This is a proposal to do a general refresh of our first aid supplies as well as add bleeding control kits to our space.
The $400 will be used as follows:
- Purchase 3 Bleeding Control Kits ($100 each, for a total of $300)
- Re-stock basics for our 3 First Aid Cabinets ($100, may be less)
I’ll explain these items starting from most expensive.
The “Bleeding Control Kits” will be a new addition to the first aid supplies in our space. These kits are separate from general first aid and are for handling catastrophic bleeding. This would include severe bleeding from arteries as well as the loss of a limb or other extremity.
My plan is to purchase three Bleeding Control Kits and install one in the Woodworking Area, one in the Metalworking Area, and one next to the main first aid station.
Going off advice put out by the ACS Committee on Trauma and some emergency medical folks I know, these kits will contain the following:
- Tourniquet (CAT or SOF-T)
- Hemostatic Gauze (QuikClot or Celox)
- Nitrile Gloves
- Permanent Marker
- Emergency/Compression Bandage (Emergency Bandage, OLEAS Modular Bandage, or NAR Emergency Trauma Dressing)
- Vented Chest Seals
- Trauma Shears
$300 should cover all three kits, probably less due to a sale currently going on. Since there is currently a sale on these supplies at some stores due to Stop The Bleed Month, I’m going purchasing these kits right away then taking the cost out of the budget later.
I’m OK with doing this purchase right away since I know of some orgs I can donate the supplies to if for whatever reason we decide that we do not need these kits.
After these kits arrive and are installed I intend to hold an informal training at some point on how to use the kits once it is safe to do so.
That said, if you want to get training on your own on how to handle traumatic bleeding I would recommend attending a Stop The Bleed training when you can (https://www.stopthebleed.org/).
The second part of this is refreshing our general first aid supplies in all three of our cabinets.
Currently the stock inside our cabinets is very inconsistent and has a lot of older items we might need to get rid of.
My current plan is as follows:
- Establish a basic list of supplies each kit should have (this will likely start from ANSI Class A first aid kit requirements and add from there).
- Take an inventory of what items we have to fulfill that basic list, and allocate them accordingly.
- Purchase whatever additional supplies are necessary to complete those basics.
- Add whatever additional supplies we want given the space we have left in the cabinets.
$100 should be good enough to fulfill this though I’m guessing we won’t use all of that.
After all the new first aid supplies are in place, we should also make a wiki page detailing the inventory as well as dates for maintenance and refresh.
Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this plan.
