Building up an FAK as a WFR

[admin]

Hey guys,
This semester in college i have had the luck of enrolling in a Wilderness First Responder course at my college. The more in depth we get into this class, the more I feel naked without a more comprehensive FAK. Infact I was out both my FAK’s because i had lent my sister my gear for hiking and wanted to make sure she had decent stuff (shes a novice). Anyways, just the lack of having gloves on my person (the most basic necessary need of BSI) was having me bugging, so i put together a decent FAK in a case that now is residing in my bag.

Current Contents:
5×9 trauma pad
various gauze pads – 4×4, 3×4, 3×3, 2×2
gauze rolls
bandaids (not many, i consider them pretty useless)
ace bandage
2 traingular bandages
various meds – antihistamine, tylenol, ibuprofen, 1-2 doses of cough/cold meds
couple of cough drops
small package of q-tips
tweezers
small scissors
small SAK – never used
med tape
alchohol and antiseptic wipes
butterfly bandages
probably some more stuff snuggled in

What i will probably add:
small bic lighter
another 5×9
sharpie (R, Blk, Slv)
chem stick
sam splint
small notebook

right now its in a crappy first aid kit bag – however i got it for $6 and it was pretty decent for the price, although threw away most of the innards like the 8 million bandaids that i find i don’t ever need or use, and plus cheap bandaids are crap.

any suggestions though? 90% of the time I’m in an urban environment, and pretty close to a hospital. however with my new training, i can’t help but want to have my gear with me so if a situation arises i can be ready. If i was going into the woods i would probably alter my gear a bit, and add in my heatsheet, etc. Also I am planning on putting together a much more trauma related kit for the winter time, because i end up on the highway a fair amount of the time, and im up north, so in the wintertime, there can literally be dozens of accidents, and i want to be ready to respond. So i guess thats part II, winter time emergency kit to help respond to traumas. and where do you guys get your FAK supples for cheap?

Thanks, Stay Frosty,
JohnG.

[Author]

Posts