It goes without saying that a bag full of first aid equipment can't help you on its own. And probably everyone agrees with this banal wisdom. But let's be honest: on a scale of 1 to 10, how high or how good do you rate your first aid knowledge?
The writer of this Gear of the Week is honest - and gives himself a 4 (out of 10) despite regular training (but unfortunately there are few things I forget so quickly). That is borderline weak when it comes to making the right decisions under time pressure in a life or death emergency. In this respect, this is the limitation for this ingenious and actually morally necessary product: a first aid bag with useful contents.
The critical examination of pre-packed first aid bags, which are also available from various outdoor providers, shows that this is not a matter of course: The main thing is that the bag is full and somehow makes a medical impression. Scissors that don't cut well, plasters that don't stick properly and the usual awful gauze bandages that you can't do much with in an emergency, but which look an awful lot like first aid.
But there are exceptions! Outdoorschule Süd - which offers highly recommended first aid training under real conditions(!) - has filled this useful first aid pack for Tatonka. All contents have been carefully selected according to emergency medical aspects and everything inside is consistently functional and of high quality. Of course, you can tell by the price: depending on the size and filling of the first aid bag, they cost between 40 and over 90 euros.
The bag is Gear of the Week because I've had it for a long time and it has served me well on the few occasions I've used it. The bag keeps the contents dry for a long time for normal winter use and therefore protects the first aid materials well.
The contents of the outdoor first aid bag
Example of the Advanced model
1 x large dressing pack, non-adhesive compress, 1 x medium dressing pack, non-adhesive compress, 1 x 60 x 80 cm dressing cloth, 1 x 8 cm medium-stretch bandage, 5 x SAN wound compress 10 x 10 cm, non-adhesive, 1 x triangular cloth (viscose), 1 x 30 x 15 cm fixation plaster, 1 x Hansaplast wound plaster 50 x 6 cm, 1 x roll of sports tape 10 m x 2.5 cm, 5 x Compeed blister plasters, 10 x alcohol swabs, 1 x splinter tweezers 9 cm, 1 x pair of straight dressing scissors, pointed/blunt, 3 pairs of vinyl gloves, 1 x flexible clinical thermometer NexTemp, 1 x SAM splint splint, 1 x rescue blanket 160 x 210 cm, 1 x first aid outdoor cheat sheet, 1 x checklist
If you are going on long tours and are traveling in regions beyond the 112-air-rescue-comes-immediately, you must of course adapt the contents of the bag to your individual needs (pre-existing conditions, etc.) and the respective tour destination. But even for such regions, the first aid bag is a useful basic kit.
Alternatively, you can put together your own bag with the materials shown here, but this is likely to be more expensive.
However, the restriction at the beginning remains: a capable first aider is likely to be able to do more useful things with a bag full of first aid junk than a totally overwhelmed fellow rescuer who doesn't know what to do with the high-quality first aid material. So, get together and hire a competent instructor and "sacrifice" a day for a first aid course in the snow. It's not expensive, but it's certainly instructive. And if you really can make the right decisions in a life-threatening situation, then it will have more than paid off.
