FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 December 1938, Page 8

FOR THE HOLIDAYS

FIRST AID KIT. The Christmas holidays are here and many of our mother readers will be planning to take their children to the country or to the seaside. A short description of first aid for minor injuries and a list of articles to include in a first aid kit may be useful. A small light suitcase makes the best container for the home first aid kit. Preferably this should be locked to keep the contents away from small hands and to make sure that nothing is missing when an emergency occurs. It is a wise precaution to have two keys, one of which should be attached to a piece of string and kept in the inside of the mother's personal handbag. Both keys should be labelled “First Aid Kit” in case someone has to be sent to get things that are needed while the mother comforts the small sufferer. The following is a list of articles which should be included in the first aid kit when holidaymaking with children: — Two ounces of tincture of iodine. One pint of methylated spirits. Boracic acid ointment and crystals. Condy’s crystals. A bottle of fluid witch-hazel. One pint of olive oil. Ten ounces of castor- oil. One pound packet of cotton wool. Two four-inch and two two-inch bandages. Some clean linen rags. One or two packets of boracic acid lint. A cake of medicated soap. A pair of blunt pointed scissors, a pair of tweezers, darning needles, large and small safety pins. A yard of half-inch rubber tubing. Two enamel basins (about sin.). A medicine glass. A few old white cotton gloves and stockings. Two large triangles of silk or calico for slings. A large nail file. The rubber tubing for a tourniquet is used in case of emergency to stop bleeding from a limb until medical aid can be obtained. The nail file is useful for smearing ointment on to lint, using the blunt end. To sterilise the scissors, needles, tweezers, or nail file either wipe them over with methylated spirits or place them in a plate and just cover with the spirits. THE FIRST AID TREATMENT. All small cuts and abrasions should be dabbed with iodine on a small piece of cotton wool and a dressing of boracic acid lint with a smear of boracic acid ointment to prevent it sticking, and kept in place with bandage and safety pin. If the skin round the cut is dirty, after treating with iodine, cover it with a piece of lint and wash the surrounding skin with medicated soap, dab dry and smear with methylated spirits before putting the final cressing on the cut. This will prevent the cut from being infected with germs that may be on the skin. The best way to remove a dressing that has stuck to the sore is to moisten it well with peroxide of hydrogen. To do this, soak a small piece of wool in the peroxide and squeeze it out on to the part of lint where it has stuck to the skin. The dressing will gradually loosen and can be lifted off without pain. Quick dabbing with tincture of iodine is the surest way of preventing a cut, or scratch, from becoming septic or poisoned. However, if a child cannot be persuaded to put up with the sting for a few seconds, the mother should bathe the spot with a weak solution of boracic acid made with the crystals and warm boiled water, or warm water made just pink with Condy’s crystals.