# Medical Preparedness and Field First Aid

*Educational information only — NOT medical advice and not a substitute for
certified training or professional care. Take an in-person first-aid course;
skills practiced under supervision are what actually work in a crisis. In
any real emergency, contact emergency services (112 in Europe) if at all
possible.*

## Training beats gear

Priority order: a certified first-aid/CPR course, then a wilderness first
aid course if you spend time remote, then gear. An untrained person with a
full trauma kit is less capable than a trained one with a bandana.

## The home kit, by layer

**Boo-boo layer (used weekly):** adhesive bandages in sizes, blister
plasters, antiseptic solution (povidone-iodine or chlorhexidine), tweezers
(splinters, ticks), small scissors, tape, burn gel, saline pods for eye and
wound rinsing.

**Wound layer:** sterile gauze pads and rolls, elastic (compression)
bandages, non-adherent dressings, wound-closure strips, larger dressing
pads, nitrile gloves in quantity, irrigation syringe (clean water under
pressure is the best wound cleaner), triangular bandages (sling, tie,
padding).

**Trauma layer (train before you buy):** pressure bandage ("Israeli"
style), hemostatic gauze, commercial tourniquet (know current protocols —
applied high and tight for life-threatening limb bleeding that pressure
cannot stop; note the time), chest seal, space blankets (hypothermia kills
trauma patients), headlamp, trauma shears.

**Comfort/illness layer:** oral rehydration salts (see below), electrolyte
tablets, thermometer, common over-the-counter medicines you already use —
pain/fever reducers, antihistamines, anti-diarrheal, antacids — stored per
label and rotated; personal prescription medicines with the largest buffer
your prescriber and law allow (discuss an emergency supply with your
doctor; running out of daily medication is the most likely medical crisis
in any prolonged disruption).

## Skills that carry the most weight

- **Severe bleeding, deep cuts, and wounds:** direct, hard pressure on the wound with anything at
  hand beats searching for perfect gear. Elevate, keep pressing, do not
  peek. Tourniquet only for limb bleeding that pressure cannot control.
- **Treating a cut or wound when no doctor or clinic is available:** clean early and thoroughly —
  irrigate with copious clean (drinkable) water, remove debris, dress,
  change dressings daily, watch for infection: spreading redness, heat,
  swelling, pus, red streaks, fever. Infection signs = seek professional
  care with urgency; this is where field medicine ends.
- **Burns:** cool with running cool (not ice) water for 20 minutes, then
  cover loosely with clean non-fluffy dressing. Large, deep, facial,
  genital, or circumferential burns are emergencies.
- **Diarrhea and vomiting (adult or child), off-grid with no doctor:** the
  killer is dehydration, and children dehydrate fastest. WHO-style oral
  rehydration: 1 litre safe water + 6 level teaspoons sugar + 1/2 level
  teaspoon salt, sipped constantly; continue feeding children. Strict hand
  and water hygiene protects the rest of the household.
- **Sprains/strains:** rest, ice/cool, compression, elevation; buddy-tape
  fingers/toes; improvised splints pad the limb in the position found.
- **Hypothermia and heat illness:** covered in the cold-weather and water
  chapters — recognize early, act early.
- **Tick bites (check skin after every walk in forest, brush, or tall
  grass):** what to do about a tick bite: remove the tick promptly with fine tweezers gripping at the skin,
  steady straight pull, no twisting or burning; disinfect; note the date
  and watch for expanding rash or flu-like symptoms in following weeks —
  these warrant medical attention.

## Dental and eyes

A dental first-aid kit (temporary filling material, clove oil, dental wax)
turns a screaming toothache into a manageable wait. Spare prescription
glasses in the kit — an old prescription beats no vision; consider one pair
in the Faraday/document bin.

## Hygiene as medicine

In every historical grid-down event, hygiene-related illness dwarfed injury:
handwashing, safe water, safe food handling (cook thoroughly, keep raw and
cooked separate, no room-temperature leftovers beyond 2 hours), and
sanitation discipline are the highest-yield "medical" preparations that
exist.