Posts on ‘December 4th, 2007’

Whether it be a natural disaster or an accident, unfortunately it is fair game for anyone to be hurt at anytime. The good news is we can be prepared. From my days as an emergency medical technician and through research, here is a sample of a first aid kit:

Things you should have in one place (I recommend a cheap duffel bag or a storage type container):

1. sterile gloves (ex. latex or nitrile)

2. sterile dressings to help stop bleeding (ex. gauzes)

3. cleansing agent (ex. antibiotic towlettes, Bactine, saline solution)

While interning at Kaiser Permanente’s Pediatrics floor, I encountered many patients that came in for near-drownings in pools, falling out of the windows, and choking on small pieces or poisonous substances. Many of these could have been prevented from up-to-date child proofing of the house. In talking to the parents, most had child-proofed their home, but there were loopholes that they had missed.

Here are a list of resources that I found related to child proofing the house:

http://www.parentwonder.com/content/view/291/1/
http://www.babycenter.com/baby/babysafety/index
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/grand/12steps/12steps.html