Trail Safety - Bee Stings and Band Aids

 Your tires and bodywork aren’t the only thing that can get a little scuffed up or punctured on the trail, so can your hide. Riders often put a huge amount of thought and effort into selecting the right wheels, skid plates, and all manner of parts for their machine, but almost no effort into a first aid kit to patch up any medical emergency either they or a riding partner might encounter. Depending on where you ride, that can be anything from a broken bone, to snake bites, to bee stings. Should it happen far from any proper medical help the result can be very serious. Just like with the rest of your riding adventure, you had better be prepared. That got us thinking about some essential first aid tools you would want in any medical kit.

CUT & PASTE

There are plenty of pre-made first aid kits available ranging from the very basic couple of Band-Aids and tape, to mobile medical stations that would make any emergency room nurse proud. You don’t really need the tools to perform a trail-side appendectomy, but you definitely don’t want to skimp either. And don’t settle for a hand-me-down or garage sale find medical kit. Some of the stuff has expiration dates, bottles leak, and heat is hard on drugs and bandages. A good medical kit for off-road adventures should have the following.

LATEX GLOVES

• Include several pairs of latex gloves in your medical kit. This is both for your protection, and to prevent any contamination of a wound.

• Hand Sanitizer

TOOLS of the TRADE

• Tweezers

• Sterile needles for splinter removal

• Safety Pins (Diaper Pins)

• Emergency First-Aid Manual

• Suction Bulb or Syringe

• Thermometer – preferably digital

• Sterile Scalpel Blade or Razor Blade

• Scissors

• Penlight – Can be used to check pupils or to check wound

WOUND CLEANING

• Hydrogen Peroxide 

• Wound cleansing fluid such as Povidone-Iodine. Antiseptic for treatment of cuts, burns, abrasions and blisters.

• Alcohol wipes

• Small brush or new tooth brush

• Gauze pads for wiping injury

WOUND DRESSING OINTMENTS & KITS

• First Aid Cream

• Neosporin

• Triple Antibiotic ointment

• Burn Gel ointment with Pain reliever

• Hydrocortisone (for bee stings)

• Calamine Lotion

• After-Bite ointment for insect bites or stings

• Benadryl tablets for itching or swelling

• Tube of Povidone iodine ointment

• Small bottle of liquid soap for cleaning area 
  

  

• Snake Bite Kit (in some regions)

• Toothache Kit

WOUND DRESSING BANDAGES

• Plenty of Band-Aids of various sizes

• Gauze dressing pads of various sizes – 4x4in, 2x2in, etc.

• Large triangular bandage for large wounds

• Gauze dressing roll

• ACE bandage

• Mole skin for blisters

• Flexible Medical tape roll

• Clean cloth for burn sheet on large burned areas. Must be kept clean and in a sealed bag

LARGE WOUNDS – FRACTURES

• Splints

• SAM Splint flexible foam splint.

• Tourniquet

• Safety Pins / Diaper Pins
  

• Duct Tape

  

• Zip Ties

PAIN RELIEF & SWELLING

• Instant Cold Packs

• Instant Heat Packs

• Aspirin - For Pain, Fever, Inflammation

• Ibuprofen - For Pain, Fever, Inflammation (Advil)

• Naproxin - For Pain, Fever, Inflammation (Aleve)

• Benadryl - For itching or swelling

OTHER TRAIL ISSUES

• Imodium

• Anti-Diarrhea tablets

• Cough and Cold tablets

• Sun Block

• Chapstick

• Any prescription medications

FOR ANAPHYLACTIC SHOCK (for those allergic go bee stings)

• Epinephrine - EpiPen or Twinject

When assembling your own medical kit it’s important to label everything clearly and in containers of similar items. Usually that would be a clear, plastic bag. Make sure each bag is sealed, and install everything in a durable, water resistant container that will hold up to trail abuse. There is an easier way to obtain an excellent medical kit however.

CHINOOK to the RESCUE

We’ve been riding with a kit from Chinook Medical and it’s got everything for an off-road adventure mishap and then some. Called the “Home & Vehicle” kit, Chinook developed this kit to cover exactly the type of medical situation ATV and Side x Side riders might find themselves in. It’s far beyond the basics, with everything from EMT shears, a tourniquet, thermometer, QuikClot, Band Aids, various ointments, and even a CPR breathing device. Let’s face it, they might be riding buddies, but the lip to lip action of CPR is less than appealing in some cases. With the Chinook kit that is not a problem, and everything in the kit is neatly wrapped, plainly labeled, and held in a super durable, water resistant nylon bag. You can even get it with a sealed hard case. Chinook really thought of everything with this kit, and they’ve got plenty of other kits available too.

Medical kits are really the insurance policy for the trail. The best thing you could have along for the ride is someone with a formidable bit of medical knowledge, and the ability to think under pressure along with a properly stocked kit. More than likely though it will be just you and your riding buddies, or you could marry a nurse like one of our buddies did! Choose wisely and ride safely.

www.chinookmed.com 

Toll-Free: 1-800-766-1365