EMS Gear Tips: Know The Basics Of First Aid!

Nearly ALL medical teams use a simple little Acronym that you too can use right in your home. It’s called the ABC's if first aid care. There are also two subcategories for the ABC's - responsive and unresponsive patients. The A stands for Airway. If there is an unconscious patient the first priority is the airway and blockage usually concludes of things such as tongue, vomit or a foreign body or object. At a basic level, the airway can be opened simply by manual movement of the head using various techniques such as the head tilt or chin lift. The B stands for Breathing.

After the patients airway is opened, you need to make sure they are breathing. Usually breath rates are between 12 and 30 breath per minute. One of the things to consider if the patient is not breathing is to try CPR or other protocols depending on the person who is doing the rescuing. If the person is breathing, they should then be placed in a recovery position (lateral recumbent position), and you should wait with them until help comes. The last letter in our acronym stands for Circulation, it's important to make sure you observe the color of the patient’s hands and fingers.

It's also important that you do regular pulse checks on the patient and assess regularity and strength! There is also another acronym for responders in defibrillation called ABCD and in the UK they use this acronym as well, but theirs is AcBCDEEEFG for patient assessment. To find first aid kids, emergency medical supplies, EMT supplies and EMS gear please visit www.DixieEMS.com Read More!

What Preventive Measures Can I Do To Keep My Child From Choking?

Every single year over 3,000 people die from choking incidents - most of which are children. A lot of children also choke on one specific food - hot dogs. This is an incredibly scary statistic, I know because I have totally been there and it is frightening. So how exactly can you lower this rate, especially when it comes to your own children? First and foremost I think as a parent it's important that you have some knowledge about CPR. In fact, you should go take a class or two and at least learn the basics.

This could ultimately save your child's life, but if you don't know how to do CPR correctly you could also end up hurting them as well! It's also important to have some emergency medical supplies in your home such as a first aid kit or manual. The manuals are nice because you can learn HOW to get something out of the windpipe correctly. Some of these manuals are like Airplane manuals, they show you directions plus illustrations which are always helpful! The next thing you can do to keep your child from choking, is to cut up their food in small pieces - especially hot dogs.

In fact, it's probably a good idea if you don't let them have this food until they are a little older. Also, be sure to follow warning labels on toys and other household products such as; keep this and all small parts away from children 3 and under. And PLEASE keep ALL plastic bags away from ALL children. I cannot tell you how many times I've been out in a store and have seen a parent LET a child have a plastic bag and my heart just sinks. This is not safe nor will it ever be safe for a child! To find some of the best quality EMS gear and EMT supplies, please visit our website at www.DixieEMS.com Read More!

Where Should I Keep My First Aid Kit And EMS Gear?

When it comes to any home or any business, I really think that every single person should have a first aid kit in their vicinity. If possible, and you are a business, I would even go as far as suggesting that you have several different first aid kits on each of the floors of the building. You never know when one of these can come in hand. Whether you work as a professional in a building pushing papers all day long or you work as a Chef cutting food and cooking food all day - accidents do happen. As for where to store these kits, it really depends on how big the vicinity is.

If it's a small house you could get away with having one in the bathroom and one in the garage. If it's an office building, you should have at least one on every floor, but again, if at all possible on the north and south sides of the building or the east and west sides of the building. The important thing is to keep it in a centralized location that anyone will be able to use any time they need to use it. By the way you can also keep these kits in other places as well besides your home and or office such as your car, in a schoolhouse classroom, bathrooms, on a boat or other water vehicle or in a boat house, in a workshop and on a school playground.

While you can only go so far concerning these kits and what they can do, most small home and office accidents can be aided to with these kits. To see some of our EMS gear, EMT supplies and emergency medical supplies including First Aid Kits, please take a look at www.DixieEMS.com Read More!

EMS Gear Tips: What Items Should You Have In Your First Aid Kit?

This seems to be one of the most important questions when it comes to first aid kits in both the home and the office. Regular kits often come in durable plastic boxes, fabric pouches or in wall mounted consoles. The kind of container will vary depending on purpose. Most first aid kits will come with things such as band-aids, bandages, tweezers, gloves, adhesive tape, antiseptic, gauze pads, and saline. But again, dependent on what kind of a kit you get, different items will be included. For example, in a First Responder First Aid Kits this is going to include pretty much everything and anything you could need in an emergency situation.

These ones are commonly used for emergency organizations and people when it comes to EMS gear and EMT supplies. It's going to include every kind of emergency medical supplies you can think of from a penlight and a bite stick to splits and belt cutters. On the other hand, you might find a specialized or custom kit that would be perfect for homes with children, offices in danger zones such as wildfires or earth quakes, pet first aid kits, fanny pack kits for those times you are away from home such as on a hike or on vacation somewhere and even a sports kit designed for athletic applications.

Personally, I think every home and every business should have at least ONE basic first aid kit. But more specifically if you are in a profession where you do have a lot of accidents that happen, it's really important you have more than a basic kit and that you have more than one available. Also, make sure you always refill these kits when necessary! Read More!