Medical kit for hunting, biking, travel?

[Omega]

By the way, is there no VAT on emergency kit? I read here that medical equipment is exempt from VAT, but I am not a medical professional nor work in health related services:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/health-prof ... tice-70157
I want to buy RATS and Israeli bandages, but paying VAT and customs fee will make them more expensive and a hassle to import

[jansman]

Bleeding is a serious business if it happens isn’t it? However,I read of the prepper/survivalist emphasis on tourniquets. I don’t have one,but could improvise if needed. Why? Well as a butcher for over forty years ,I have seen and experienced some nasty injuries, and I really mean nasty. They’ve never needed a tourniquet though. A trauma bandage has dealt with the worst.

And what if a person does not have much training or forgets everything once injured? I recently watched videos of combat medics - they say they perform very badly when under combat stress, and these are people who were extensively trained and gained lots of practice. They stress the kit should be intuitive as there might be no time to think or improvise

Are you currently trained? I AM. And I’ll tell you that training makes one intuitive. I’ve stopped folks from bleeding,choking, dealt with seizures,unconsciousness and even a pregnant woman who went into labour after collapsing !

I will tell you too. Many ,many years ago I was a military man. We were taught basic trauma care. Believe me,when my sergeant was shot ,we adapted and improvised quickly and efficiently. Sadly he died,but a bullet in the face isn’t easy to deal with on a battlefield.

Training works.

[Whitetailprepper]

CAT7 are pretty standard for most and have been used all over mate. Don’t buy them off eBay.

[Omega]

Are you currently trained? I AM...
Training works.

I thought I cannot get free training, but it looks like I can https://www.redcross.org.uk/first-aid/b ... aid-course
https://www.sja.org.uk/what-we-do/our-w ... -workshop/

[jansman]

I paid for mine. Worth it.

[Mad Scientist]

An ex colleague of mine who grew up in India, told me that when he was a boy everybody carried a small knife (to cut fruit with), so they could eat while on the road and a handkerchief that functioned as a bandage. When out playing once he fell and cut his leg. He asked his friend to pass water on his cut (urine is a very good antiseptic) and they tied their hankies onto the leg as a bandage, then they hobbled home. This was common practice and worked quite well.

[jansman]

An ex colleague of mine who grew up in India, told me that when he was a boy everybody carried a small knife (to cut fruit with), so they could eat while on the road and a handkerchief that functioned as a bandage. When out playing once he fell and cut his leg. He asked his friend to pass water on his cut (urine is a very good antiseptic) and they tied their hankies onto the leg as a bandage, then they hobbled home. This was common practice and worked quite well.

I’d be a bit careful using urine to *clean* a wound:

https://www.theguardian.com/notesandque ... 73,00.html
https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/gory-d ... r-rest-you

There’s loads of information out there telling folks that we ( basically) don’t piss dettol!

And here’s another fact: I am currently on rather radical chemotherapy - not that *radical* is an issue,as all types of chemotherapy can leave the body and be *passed on*. Bodily fluids full stop. Amongst the reams of information given to me,this information was amongst it. Also, there are infections and illnesses that move from the body in the same way.

Just sayin…

[Frnc]

What is good is sphagnum moss, the moss that forms peat bogs. It has antibiotic properties. Commonly used in WW1. But now it's harder to find and is protected due to the fact that peat bogs are massive carbon sinks. Of course there is still lots of in in places like the Peak District. Just harder to find in south Manchester/Cheshire. Many of the places it used to exist are called 'something' Moss. Carrington Moss is currently under threat from development. There are still little bits left of these, often there are small nature reserves there.
Careful if you go on a peat bog though, people have got stuck and died of hypothermia. That said, I used to run over them, bit of a self-dare I guess, I was only a kid.

[jansman]

What is good is sphagnum moss, the moss that forms peat bogs. It has antibiotic properties. Commonly used in WW1. But now it's harder to find and is protected due to the fact that peat bogs are massive carbon sinks. Of course there is still lots of in in places like the Peak District. Just harder to find in south Manchester/Cheshire. Many of the places it used to exist are called 'something' Moss. Carrington Moss is currently under threat from development. There are still little bits left of these, often there are small nature reserves there.
Careful if you go on a peat bog though, people have got stuck and died of hypothermia. That said, I used to run over them, bit of a self-dare I guess, I was only a kid.

Whilst the above sphagnum moss HAS been used as the alternative to modern trauma bandages- and successfully in WW1 - it is hardly antiseptic:

https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/spo ... index.html

Granted,it has been used ‘en-masse’ as a dressing to stop bleeding- albeit 100+ years ago,well before antibiotics were invented,it cannot currently be found in *clean* places. Indeed,British waterways,where this moss can be found,are currently being highlighted because of raw sewage disposal within them.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ivers-leak

Also, peat bogs are being conserved ( by law) now for ecological reasons.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... n-plan.pdf

Reckon I’ll stick to sterile trauma bandages.

[Frnc]

What is good is sphagnum moss, the moss that forms peat bogs. It has antibiotic properties. Commonly used in WW1. But now it's harder to find and is protected due to the fact that peat bogs are massive carbon sinks. Of course there is still lots of in in places like the Peak District. Just harder to find in south Manchester/Cheshire. Many of the places it used to exist are called 'something' Moss. Carrington Moss is currently under threat from development. There are still little bits left of these, often there are small nature reserves there.
Careful if you go on a peat bog though, people have got stuck and died of hypothermia. That said, I used to run over them, bit of a self-dare I guess, I was only a kid.

Whilst the above sphagnum moss HAS been used as the alternative to modern trauma bandages- and successfully in WW1 - it is hardly antiseptic:

https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/spo ... index.html

Granted,it has been used ‘en-masse’ as a dressing to stop bleeding- albeit 100+ years ago,well before antibiotics were invented,it cannot currently be found in *clean* places. Indeed,British waterways,where this moss can be found,are currently being highlighted because of raw sewage disposal within them.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ivers-leak

Also, peat bogs are being conserved ( by law) now for ecological reasons.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... n-plan.pdf

Reckon I’ll stick to sterile trauma bandages.

Obviously you wouldn't want to use it if it was from anywhere that could be contaminated by sewage. Yes it is protected, but this is applicable to people buying 40kg bags for their gardens, not a handful in an emergency during TEOTWAWKI.
I hadn't heard of the fungus, article says it's common in garden soil, roses, sphagnum and hay. Not sure how significant that is.
Regarding it's properties. I've not done a lot of research but I found one paper that reckoned it worked through eliminating moisture, and one that said green sphagnum had strong antiseptic properties. This paper also said fruticose litchen has antibiotic properties.

The full paper is available (the other one I only saw a photo)
https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstrea ... sequence=1