The Complete First Aid Kit, $39
Phoenix-Lazerus, Inc.
www.completefirstaid.net, 888-788-6684
The Complete First Aid Kit comes in a dustproof, hard plastic case. All ingredients are cleverly bundled by item into clearly marked playing-card-sized cardboard boxes and sealed in clear plastic, making each group of components separately waterproof until opened.
Wound care is addressed with its assortment of adhesive bandages, gauze packets, a small elastic bandage, and a paper triangular bandage that unfortunately ripped when I used it to fashion a sling for Len’s arm. Burn cream, antibiotic ointment, and a medium-duty cold compress round out its ability to treat minor injuries. The real bonus of this kit is the Save-a-Tooth, a small jar of solution that can preserve a knocked out tooth for up to 24 hours—compared with a tooth’s 60-minute life expectancy if otherwise left out of socket. This could save you thousands of dollars in bridgework or implants while you locate a dentist to re-implant the tooth. If your tooth does get knocked out, don’t scrub it or handle it by the root. Rinse it with drinking water, place it in Save-a-Tooth (that you’re now going to buy), and head for civilization.
This kit contained little to address sick-call issues; only some non-aspirin pain reliever and sting relief pads. It did contain a Mylar emergency blanket, but it was barely large enough to wrap around my shoulders and it isn’t suitable for building a shelter (as advertised). In the life-saving category, the kit contains a CPR mask, but this technique has become almost obsolete now that the American Heart Association is teaching chest-compression-only CPR.
Having said this, I did actually purchase this kit for my non-medical sister and her hockey-playing troop of kids to keep in their SUV. This is a solid “soccer mom” kit.
Pros:
Contents are completely water proof until opened
Clearly labeled contents are quick to identify and inventory
Contains the Save-a-Tooth
Cons:
No sick-call medications
No gear for life threatening emergencies