Re: [Philmont]: Gear Check

Dr. Bob Klein says "this is no place to go minimalist. A proper first
aid kit is basic Health and Safety. "You Never Know". There are far
better (and less critical) places to cut weight."

I completely agree. I teach Red Cross Wilderness First Aid Basics for
our council, and one of the things we emphasize is to focus on things
that you can't readily improvise in the wilderness. For example,
sterile bandages are not something you can just create out of dirty
bandanas - those of you who ran out of sterile gauze treating
nosebleeds probably didn't have nearly enough in the first place. Even
in a place like Philmont where help isn't *that* far away you've still
got the potential of having to control bleeding for several hours, and
if you had someone take a fall down some rocks and get scraped up
pretty well you'd be in trouble. Splints on the other hand are
probably not something you need to carry as long as you've got packs
(use the frames or stays) or better yet Thermarest pads - these make
dandy splints if you secure them in place and then inflate.

Of course, the one thing more important than first aid supplies is
first aid knowledge - I'm making my entire crew for '05 take
Wilderness First Aid as well as Standard First Aid and CPR. The extra
knowledge doesn't weigh a thing.

-- 
T.W. Cook - SM Troop 151 - Georgetown, Texas
http://www.troop151.org
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