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The Ultimate Overlanding First Aid Kit - What Do You Pack?

Sarah Castro

Sarah Castro

Active member
Hey everyone, I'm new here and kind of new to camping! What are your essentials for a well-stocked overlanding first aid kit? I want to make sure I'm prepared for anything on my upcoming trips this summer. I would greatly appreciate the help in putting together a well rounded first aid kit.

Thank you so much for the help.

Sarah
 
Besides your standard first aid kit, I add in more of some things because of where I am most of the time. Because most of my trips are desert, very good tweezers (eyebrow tweezers are best) for larger cactus thorns, Good masking tape for those real small thorns. I see more wounds from tripping in sharp rocks here then I do in the forest. Smashed fingers from stacking rocks on harder trails, finger splints and finger bandaids. Dehydration, electrolyte tablets. I have an inflatable neck brace also. I carry that because I came on a vehicle that rolled hard and the med guy in our group said it would be nice if we had one.
I also have 3 Israeli tourniquet's. Those in my opinion are a must and you need to learn how to use them.
Make sure your bandage wraps don't stick to blood. Found out that one when i cut myself real bad.
 
Thank you both! Now I was just looking up "3 Israeli tourniquet", is that like something military soldiers will use to put over a wound in the field?
 
yes.
The Israeli tourniquet is now more of a design type. Once you see what they look like, that's the type you want.
 
CAT tourniquets Generation 7 and SOFTT-W tourniquets Generation 4 are recommended by TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care). Data shows that these 2 tourniquets are far and away; more effective at stopping bleeding, with a very slight edge to the CAT tourniquet. When buying, buy tourniquets in pairs, as it's not uncommon to have to apply a second tourniquet in order to completely stop the bleeding. Take a first aid (or better yet, a Wilderness First Responder) course, so you know how to use everything, and it will also give you a better idea what supplies you need for different emergencies. MyMedic (https://mymedic.com) has some good, but pricy kits, usually with extra stuff that I end up pulling out. For off-roading and overlanding, put the most emphasis on bleeding control and the skills/knowledge to deal with airway issues. Beyond that, it's mostly comfort items like burn gel, band-aids for boo-boos, calamine lotion, etc.
 
Gen7 tourniquets
Israeli tourniquet
Here's two diffrent names of the same thing. You will notice their pretty much the same. This is the style I referred to.

As TominOregon pointed out. a good first aid class is a must. I have to keep up my first aid for my work and found most of the classes lacking. Again as tom pointed out, wilderness first aid classes seem to be better.
 
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