Our Boat's Medical Kit

Preparing for cruising takes quite a bit of planning ahead. In this post, I will talk about our medical kit and what we are packing into it.

We took the kids to a final checkup last week (dental and also their pediatrician). While there, their pediatrician went through an extensive list of medicines we might need, discussed our plans in the event we need to contact him, and so forth (I'll post a list below later on in the post). After a hug good-bye and bon-voyage wishes from the office, we were checking one more thing off the big list! We still need to acquire Sunny's medication from the vet, which will also go into this bag (she takes a pill for allergies and fleas).
Jared and I are seeing our own doctors for our own list of medicines next week.

We also ordered a huge medical kit with additional supplies and enough room to store all of this "just in case" medicines. This comes with a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, CPR equipment, and a large variety of bandages, and other supplies. It will be a tight fit, but I think everything will pack inside there nicely. It is perfect for the boat, bright neon-orange, water-proof, and clearly labeled. We will store this along with our bright neon-yellow ditch bag.

A frequent question we are asked is how we knew what to ask for. Basically, after reading other sailing blogs and talking with our medical professionals, we arrived at a general list of "just in case" medications and supplies to have on board.  We also have search and rescue experience (Jared was a part of the SAR team when we lived up in the mountains), have taken multiple CPR, first aid, and emergency responder courses (most recently last summer), and will have the ability to contact our medical providers if the need arises.

The medical kit we ordered came with the following supplies:

*stethoscope
*blood pressure cuff with gauge (aneroid sphygmomanometer)
*CPR pocket mask and a face shield
*foil bunting
*diagnostic penlight
*forceps
*gloves (disposable)
*bandage scissors
*emergency airway kit (set of 6)
*rescue blanket
*instant cold packs and heat packs
*burn dressings
*ll sorts of different sized bandages, gauze, tape, and surgical dressings
*sting pads
*ammonia inhalants
*alcohol prep pads
*PVP prep pads

In addition, we also added:

SAM Splint (multi-use splint)

*neosporin (antibiotic ointment)
*motrin (for kids and one for adults)
*tylenol
*aspirin
*nasal spray
*tums
*pepto bismol
*additional bandages (band-aids, waterproof, variety of sizes)
*vitamins
*sunscreen
*aloe vera gel (for sunburns)
*aquaphor ointment (for dry skin / irritated skin / good for chapped lips as well)
*saline drops for the eyes
*white distilled vinegar (for stings)
*apple cider vinegar (this helps takes the sting out of a sunburn)
*all of the prescriptions from our doctors: variety of antibiotics, skin creams (to combat a multitude of infections), eye drops (to combat a variety of eye infections), ear drops (ear infections), inhalers (for asthma), stomach meds (traveler's diarrhea, worms, etc)), cough syrup, and I am sure I am forgetting something (will update when I go back through the kit). Of course, we will not administer these without first consulting our doctors.

I am sure we will continue to add to this list as we go along. If you have a suggestion of something we should have, please comment below! Countdown to setting sail is about a month away!