My most popular first aid supply of the year!

 

The envelope please. 

And the winner is… <drum roll>

Wait!  Who am I kidding?  There’s no such thing as a “popular” first aid supply.  In fact, first aid supplies are decidedly unpopular.  I can’t recall a single time I reached into my first aid kit and produced something a patient actually wanted to see.  Burns, cuts, scrapes, and stings, the patient always wants to be someplace else!

 

What Does it Mean to be Popular?

As summer draws to an end, I reevaluate and restock all my first aid kits.  I do this twice a year, in September and again after the New Year.  But the September evaluation is the most important.

September is the start of the academic year.  I volunteer at a nonprofit that takes urban youth into the outdoors.  So it is imperative that both my personal and group first aid kits are well stocked.

Besides restocking spent and expired items, I make decisions about which first aid supplies to discard and what to add to my kits.  During this process I note the supplies I use most often.  In other words, the supplies that are most popular!

 

This Year’s Surprise Winner

Often, the winners are BAND-AIDS of various sizes.  Minor cuts and scratches are the most common injuries I see on the trail.  But not this year.  I added a new item to my kits in January and it was by far the most in-demand this summer.  The winner is…

 

 

I didn’t carry sting relief wipes before the start of this year.  I considered them too “specialized.”   I prefer to cart around first aid supplies that have many uses.  But the sting relief wipes immediately proved their worth.

The single-use wipes contain Lidocaine (2.0%), a topical analgesic that helps reduce the pain of insect bites and stings.  The wipes also contain Ethyl alcohol (50%), which acts as an antiseptic.  The combination of the two provides temporary relief from pain and itching.  It has the added benefit of reducing the urge to scratch and cause secondary infection.

You still need to carry antihistamine in case of an allergic reaction to the bite or sting.  The wipes are for run-of-the-mill bug bites, not anaphylaxis.

The wipes are small (1.125” x 2.75”) and come packed individually in small foil packets.  They easily fit into my first aid kits.

 

Ouch!

Insect bites and bee stings are no fun.  But if you’re an urban youth who has never been hiking, they are especially painful and frightening.  Children have a lower tolerance for pain than adults.  And kids unfamiliar with the outdoors haven’t learned the difference between a horsefly bite and a mountain lion chomp.  You can’t tell a scared child to “tough it out.”  You just can’t.  It doesn’t work.

The wipes accomplish several things at once.  The Lidocaine dulls the pain and the alcohol creates a cool pleasant sensation on the skin.  Seeing me take immediate action calms the child.  It’s more psychology than chemistry. 

I’ve learned that wiping an area of skin will even cure the bite of araneae mysterium.  This is a bug or spider (I’m not sure which) the size of a jumbo jet.  Its bite is excruciating yet leaves no evidence on the skin whatsoever.  Look as I might I can find no indication that the child has been bitten or stung.  The child dismisses my suggestion that he/she was simply brushed by a tree branch.  One quick wipe and the distress is gone.

 

It Works!

I don’t mean to belittle the efficacy of these wipes.  I treated two severe hornet or wasp stings this summer.  In each case, the wipes reduced the patients’ pain (they were both adults).  It allowed them to enjoy the rest of the day’s activity.  Although in both cases they approached me just over an hour later to request another wipe.  The pain relief has its limits.  Because of these incidents I carry three wipes in my first aid kits.  I can use two for a serious bite or sting and still have another in reserve.

 

Maintenance

Like most first-aid supplies, the sting relief wipes have an expiration date.  So if you carry them in your kit, you will need to add them to your list of perishable supplies that need to be changed-out regularly.  The dates on the ones I have are two years from when I received them.

 

My Question to You

What is your “most popular” first aid supply?  Let me know in the comments below.

 

More First Aid on NatureOutside

Wilderness First Aid and the Duty of Care to Yourself

Maxpedition Individual First Aid Pouch

Have You Refreshed Your Kit?

 

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