobile, for a teacher to have on hand in their classroom all of those types
of things are important to go along in there. One of the key things that you're going to want to
have in your first aid kit are some instructions, some basic information, some emergency phone
numbers.
We all think “oh I know that number, I know who to call” but when you're in the midst
of an emergency, someone's hurt, something's happening, everything's going on at once it helps
to have it right there in front of you in writing. Okay and I know we program a lot of things in our
cell phone but maybe I’m not the first one who's going to be able to make that call and I need
someone else to do it. So, having that number there in front of them accessible, can be a huge
help okay but then also just some instructions for basic first aid. If you don't have anything like
that and you're interested. We will have at the extension office some basic first aid cards that
you can flip through, find the issue that you're having. It'll give you some pictures and guides
and basic ways to treat that situation right then, to do your first aid and know if you need to get
additional assistance.
Maybe if you do need to go on to the doctor or the emergency room, so
we will have those available. You can call our office or again log on to the website, shoot
us an email and let us know you're interested. We'd be happy to put those out where you can
pick them up or put them in the mail for you. So, now when we talk about what actually goes into
a first aid kit, a couple of things you want to think about.
First of all, check with your health
care provider there may be something specific due to your specific health concerns, that'd be
good to have in a first aid kit. That's readily accessible or maybe if you're a caregiver to an
elderly parent or someone with a specific medical need. Knowing what they would need in the event
of an emergency can be very important, so check with your health care provider.
There are lists
available again, there's a list in the newsletter of different things that you would want to have. I
don't think you can see that because of the light but things that you would want to
have on hand in your first aid kit these are things that we took from
(you can find these everywhere) mayo clinic, the red cross some of these actually
came from kids’ health. There's some suggestions that it talks about if you have children, some
of the things that are going to be important and of course the basic things.
Some type of
antiseptic, some antiseptic wipes, different types of bandages and wraps that you can use in the
event of an emergency, cotton balls things that we don't always think about having on hand; an eye
wash okay, a wound wash, different types of spray, cold compresses (but not of course the kinds we
need to freeze). Maybe you want to have in there just some different sizes of plastic bags, that's
an important thing. Having something that can seal at the top that you can put, whether it's leftover
supplies or different parts and pieces or if you did need to make an ice pack for something. So,
you tailor your first aid kit to what your family needs and the things that they need to have on
hand. So, a couple of publications that we're highlighting through New Mexico State University
Cooperative Extension Service for this series. I highly recommend them, they're excellent
emergency preparedness sheltering at home and emergency preparedness evacuation.
We're going
to talk a little more about things that hit those topics over the next few pieces of our series.
These were actually done by Rick Griffiths one of our Family and Consumer Science Agents to
the North, so we appreciate him putting that resource together for us. If you would like a
copy of these, you can get them online, you can link to them from our website or you can request
them, and we'd be more than happy to send you out a hard copy.
Thank you for your time again, I'm
Mindy Turner with the Curry County Cooperative Extension Service please get in touch if there's
anything we can help you with. Thank you..
