Recently I told you all about my wilderness first aid class where the instructor brought me up to speed by educating me about how a bandanna is not a first aid item and that I need to get 3 cravats for my personal first aid kit. I went looking online for different cravats because to me it seemed that someone has made a dual purpose cravat and of course they have as you can tell by the picture above of a digital camo cravat a guy is using to rob a bank and if he gets shot or something his cravat face mask will be used to save his life. This must be an outdoors man bank robber but, I also thought that it would help people like my son who rarely know where their first aid kit is or what is even in their kit. If the kit is cool like the digital camo bank robbers mask above he would love to have them in his pack for all sorts of bad reasons and maybe one time it might help him get out alive.
Here are some pictures of how to make an arm sling. The reason I put this on here is because everyone who tries to make a proper sling the first time runs into the issue of how do I go around the neck. It is like the age old toilet paper question of does it go over or under, and we all know the toilet roll goes over not under. The arm sling is weird because the underside of the sling goes to the far side of the neck and the outside part of the sling goes straight up. See these are the things I teach all of you that others don't tell you about and also you see how they are folding over the elbow piece. Well don't do that and instead fold an overhand knot with the small corner of the cravat which will create a well for the elbow to rest nicely in.
These are more pictures of things to make with a cravat that are almost always overlooked and under used. The eye patch works great and the hand and head bandages are awesome as well if you tie them properly. One bandage I learned at wilderness first aid was the hip sling thingy. It is the one above that looks like someone is making a bad bikini out of a cravat. This bandage was surprisingly good at how if you had a wound on your hip like falling off a bike and getting road rash it would hold you nicely till you got to safety. The big one the chart is missing above is the sprained ankle bandage which is worth its weight in gold if you tie it correct as well. I personally have had to use the sprained ankle bandage and it is almost as good as those sprained ankle boot thingies. Then the one that cracks me up the most is the sore tooth looking head wrap thing. What this is used for I don't know but somehow it should be used.
Here is what happens when you have cravats but no knowledge of how to properly use them. You wind up with the mummy affect and that usually just creates more issues than actually solving anything. So know your proper bandages and don't make your person a mummy.
My good friend Ken gave me a cravat recently that he acquired from his work. The big thing about cravats is that they are large enough to be useful but pack very small. With that they are also sewn in a manner to where they do not unravel which is not the case with a bandanna. They are small and unravel if you try to cut them up for large wounds. These packages also come with a couple of safety pins as well so see even the single use cravats come with multiple items. What it all boils down to is a little practice and prep now creates a best possible scenario if any situation ever arises. We never want anything to go wrong but how many times have we read a story of something small happening to a person and it gets out of control and they die from it. Prepare for the worst and expect the best. I think that generally goes for everything with diabetes right?
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