Where Can I Get a Good First-Aid Kit?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am off to the US for my semi-annual shopping trip. I just spent $500 on Amazon, and I need a few more things.

I need a good first-aid kit. All the kits for sale seem to be for complete novices. I am not an expert, but I am a retired Army guy and I live in a place where even simple auto accidents can be really, really nasty. I need something advanced.

I need Qik-Clot, I need trauma pads, I need tourniquets. I need God to ensure I never need to use any of it.

OK, so where the heck can I get a good kit? Amazon is useless. The Cav Store is the only source of Qik-Clot I have found. (In fact I am comfortable with their Army-surplus kits. I may get one.)

Any ideas?

2

Try Galls. They specialize in products for fire, le and ems personnel. I’ll wager they’ll have what you’re looking for.

http://galls.com/category2.html?assort=general_catalog&cat=485

3

Thank you. I will check it out in the morning. The parrot is insisting on going to bed.

4

The best option is to put things together yourself instead of buying a pre-assembled kit. A pre-packaged number is likely to have things you don’t need, and things you might need but don’t know how to use properly. Most of these sites will let you buy things separately. If you select carefully, the cost can be pretty close to the same and you’ll have everything you need and nothing you don’t.

Also, consider that you don’t have to buy everything. Tourniquets, for example, are easily made from torn shirts, etc. IMHO, the fewer supplies you must carry in your kit, the more likely you are to take it everywhere and the less likely you are to have to search for something in an emergency.

Just my two cents.

5

Another vote for the ‘buy a toolbox and put what you want in it’ crowd. A source for components and kits is Brigade Quartermasters. QuikClot, they have. If you have any paramedic or nursing friends stateside, find out where they buy their personal stuff. You might find a medical supply store in the area allowing you to put together your own kit from bulk items instead of paying high prices for smaller packs.

6

I’ll second Gall’s and add EMP. More than a few ambulance services get their supplies from EMP.
St. Urho
Paramedic

7

Thank you all. I have many sites to look at now.

8

I will put a vote in for Zee Medical everything from aspirin to defibrillators.
I have used their van based services to supply first aid kits for my training centers.
Good stuff.
Oh one more thing, Zee sells boxes that are weather sealed so dust and dirt won’t intrude.

9

Of course, shipping to Saudi Arabia may negate this. :smack:

10

Tourniquets are not really a good idea unless you’ve got medical training. Especially if it may be a while before the casualty gets to a hospital, because the resulting anoxic damage could mean the loss of the limb.

Applying pressure with a pad is what they prefer non medical personnel to do at the scene of an accident.

11

I would agree with this sentiment if Paul were not apparently planning for major trauma or if he were in a country with a very short response time to anywhere. EMS does not recommend that first aiders use quik-clot either.

Further, a tourniquet doesn’t take all that much medical training to use. Just proper knowledge of pressure points, what you need to try before a tourniquet, and how to properly check it from time to time. I don’t know, but I imagine the Army teaches that. Somebody might lose a limb, but I’m assuming in Paul’s scenario, that will be the least of his worries.

12

What you really are looking for are informed opinions. So let’s move this to IMHO.

samclem GQ moderator

13

I ordered a regular old Army medic bag. It is pretty good and I am fairly familiar with it. I also added two doses of Qik-Clot. The supplier said the Qik-Clot was only available to law enforcement and medical personnel.

Argh! Reason six hundred and seven for living outside the US! Prescription laws!

14

Other people will sell me Quick Clot, so I suspect it is not any regulation keeping me from getting it from the Cav Store, just general little-old-lady-in-tennis-shoe-ism.

15

Help me out if I’m having a brain fart. It sounded as though you were coming stateside for a shopping trip. What is it you can’t buy here? Assuming for some crazy reason you can’t buy here, can the items in question be shipped to Saudi?

16

Well, I come to the US to visit family and friends, to shop, to do appointments with brokers, lawyers and various others. As much business as pleasure.

Shipping to Saudi Arabia is costly, slow and iffy. Customs sometimes seizes stuff, sometime things just come up missing. All in all, it is best to use the vacation as a time to load up on stuff.

Things are simply cheaper in the US and Mexico than in the Middle East and Europe. That being the case, it seems dumb to come back with any extra room in your suitcase.

17

I like the Logger’s kit from Forestry Suppliers; take a look at

http://www.forestry-suppliers.com/drilldown_pages/view_category.asp?ID=905

They have some other sizes to choose from too, but that’s the one I take to Boy Scout camp-outs.

18

I t all worked out. I picked up a nice kit from an aviation supply house, Best Glide Aviation along with some additional trauma bandages and the Qik-Clot (Two handy half-doeses).

Still, it makes me shake my head and cluck like a chicken that some people would not sell me the Qik-Clot. Are kids snorting it nowadays?