First Aid/Medical Supplies & Equipment

MEDICAL
Medical should be located out of sight of Parent/Student Reunion and the student care area. It should be easily accessible for emergency vehicles.

 Medical needs large and abundant signage so rescuers, staff and students can easily find it.
 Immediate/Life Threatening Immediate (red) and Delayed (yellow) treatment areas must be clearly marked. Yellow and Red tarps, signs, or flags can be used.
 Pack like things together! Kits with multiple items will be difficult to sort through for the one needed item. Generic supplies packed together, saves time in distribution.
 Medical supplies should be in mobile kits or boxes for easy deployment.
 Medical supplies should reside in the same place in the external container and be well marked as "Medical" or "First Aid" and have a listing of contents.
 Medical supplies should be protected from moisture and where ever possible, placed in ziplock plastic bags. If the box is opened in the rain, supplies should be protected.
 Latex gloves will need to be replaced with nitrile gloves.
 Even the largest Multi-Casualty Care Kit can use every bandage in the kit in 3 days with only one or two children with heavy bleeding.
 Substitute wound dressings:
    o Women's sanitary napkins
    o Clean cotton sheets (Can also be used as wraps and triangle bandages)
    o Disposable diapers
 Gauze bandages and pressure wraps should be wider than 3", so they will have more versatility in use.
 Pain killers and antibiotic ointment in these kits cannot be given to students and may have expired for use on adults.
 The adhesive on band aids should be checked periodically. Temperature flux and age renders them useless.
 Multiple sets of tweezers and magnifiers for removing shards of glass.
 Forms should be available at the medical station to let parents know what treatment had been administered to their child.
 Extra Tarps or Plastic Sheeting can be used as flooring and to cover contaminated flooring.
 Quick assembly (accordion style) pavilion tents used with tarps for privacy, wind shield or to extend coverage, provides shelter for the medical station.
 The morgue will need to be shielded from staff and students. Tarps are useful.
 A student's medical information is confidential. Only school staff may view this information. Volunteers may not assist in any response process which gives them access to this information.