Now Is A Good Time To Talk About Trauma Kits

They’re right. And in this Twitter thread, they explain what you need:

  1. “First, you want a tourniquet. Soft-t is one of the best. Swat tourniquets are light, but less bombproof. Costs about $20. Take that shit out of the box and practice with it. The point of a tourniquet is not to stop the bleeding, but to reduce the diastolic pressure in the artery downstream of the wound. Nowadays, medics give em thumbs up. Can be on for up to 6 hours, lower chance of amputation necessary.” [Here’s a less expensive tourniquet]
  2. “Next: a modern hemostatic agent. Quikclot gauze or Israeli bandage. These *only* help stop bleeding. Israeli bandages are not tourniquets. They don’t apply anywhere near enough pressure to occlude the blood vessel. Rule of thumb: bright pulsing jets of blood? Tourniquet. Anything else: a hemostatic agent. Together, these two things fit in the palm of a hand and cost about $40. Pull the Israeli bandage out of its shrink wrap and practice with it. Put it in a sandwich bag.”
  3. “Next two things: gauze and tape. These are cheap as hell too. Don’t go wild. Gauze and tape isn’t there to make bandages. They’re for gushing wounds a tourniquet can’t reach: neck, torso, etc. You *pack* the gauze in there, tape it as tight as you can. Practice this. All total you should now have something that fits in one hand, costs about $60, and prevents bleeding out.”

“This is pretty much all you can and should have as a trauma kit without getting a certification through accredited training. Anything else is stuff you do *not* want to be fucking with under high stress without hands-on training. This is stuff you can practice with at home, learn exactly how it works, and use even without courses. Also, it’s cheap. It won’t help with *every* terrible injury. But unless you’re a fully-stocked and trained EMT, you’re not gonna be able to anyway. What this will do, is help with massive bleeding. The ABC’s require skill and training, not stuff.

“Extra stuff that can come in handy: a survival blanket to help with shock. Even this requires knowing how to use one properly. Exam gloves protect the patient from you. Get sturdy nitrile gloves that’ll protect you from *them*. Between this handful of stuff and a basic course in first aid, you’re about as ready to save a life as you can be. This will hopefully keep someone alive til actual help comes. And it costs a hell of a lot less than a gun.

“A decent, non-paranoid trauma kit costs about $80, fits inside a sandwich bag, and could save a life. Anything else requires actual training, and if you don’t have that why the fuck are you carrying it. Statistically, most Americans live in cities, less than 15 miles from work. Odds are, medical attention will arrive fast. Odds are, just stopping bleeding as much as possible will keep a person alive til they do, even with minimal training. Anything else is pretty much out of your hands until actual help arrives, unless your job *is* that actual help.

“It’s a hell of a lot cheaper than a gun, takes a fuckton less time than learning how to use a gun, and isn’t intended to kill people. Spend that extra time and money on such as donating to charities or whatever. Two birds, one stone. This is the cheapest, laziest way to increase the odds of someone surviving yet another American mass shooting.”

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Oh, and pookleblinky has some more gear recommendations too:


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