Wrap-It-Ice by Shield-Safety

Today I decided to write a little review on a product that I really wish I didn’t have to do. The reason for this is not for a lack of quality in the product, but the fact that I actually needed to use it. Yes, this is a first-aid bandage that I’ve had sitting in my cabinet waiting until needed, and now it is.

Several months ago I met with Mike at Shield-Safety, and went through their sales pitch about some first-aid products they had.  While a lot of what they did was not new, they had several things that did pique my interest and stand out as something I wanted to buy. Now I’m not normally a person to give into a home sales pitch, but the Shield-Safety people approached us a little bit differently, they taught first-aid basics, and how to actually use the different items that you should have available in a home first-aid station. One of the products they had that got my attention was a sealed wrap for sprains.

I’ve always had a nice supply of compression wrap bandages to deal with my always twisting ankles. So why would I need something different? Well one of the main things you always need after a sprain is to keep the wounded area cold. The common way to do this is to surround with ice, however ice is too cold and to keep from causing more damage you follow the pattern of icing for fifteen minutes, then keeping it off for fifteen.  The Wrap-It-Ice product helps with this by taking your gauze wrap, and keeps it soaked in Ethanol, Arnica, and Menthol.

Ethanol

Ethanol is included for two reasons that I can easily see. First the wood-grain alcohol has a good, known evaporation rate. This evaporation acts like sweating to actually cool the compressed area down.  Secondly, while I wouldn’t want this on an open wound obviously, it does act as an antiseptic helping keep things clean.

Arnica

This was a new one for me. Apparently Arnica refers to several plants related to the sunflower that collectively contain traces of thymol. And since I’m sure that leaves you with questions the same way it left me let me summarize some things I found online. Thymol is used in liniments and ointments because it is clinically proven to help with surface capillary damage (bruises), both in pain and in restoration. Also it seems to be used as a fungicide, and antiseptic. Not bad for extra features.

Menthol

This is another great “multitasker” in sprain or bruise treatment. Menthol provides:

• A local/topical analgesic – gets rid of some of the pain
• Is a smooth muscle relaxant – lowers the tension and pain
• Is antipruritic – reduces itching
• Increases the cooling “sensation” – Feels better
• Essential – Usually made up from essential oils, and provides a smell that has a psychologically calming effect.

Getting Wrapped

After a rather hard week at work, my wife and I decided to join several other couples last week at a volleyball night at our church. The fun evening ended (I should have expected it) when I landed wrong, and quite severely rolled my ankle. Having plenty of experience in the matter, I quickly got my shoe off, some ice on, and elevated my foot to quickly stabilize myself.  After a few minutes, and allowing myself to get over the “CRAP THIS HURTS”, we went home so I could give it a little better treatment. My wife went to grab a bandage, and came back with one of the Wrap-It-Ice packages, deciding that now was as good of a time as any to see if it really lived up to its claims.  We opened the pouch and dressed the ankle as normal, the only difference in that the bandage was quite wet.

For the first minute or so, I really didn’t feel much (outside of the “CRAP THIS HURTS”), but shortly after I began to feel what I’d hoped for.  A nice cool sensation was starting to penetrate into my skin, and the aforementioned pain started getting pushed away.  While I wouldn’t expect this to get rid of all pain, it very quickly made a notable difference, and after my ibuprofen kicked in, I was feeling quite well about things as long as I didn’t step on the darn foot.

Conclusion

The bandages claim that they will provide “An hour of instant cooling and compression”.  Well about a minute to cut through a very painful sprain is about as instant as I think you can get, and that really did impress me.  As for an hour, it seemed to go a bit longer. And yes, it was quite cool, but not frigid like ice so I didn’t have to rotate.  It kept my ankle and a very steady temperature the whole time. I really do think it helped prevent the heavy bruising that I was expecting, and minimized my swelling (along with the proper procedures of elevating, and taking ibuprofen of course).

Now, could you make this yourself? I’m sure you could add alcohol and some essential oils to your bandage and get at least some of the benefits of this product. Even better if you can find a source and the proper dosage of that Arnica. I’d go so far as to say that would be a very good thing to learn and have on hand no matter what. BUT, this was actually a quite impressive product, at a pretty sane price for a medical item.  They come in a nice sealed container so you don’t have to take the time to mix it together, and they’re made for a local company that seems to be trying pretty hard to not just sell first-aid equipment, but really wants to teach you how to use it.

