A home emergency kit normally needs to have supplies and medication for minor ailments, headaches and accidents that might occur in and around the home. People that suffer from allergies or chronic conditions need to have a backup supply of their medication in the home emergency kit. It is also important to have a spare emergency kit that can travel with you in the car.
What is Needed for Home Emergencies?
The kit should contain several items for home emergencies like cuts, burns, insect stings or bites. For cut or burns, you would need to have antiseptic solution, sterile gauze pads, elastic bandage, safety pins and non-latex gloves.
For the treatment of insect bites or stings, you would need calamine lotion if the bite is itching. With insect stings you would need a small pocket knife to remove the sting if necessary. Pain relief medication in the form of syrup for children and pills for adults should also be a standard part of your emergency kit. Additionally, it is recommended that an antihistamine be kept in the kit to help with allergic reactions that may occur.
Sore Throats, Coughs and Hay-Fever
In case of a sore or scratchy throat, it is always a good idea to keep throat lozenges or something similar in your home emergency kit. For mild coughs you would need a cough mixture. Most cough mixtures these days contain ingredients that are not recommended for children, so it is important o always check ingredients and ask a pharmacist if you are unsure. If you are a person that struggles with hay fever or other allergies, it is recommended that you have a good nasal spray along with allergy relief medication.
Chronic Conditions
If you suffer from any chronic condition like asthma, you should also have a back-up of your medication in your emergency kit. It is highly recommended that you rotate the medication to ensure that it doesn’t expire in the kit. Each time you get replacement medication from your doctor, you should put that in your emergency kit and use the one that is currently stored there. If there are changes in your chronic medication, it is important to ensure that you keep this updated as your prescription changes.
Emergency Numbers
It is recommended that you have a list of the emergency numbers that you might require in all of your emergency kits. The numbers that would normally be made use of in an emergency include those of a local poison centre, the local fire department, your family doctor, ambulance and a close relative or friend that you can rely on in an emergency. These numbers should be easily accessible like on the inside of the kit lid or on a tag on the outside of the portable emergency kit.
It is normally a good practice to have your emergency kits in a cool and dry area that is easily accessible but that is also out of reach of young children. You should also have a list of the products in the kit and the expiry dates of everything inside the emergency kit. If you use anything out of the kit, it is important to replace it as soon as possible.
About the Author:
Kevin Clarke is a registered Pharmacist by day and runs Drugdb.com which provides information of common prescription and over the counter drugs and medications.
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