I am in my thirties now and thought I had a decent handle on basic life stuff. Then a minor health scare at home made me realize I have been ignoring the entire category of basic medical readiness. Nothing dramatic happened. Someone in my family got a small but deep cut and for a moment I had no idea what to do besides rinse it.
I always assumed I would stay calm in situations like that, but I ended up scrambling for supplies that were not where I thought they were. I also noticed how unsure I was about the steps I should take. It made me think a lot about how many day to day health things we never actually learn as adults.
After that I started paying more attention to basic first aid and simple at home health skills. Not advanced medical stuff, just the small things that prevent a minor situation from turning into something stressful. It has been eye opening to realize how much I did not know.
For anyone who likes the practical side of home preparedness, I added a resource I found useful in the best_guides link in my bio since we cannot post external links here.
When did you realize you were missing some basic skills you assumed you had under control?
21 comments
Could you just write out the cliff notes or attach a screenshot in your post and save us from being added to your marketing list?
Great lesson. You gotta have contingency for deep cuts, flooding of your home, fires, earthquakes, home invasion, etc
We can go to the ER for any medical issues like a deep cut that requires stitches…. If it isnt serious, clean the wound and bandage is common sense.
Do I have to buy the products from both of the links you share in your bio to learn how to go get a first aid kit?
Invest in a first aid kit for sure. It can get you through most minor things.
Never. I have been always prepared because I have to take care of people.
In the US, most fire departments will offer basic first aid classes. I highly recommend attending one! They’ll help you know when to call 911, what supplies you should keep on hand and how to use them. They often offer CPR certification as well.
i had something like this happen during a thanksgiving liek 10 years ago, lived alone in my 30s and cut myself with a knife and couldnt stop bleeding. It was really rough as i lost feelign and had numbness there for a long while. Then 5 years later I really did have somehting major that was killing me (an autoimmune disesase) . Not all things are predictable but its good to understand medical advocacy and who to seek fr help or advice. Specialists are always the ones really, gen prac couldnt help in my autoimmune situation at all. The stuff that intiidates most isnt home care but what do to about insurance, hospitals, how much to advocate for yourself, etc.
I actually thought about this recently. Staying calm in those situations can be hard especially when you feel like you “should” know how to handle it but you don’t.
Staying calm allows your intuition to work through it.
I’ve attended to full day first aid training twice (one in my home country another one in country i was living after that, in language of that country) to know what to do, I’d definitely recommend to every adult person to do it at least once.
Never had a chance to apply it in practice but in case of need I have knowledge what is the optimal steps in every situation, be it at home, office, or in the streets.
Someone is bleeding? The answer is hold pressure, if you don’t have sterile supplies use a clean towel.
As a nurse, I have WAY too many supplies for this kinda stuff. I have suture kits and quick molding casts, as well as crutches, rollator and a wheelchair. Bacitracin, wound cleanser, gauze pads, steri strips, kerlix rolls (gauze roll), abd pads, ace wrap, and good ol fabric bandaids will cover 90% or your needs.
I suggest looking casually into the prepper reddits. They have deep prepper stuff a lot of the time, but easy readiness stuff as well.
I had this realisation when i was at the shops and an elderly asian man just dropped to the ground next to us.
IM NOT TRAINED FOR THIS SHIT! I had no idea what to do
stopthebleed.com
Videos, nearly free in person training. Can purchase the supplies with FSA/HSA.
I’ve done a couple of classes with them. Used the training once on a bad wound. I don’t know if the guy would have lived or not otherwise but he definitely survived with more of his blood than he would have otherwise.
Taking a first aid course from the Red Cross (in the US) will help you know what to do in hurry cases, and you can be somewhat informed when it comes to putting together a home first-aid kit.
If you really want to get ready, you could take a wilderness first aid certification. These are folks who know how to deal with a situation when medical help is several hours or days away. They have quite involved “first aid” kits.
I grew up in Boy scouts “always be prepared” and two nurses for parents and then my work had first aid classes. I guess I was spoiled and have been ready for anything.
