A first aid kit is an essential part of your hill walking equipment. Completing an Outdoor First Aid course will develop your skill set and confidence but you still need to pack the right kit. Tailoring your standard first aid kit to suit the outdoors requires some additions whilst considering bulk and versatility. These are our top five hiking first aid kit must haves.
Dressings
Extra non-adhesive dressings – ideal for treating blisters, these dressings can be cut to whatever size you need.
Tape
Good abrasion resistant and moisture tolerant tape – to be used with the non-adhesive dressings for treating a wide range of ailments but especially good for blisters. Tape allows you to remove and replace dressings as required without irritating the blister.
Tick remover
Tick removal tool – whilst some areas are more prone to ticks than others it’s always worthwhile keeping this bit of kit handy. Ticks require careful handling and a tick removal tool enables you to remove the tick without squeezing.
Shelter
Our next hiking first aid kit essential is an emergency/casualty shelter – a must have whenever you are heading out into the hills, even if the weather looks beautiful. Light and bright, an emergency shelter can keep you warm and dry whether you’re sheltering from the elements, during lunch (!) or keeping a casualty comfortable.
Aspirin
1 x 300mg aspirin tablet – where you have a casualty with a suspected heart attack, and they are over 16 with no known aspirin allergy, you can get them to chew 1 tablet slowly. This helps ‘thin’ the blood and reduce the formation of blood clots while you wait for help to arrive.
If you’d like to develop your first aid knowledge, or practice your navigation skills to wander the hills, then why not join us in Mid-Wales to develop your First Aid or Navigation skills with professional and friendly tuition.