Emergency kit

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DRAFT: not yet checked against the sources. When in doubt, ask a doctor or rescuers.

This is an emergency kit. It works without internet and without electricity.

First minutes

  1. Danger right now? Safety first: card "First minutes".
  2. Person not breathing: card "Cardiac arrest".
  3. Heavy bleeding: card "Severe bleeding".
  4. No clean water: "Water". Diarrhoea and heat: "Oral rehydration solution".
  5. Read the rest in order: most urgent first.

Do NOT

  • × Believe the kit replaces a doctor: it helps you survive until one arrives.
  • × Use doses that are not here or marked "draft" without checking them.

Next

If you found this page and you are not the owner: take it and use it, it is for everyone. A printable version is on the home page ("Print").

Source: written by the kit owner

First minutes: any emergency

DRAFT: not yet checked against the sources. When in doubt, ask a doctor or rescuers.

First minutes

  1. Stop, breathe. Look around: what threatens you right now (fire, water, collapse, electricity, weapons, vehicles).
  2. Your own safety first. Do not enter danger: a dead rescuer helps nobody.
  3. Check people. First those not breathing or bleeding heavily.
  4. Call for help. Point at one person: "You, in the red jacket, call an ambulance."
  5. No signal: send someone for help, remember the address and landmarks.
  6. Keep the injured warm, do not leave them alone, keep talking to them.
  7. Then: water, shelter, one-line message to family ("alive, here"), save phone battery.

Do NOT

  • × Run in panic into the unknown.
  • × Enter the danger zone for belongings.
  • × Move a person with a possible neck/back injury unless fire or water threatens them.
  • × Spread unverified rumours.

Next

Cards: severe bleeding, cardiac arrest, water. Local numbers and landmarks: place pack (in progress).

Source: general first-aid order (safety, assess, help); check against ERC Guidelines 2021, WHO, Red Cross

Severe bleeding

DRAFT: not yet checked against the sources. When in doubt, ask a doctor or rescuers.

First minutes

  1. Shout for help and call an ambulance. Put on gloves or plastic bags if you have them.
  2. Find the wound, cut or pull away clothing.
  3. Press hard on the wound with your hand through clean thick cloth or a dressing. Do not let go.
  4. Cloth soaked through: do not remove it, add more on top and press harder.
  5. Blood spurts, will not stop, or a limb is torn off: tourniquet on the arm/leg, 5-7 cm (2-3 in) above the wound, not on a joint.
  6. Tighten until bleeding stops. It hurts: that is normal. Write the time on skin or paper.
  7. Lay the person down, cover them, watch breathing. Stay until help arrives.

Do NOT

  • × Pull objects out of the wound: press around them and secure.
  • × Remove or loosen the tourniquet "to let blood through". Only a doctor does that.
  • × Make a tourniquet from thin rope, wire, a lace: use a wide band (belt, cloth) and a stick to twist.
  • × Release pressure to "check if it stopped".

Next

Hospital urgently; tell the doctor about the tourniquet and the time. An improvised tourniquet is weaker than a real one: it slips and may need re-tightening.

Source: Stop the Bleed (ACS) and ERC Guidelines 2021 First Aid; check the numbers (10 min, 5-7 cm / 2-3 in)

Cardiac arrest: adult not breathing

DRAFT: not yet checked against the sources. When in doubt, ask a doctor or rescuers.

First minutes

  1. Check safety. Shake the shoulders, ask loudly: "Can you hear me?"
  2. No answer: tilt the head back, lift the chin. Look at the chest for up to 10 seconds. Occasional gasps are not breathing.
  3. Not breathing normally: send someone to call an ambulance and fetch a defibrillator (AED). Alone: speakerphone and start.
  4. Hands stacked, centre of the chest, arms straight. Push 5-6 cm (2-2.4 in) deep, 100-120 per minute, let the chest rise fully.
  5. If you can give breaths: 30 compressions, 2 breaths of 1 second. If not: compressions only, no pauses.
  6. Defibrillator: switch it on and follow the voice. It is safe.
  7. Do not stop until the person breathes, help arrives, or you are exhausted. Swap every 2 minutes.

Do NOT

  • × Stop to look for a pulse.
  • × Fear of hurting them: without help they die; broken ribs are no reason to stop.
  • × Hit the chest, give water to drink, pour water on them.
  • × Waste time on mouth-to-mouth if you hesitate: compressions matter most.

Next

Tell the medics: when they collapsed, how long you pumped, whether an AED was used.

Source: ERC Guidelines 2021 Basic Life Support; check the numbers (5-6 cm, 100-120, 30:2). Children and infants: separate card (not written yet)

Water: make it safe to drink

DRAFT: not yet checked against the sources. When in doubt, ask a doctor or rescuers.

First minutes

  1. Cloudy water: let it settle, strain through thick clean cloth.
  2. Boil: rolling boil for 1 minute (above 2000 m / 6500 ft: 3 minutes).
  3. Cool in a closed clean container. Do not pour into a dirty one.
  4. No fire: water filter or purification tablets strictly per the package.
  5. Store closed, in clean containers. Sip, and drink more in heat.
  6. Water is short: drinking for you and children first, then cooking, then washing hands.

Do NOT

  • × Drink seawater or urine: it dehydrates faster.
  • × Drink flood or swamp water untreated.
  • × Assume boiling removes chemicals or fuel: it does not. Water smelling of chemicals or with a rainbow film is unfit.
  • × Drink from a bucket also used to wash hands or dishes.

Next

Dehydration drink for diarrhoea and heat: card "Oral rehydration solution". Water per person: "Stockpile" section (planned).

Source: CDC / WHO boiling guidance (1 min; 3 min above 2000 m); check. Chlorine and tablets: doses not given, need verification

Oral rehydration solution (diarrhoea, vomiting, heat)

DRAFT: not yet checked against the sources. When in doubt, ask a doctor or rescuers.

First minutes

  1. Take 1 litre of boiled and cooled (or clean bottled) water.
  2. Add 6 level teaspoons of sugar and 1/2 level teaspoon of salt. Stir.
  3. Taste: it should be only slightly salty, like tears. Never saltier.
  4. Drink in small sips, often. Vomiting: wait 10 minutes, then continue even more slowly.
  5. Keep covered; drink or discard within 24 hours.
  6. Keep drinking until thirst and dryness pass and urine is pale and frequent.

Do NOT

  • × Add more salt or sugar "for strength": dangerous.
  • × Give to babies or small children without a doctor.
  • × Replace it with soda or juice.
  • × Rely on it alone if: blood in stool, severe weakness, confusion, persistent fever. See a doctor.

Next

Return to normal food as soon as possible. Diarrhoea beyond 2 days or signs of severe dehydration: doctor.

Source: WHO home recipe: 6 level teaspoons sugar + 1/2 level teaspoon salt per 1 litre water; check. Not for infants without a doctor