For 20 years, Mercy Air Care (MAC), the regional air ambulance program based at Mercy Medical Center, has provided acute care in the air to give thousands of people a second chance at life. The Mercy Air Care Membership Program not only enhances the services provided by Mercy Air Care but also yields unique benefits for its members.
Whether it's for inside the home, your car or for a camping
trip, it's a wise idea to keep a first aid kit on hand for
accidents. So the first thing you need to determine is where it
will be stored because that will affect what goes inside. Our first
aid experts recommend starting with a pre-assembled kit and then
adding to it to reflect your specific needs (like allergies, for
example).
Cuts are the most common home injury. Make sure your kit
contains at least a dozen bandages of various shapes and sizes, as
well as gauze pads and adhesive tape.
If you're buying a kit for the car or somewhere else outside the
home, look for one that includes a good pair of scissors. You may
need to cut bandages to fit a cut or scrape.
Make sure your kit includes Aloe Vera gel for burns as opposed
to burn ointment, which tends to be messy. Aloe Vera is
water-soluble and has healing properties.
An antibiotic cream is useful for cleaning out cuts and scrapes.
But some doctors recommend calendula gel instead, which is an
herbal disinfectant that won't promote antibiotic-resistant
bacteria.
Make sure your car kit includes matches, a flashlight (don't
forget to check the batteries from time to time), flares and
something to keep you warm, like a compact foil blanket, which
takes up less space than a regular blanket. We like to throw in the
odd granola bar, too, just in case we're stranded somewhere for a
while.
Where you keep your car kit is key. Flares should be kept in an
airtight container in the trunk. The rest of the kit should be in
the backseat for easy access in the event of an immobilizing injury
or rear-end collision.
If you spend a lot of time hiking, mountaineering, and the like,
choose a small, waterproof first aid kit that can fit in your
backpack.
And make sure your home kit includes lots of bottled water and
some canned food.
For 20 years, Mercy Air Care (MAC), the regional air ambulance program based at Mercy Medical Center, has provided acute care in the air to give thousands of people a second chance at life. The Mercy Air Care Membership Program not only enhances the services provided by Mercy Air Care but also yields unique benefits for its members.
