Nona Backpacker

Backpacking First Aid

Posted by Fico , Saturday, June 23, 2007 6:50 PM

Since i were young i kind of wonder why my parent took days to prepare a journey to mountain or to national park in my province, at least a day before. There's so much to be pack beside clean clothes.
All we want is perfect holidays. Being sick or injured not in our plan.
But in case that's happened we should prepare some additional for our journey.. just in case !

Having some basic first aid knowledge is a skill every backpacker needs. Being outside and in the wilderness environment requires the need for basic first aid skills because anything can happen. You will likely be miles away from any help and need to be able to handle emergencies when they arrive on your own.

You need to assemble a first aid kit. You'll pack this as part of your essential gear. It should prepare you for almost any situation and allow you to handle emergencies until help arrives. Here is what should be in it:

* Band aids of different shapes and sizes
* Antibiotic ointment
* Hydrocortisone cream
* Moleskin
* Alcohol pads
* Ace bandages
* Hand sanitizer
* Gauze pads
* First aid tape
* Cold pack
* Powered energy drink (If you were to get stranded it can be used to help keep your energy up)

Here are some basic points of first aid that you should familiarize yourself with:

- Prevention. You should understand what you can do to prevent accidents. This will go a long way to helping keep you safe on the trail. You should always make sure your equipment is in good shape. You also need to wear protective gear. Have a good plan for your backpacking trip and tell someone about it so they can be aware if you should become missing. You should learn about poisonous plants so you know what to avoid. You should also learn about basic survival skills.

- Keep all supplies sanitary. This includes trying to clean hands as best as possible before treating a wound or injury. Bacteria grows quickly and once it is introduced to an injury things can get worse quickly.

- Use only what you need and refill your kit before every trip. You do not want to use all the bandages on a small cut that doesn't really need them and then later when you really need one they are gone. Additionally, you do not want to let your kit run low on supplies. Not having what you need is almost as bad as not having a kit at all.

While getting your kit in order and reading over the above advice is a good start, you should also take a first aid course to brush up on the basics, so if you should ever need them you know them.

For a check complete list what you might need on your journey (depend on your destination and length of traveling) you might should check this website :
http://www.21stcenturyadventures.com/advice/lists/backpackingFirstAidChecklist.html

Its printable !