I didn’t even think about this being a thing. Great idea to pass off to my kids.
taking this opportunity to call out [Stop The Bleed](https://www.stopthebleed.org/). This organization came about after Sandy Hook in order to spread knowledge about first aid bleeding control.
they offer free online and in person training on how to stop traumatic bleeding, including how to use a pressure dressing and CAT tourniquet.
once trained make sure you include these items in your at home and vehicle first aid kits. most home first aid kits are really meant for boo-boos and are usually not equipped for serious issues. many places now sell bleeding control kits (as does stop the bleed directly) or will include tourniquets, pressure dressings and quik clot in more comprehensive first aid kits. North American Rescue is a reputable site with this style of kit, and many of their items are also available on amazon.
the training is fast and easy, free, and can prepare you for a life saving situation.
I play beer league hockey, and a few months back, a wild puck bounce to the face ended up causing a pretty severe cut and bleeding from the nose/eye area. No one could easily find a first aid kit and they only managed to get the bleeding slowed down with a towel from someone’s bag.
The very next day I bought an IFAK kit and some extra more basic supplies and tossed them into the bag I use to carry pucks on our bench. It’s bright yellow and labeled “STOP BLEED KIT”. I made it as clear as possible to easily direct anyone on the ice where to get it.
Few weeks later, my job offered free CPR/Trauma classes so I took those and became certified.
I’m just putting together a few more basic kits to throw in all my cars and such as well, I’m not even that old and I’ve rolled up on a few car accidents and had to help people out, including getting someone moved away from a flipped/burning car. Added fire extinguishers in the vehicles too.
I did the red cross first aid course a while back. I’m also planning to take a wilderness first aid course since I do solo hiking. I had some basic training in the military but needed an update since I’m close to people with medical conditions.
I have a few interesting personal stories:
Long time ago I worked in a restaurant and (long story short) accidentally inhaled some industrial soap and now have some permanent scar-tissue around my esophagus. Though out my life now I’ve had several choking incidents where I get things caught in my throat (due to that scar tissue).. so I have to be a much more careful chewer,. .but sometimes I just get excited about food and I forget to chew carefully. It’s a constant reminder to me that I could literally “choke to death alone in my apartment” and nobody would find me for days probably.
Back when Covid19 hit in early 2020,. I was one of the early severe cases. I unknowingly caught it in early March and we all started isolating at home around that March 13th. I started to feel like I had the flu but the symptoms kept kind of “spiraling around”. At first it was flu symptoms. Then I had black diarrhea for about a week. Then lots of muscle cramps and cold sweats. It was about this time (about 2 weeks into the sickness) that it started dawning on me that it “wasnt’ just the flu”. Long story short, I eventually called the Ambulance on myself and quickly emailed my boss my work-passwords, left my apartment unlocked (Cat) and left keys on my kitchen counter. Thankfully for me, I have a lot of supportive friends and everyone immediately dived in to take my Cat and my Car and hold my apartment keys, check my mail etc. I was in Hospital for a total of 38 days (16 in ICU on a ventilator). But the whole thing really reinforced to me how risky it is to live alone. If I have some accident ,. .my Cat isn’t going to save me.
I have a new job and a new apartment now.. and my new job doubled my pay.. so for the first time in my life I finally have the closets and money to stock up on things I never before had (never had a kitchen pantry, never had a bathroom storage closet, never had enough money for a Pelican case in my car-trunk full of rescue supplies, etc. Now I’m starting to build all those things. It’s weird as a 50-something male to stop at my Bathroom closet and just open the door and marvel that I have basic things like a supply of toilet paper, First Aid items and even just a stack of 2 or 3 towels.
What’s ironic is I now live in an area (Portland Oregon) that’s obviously (in theory) more earthquake risk,. and I live on 10th floor of an apartment building. So I’m not sure how much any of those “supplies” will help me if “the big one” hits. .. but it’s fun even having the option to “be prepared” whereas in previous decades of my life, I was so poor and apartments so small I never had the option to do any of this.
I’m thankful for my wife in these situations. Accidentally stabbed myself in the meaty part between my thumb and pointer finger. ran to the sink to rinse it out because that’s all I know to do lol, called her over and she immediately said we’re going to ER and wrapped it up with a towel and had me keep pressure on it. For some reason the thought of ER didn’t even come up, not when I did the stabbing, not when I ran to the sink while squirting blood everywhere, not even when rinsing the cut and thinking whoa this one is bad this time looking down at a sink splattered in blood. I don’t know how I survived living alone for so long lol