If you are reading this without having read the previous three posts on the topic of “How To Choose?” I suggest you read them, in order, so that this post makes sense. We are covering the fourth question, helping to determine which Wilderness Medical Systems kit is best for your particular needs.
How Will You Transport The Kit?
The importance of this question is obvious..you can’t carry a 20# kit on your back, for instance. However, by placing this question fourth on the list, we are attempting to have you consider the other three criteria first before getting to this one, turning upside down the usual way of selecting a first aid kit.
This Is Usually How It Happens
A common scenario is for a person to simply look at whatever space they have left (in backpack, suitcase or duffel) to fit a first aid kit into and to choose one that fits. No thought is given to whether it is adequate at all and what treatment capabilities are being lost. By “selecting” a kit in this way, you have unknowingly “chosen” not to handle certain illnesses or injuries, but you won’t know that until you try to handle something that you cannot. We are trying to have you avoid this unfortunate calamity by taking the time to briefly think about a few things ahead of time and then make a more educated choice of kits.
Lighter Kit – Less Capability
So the easy way to take this question into consideration is to understand that generally, the lighter the kit, the less capability it will have. So, if you are only able to carry a kit in a backpack, that is fine, but you should know ahead of time what that kit cannot treat. Conversely, if you have access to some kind of transportation by animal or vehicle (plane, boat, jeep, truck, etc.), you can take along a larger kit which will offer you more capability.
Great Compromise
As mentioned before, a great compromise for many of our clients has been to take individual kits for their backpack or jeep and to have a larger, more comprehensive kit in camp. This allows your party to have more capability for handling incidents and the added supplies your party may need in the event of several minor mishaps occuring.
Join me next for the last part of this extended series of posts, which has to do with how to integrate all of the information gathered from these four questions to make the best selection of kit for your particular needs.