A recent series of events has caused me to look at our first aid situation at home, bare with me its a long one (by my standards)
So picture this I'm happily "playing" in the garden working on the greenhouse using some power tools. And bam out of no something hits me in the eye followed by tears and excruciating pain...
Your probably thinking "Dan what a mug why weren't you wearing safety glasses" funnily enough i was... sigh.
This was one of the things that caught me of guard, the router tore out a bit of a wood knot that some how hit me on a rebound and went between my cheek and the glasses and caught me in the eye.
Disorientated with streams of tears running down my face i made the long walk back to the house to assess the damage (30m but felt miles as i was thinking of the damage done)
Once in the house i had a mare trying to find some clean lint free cloths or eye wash or even something suitable to bath my eye in to ensure any remnants of the projectile were out, i ended up using a shot glass in the end. 😅
This swiftly followed with another incident cutting glass for the greenhouse where i smashed a pane with no gloves on which lead to a fairly deep laceration on my hand, this was lesson learned for me and that stupidity wont happen again...
The one eyed one armed vegetable gardener
Upon reflection i think you'd agree this could of been alot worse, i keep eye drops on hand as i work with PC's everyday and in air conditioned training rooms so they do dry out, using the eye drops for a few days helps the pain go away and my eye sight is fine from what i can see.
The cut on my hand bleed like tap but once cleaned up pressure applied this soon stopped in 5 minutes and doesn't appear to of needed stitched and slowly healing.
But it did get me thinking what if that was a tiny bit sharper, or that cut a little deeper. Those not pleasant but relatively minor injuries could of been much more serious. It got me thinking did i have the first aid resources to hand to deal with those things, worse yet what if it happened to one of my family and I'm not around do they know where things are and what to do?
Bulking up the first aid supplies
It is worth mentioning that i'm first aid trained and have been for over 10+ years now due to the nature of the work i do, and unfortunately I've had to deal with a lot of unpleasant situations over the years. I'd personally view the training as more important that the supplies as a lot can be improvised if you know what you need to do.
I do carry a comprehensive first aid kit when out in the mountains that designed for big bleeds breaks and other trauma's and this is often with me at work or at least in the car, where the spinning carbon fibre blades on the machine could remove fingers or cut you to the bone if you were unlucky.
But in the house, well we have plasters and paracetamol. If i was at work or injured badly the kit would be missing of in an unknown location for the wife to help me...
Yeah but I'd just phone 999
Good on you, and i'd likely do the same at the very first safe opportunity. I'ts not uncommon for category one calls (life threatening) to take between 8-15 minutes to respond. With category two calls (emergency) taking 20-40 minutes. In an emergency every minute can feel like an hour...
Buying a first aid kit
So enough of the waffle and thanks for sticking around for 600+ words of it. i decided to spend a little cash and get a dedicated first aid kit and some other bits that arn't found in standard of the shelf first aid kits
This first aid kit was less than £20 and had a lot of useful bits in for many minor issues.
The other change was to stick it some where easy to find in the kitchen and tell the wife about it encase she ever needs it, shes also a first aider due to her line of work but its not something shes confident with.
I did take a couple bits out as if i need a whistle and thermal blanket in the house something has went seriously wrong...
I also Added some TCP disinfectant as i do get cut to shreds and play in the soil all day so anything deep its handy to have, I'd personally prefer to use something less painful and more natural but its there if needed.
One other thing i did add and this was because i got a pack of two for my work kit is a tourniquet, arterial bleeds are a serious thing and these are now taught as part of first aid courses, so one for the house kit and one for the work kit.
So to sum it up I've spent £25 but i feel much better prepared if something was to happen to me while working in the house, added some bits work kit that i hope i never need but that classic saying stands true
It's better to have it and not need it, rather than need it and not have it!Do you have a first aid kit in the home? do you know how to use it?
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D.
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