View Full Version : 1st Aid Refills
HooKooDooKu
01-30-2014, 02:23
Any suggestions on obtaining 1st Aid Refills?
Medications are simple. Just buy regular stuff at WalMart and put small quantities in your 1st Aid kit using pill pouches (3" wide ziplock) from the local pharmacy (CVS).
But when it comes to things like wound wipes, Antibiotic Ointments, burn gels, and sting relief, I'm having a lot more difficulty.
Seems like several online camp stores (REI, Campmor, Campsaver) all carry some of these things (but shipping becomes relatively expensive if you don't need to buy some additional stuff and get free shipping).
A place like Zee (supplies 1st Aid to many businesses and industries) seems to have EVERYTHING, but because they are targeted more toward institutional uses, you can't find stuff in say 5 or 10 packs like you need for a personal 1st aid kit.
So where do you get your 1st Aid refills?
Have you considered using a bounce box?
nastynate
01-30-2014, 06:08
Use a straw.
http://briangreen.net/2011/07/diy-single-use-antibiotic-packs.html
Rocket Jones
01-30-2014, 06:59
Try Minimus.biz (http://www.minimus.biz/).
all you need is toilet paper and duct tape, that will fix any cuts. anything worse than a cut you go to town, but thats what i have always done. as the saying goes,
hyoh
hikerboy57
01-30-2014, 09:05
small tubes of neosporin are available in almost any drug store.
I get almost all of it free in hiker boxes. Because of packaging norms, hikers end up with 10 times more of that stuff than they are willing to carry.
I've purchased Dynarex adhesive band-aids of various sizes at several different online first aid suppliers. Dynarex is the brand of bandages you typically see in some of these small First Aid kits sold at REI, Campmor, Campsaver under the brand name "Adventure Medical". There's almost always a Dollar General store in every trail town, they carry a lot of inexpensive first aid supplies.
You don't need to carry much of this with you, as others have said. Check out Adventue Medical's wound management kit. I have a sealed one in my canoe FAK along with the burn kit they make. Don't open it until you need it so it stays sterile. You can put a few bandaids and gauze pads in your pill pouches so they say clean and dry. Look for neosporin in the tiny one use packets like they put in kits-one or two should do-or use the straw method. You might find a kit resupply pack at REI that will fill your needs-no need to buy the whole thing. One heavy weight thing that has a place in my light kit is the small neosporin to go spray because I like that my hands don't contaminate the wound. +1 on minimus for lots of stuff and free shipping over $20.
HooKooDooKu
01-30-2014, 14:26
Have you considered using a bounce box?
? Explain
Use a straw.
http://briangreen.net/2011/07/diy-single-use-antibiotic-packs.html
Great idea! Looks to be more bulky that the foil packets, but then if it was a perfect idea, everyone would be doing it.
all you need is toilet paper and duct tape, that will fix any cuts.
I'll respectfully disagree. I at least want some antibiotic ointment to reduce the chance of infection. Additionally, the most frequent time I need a bandaid is due to a minor fall that gets dirt into the wound. So I like the convenience of single use wound wipes to clean up the dirt. (but yea, that all hyoh)
small tubes of neosporin are available in almost any drug store.
Even a small tube of neosporin would be too big. I carry a small amount of a bunch of stuff (antibiotic, anti-itch, burn gel, sting gel, etc). A whole tube would just swamp my 1st aid kit. Neosporin sells boxes of single use foil packets, but they apparently don't sell very well and all the local drug stores stopped carrying it.
I get almost all of it free in hiker boxes. Because of packaging norms, hikers end up with 10 times more of that stuff than they are willing to carry.
Won't be by any hiker boxes any time soon. I'm just a weekend hiker, and I'm getting my 1st aid kit ready for a hiking trip with my boys in the Grand Canyon.
Check out Adventue Medical's wound management kit. ... You might find a kit resupply pack at REI that will fill your needs-no need to buy the whole thing...
I've already got my kit. But now that it's the start of a new season, it's time to get it ready for the new year. That means I need to refill stuff that was used last year and didn't get around to refilling, throw out stuff that is expired (or about to expire), and just replace stuff that's been in there for a while.
REI carries the antibiotic ointment for only $4, but the shipping is $6. I wouldn't mind the shipping fee if I could buy ALL my replacements at REI, but they don't carry all of the other things (leaving me to go somewhere else and pay additional shipping fees).
If using resupplies the only refills I sent were Advil and band aids. I hardly used any neosporin but that can be replaced in towns.
a bounce box is a package that gets "bounced up the trail" town to town with extra supplies such as guidebook sections and batteries.
One note about using bounce boxes. If you ship it flat rate priority mail and don't "accept" it at the post office, you can have them send it further up the trail at no further cost.
HooKooDooKu
01-30-2014, 16:47
If using resupplies the only refills I sent were Advil and band aids. I hardly used any neosporin but that can be replaced in towns.
a bounce box is a package that gets "bounced up the trail" town to town with extra supplies such as guidebook sections and batteries.
I guess I should have been more specific in my original post.
I'm not an AT thru hiker, so I'm not looking for ways to refill my 1st Aid Kit while on the trail. But I love the idea of a bounce box for things you might need to resupply yourself with that might not be available in town when you needed it.
My situation is that I already own a first aid kit. But some of the supplies in the kit are (or will soon be) expired or just have not been refilled since the last time it was used. So I need a source that allows me to refill/replace all of these supplies. I'm not finding them locally, and many online camping gear shops only carry SOME of the things I need.
Try Minimus.biz (http://www.minimus.biz/).
For today... this is my answer. While some of their stuff seems a little pricey, they did have everything I needed, plus a few extras I wasn't actually looking for (making it easy to get to their $20 minimum for free shipping).
The Old Boot
01-30-2014, 17:34
I found some really small plastic containers at the Dollar Store - well I found a whole bunch of different sized containers but for this purpose we'll stick to the small ones!
The smallest are about an 1" round and have a lid that is attached so it's not going to get lost. I fill them with sunscreen and zinc oxide ointment. There's enough sunscreen in there to last me a couple of weekends and then I just refill it from the big bottle.
I've also found individual wet wipes in boxes of 200 at W/M in the pharmacy dept. Individuallly packed alcohol wipes are also available IIRC.