For me, yeah, I want to learn how to do it myself. But I know I’ll be buying a replacement for my medicine cabinet as well. It’s a well-made product that really delivered as promised. And while I would have rather not had the opportunity to review it, I’m really glad it came out well in this real-world test. Go check it out for yourself: Wrap-It-Ice.

The kits come with a Needle Driver, forceps and a pair of scissors along with a sterile field, gloves and 2 sutures.  They also come with the step by step pictorial guide that you can see in the picture.  These are very nice kits and the price is fantastic!  If you would like to order them, send an email to DrBonesClass@aol.com and let them know what you would like to order.  There will be shipping on top of the cost, of course.

Dr. Bones also showed me that he had a full instructional video on suturing – for entertainment purposes of course – that covers how to establish a sterile field, how to suture and how to tie suture knots.  It’s a very well done video, so if you’re wanting to learn check out the video below and then go get some pig feet to practice on (you can get them at most grocery stores in the gross meat section)!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Finally, my brother sent me a picture of what his scalp currently looks like.  You can see that it healed up very nicely and has a very minimal scar.

(click on the picture for a larger image)

Hopefully everyone has taken this opportunity to do just that – consider the possible worst situation, review your preps and fill holes.  Whatever the truth of the situation is, we can all know for ourselves if we were ready and, if you weren’t, if you are ready now!  Have you taken the time in the last week to consider just what Pandemic Preparedness means for you?  We’ve presented a couple scenarios here on the site and offered some ideas for Pandemic Preps.  Hopefully they’ve been helpful.  Now I would like to explore deeper down the Preparedness Rabbit Hole with you – and wander the quarantine branches of Pandemic Preparedness.

What EXACTLY is the point of Pandemic Preparedness?  What are we trying to protect ourselves from?  The simplest answer I can come up with is: We’re trying to NOT get ourselves or our family sick.  For each one of us this will mean something very different.  Our family make-up, our home, the location of our home, our work, kids in school, church responsibilities, etc.  I want to explain a bit about my status of all these things to put my prep ideas/plans in context.

Many of you know I have a 3 year old with Leukemia.  This means her immune system is compromised.  In her life we are actually already into a semi-quarantine; we practice social distancing, we are sensitive to germs, cleanliness, and sanitation.  She is comfortable and used to wearing an N95 mask, we are always wary when someone around us is sick, we rarely take her in very public places, we wipe down (sanitize) shopping carts before we put her in them.  Because of her situation, I have two primary goals in my Pandemic Preps.  1) Keep her from getting infected  and 2)Keep any family members from infecting her.  Here is the rest of my personal environment.  I live in a 2 story house, the basement is designed as a separate apartment; there is a kitchen, laundry room and 3 bedrooms down there, with a separate outside entrance.  I live in the country on 50 acres and there are very few people around us.  I have 8 children, 7 of whom live at home.

So, your plan will need to be tailored to your situation, but now you can understand mine and hopefully this post will give you some ideas for your quarantine plans.  The scenario I’m working with here is one of my kids (not Serenity, my Cancer Chic) getting sick or showing symptoms of being sick.  Isolation of the sick person from Serenity (and the rest of the kids so it doesn’t spread) is the objective here.

Quarantine Plan

The entire basement will immediately become the sick ward.  The air vents, doorways and the upstairs entrance to the basement  will be sealed off with 6 mil plastic to deter air flow.  The window to the sick room will be open to allow fresh air circulation.  I plan to get a UV Air filtration system to use in the basement as well.  The sick person will be confined to a bedroom while in the house and will be allowed to play outside in a designated area that the other children will not be allowed to go to.  The bathroom will become a decon room to dress and undress for entry into the sick rooms.  The basement laundry room will be the only place the sick person and caretakers laundry will be done.  All dishes used by the sick person will be washed in the sink downstairs.  The sick person will be required to wear an N95 mask anytime someone is in the room with them, anyone going into the room will need full protective gear on (more on that in a minute).  The sick rooms will be sanitized twice a day including changing and washing all linens on the bed.  All paper trash (kleenexes, etc) that is able will be burned in our fire pit daily.  All other trash will be collected into a garbage bags and disposed of twice daily.  To make this quarantine plan work requires several specific preps.

Sanitation Preparedness

In another post I discussed a couple methods of making your own sanitizer.  I also have a lot of cleaning supplies stored up as part of my regular preps.  You can see many of them in this picture.

When thinking about cleaning preps, be sure to consider that you’ll likely be cleaning several areas at least a couple times a day.  You should have enough cleaner stored to handle doing this for at least a couple weeks to a couple months.  Think about needing to sanitize all of the following more than once a day: floors, walls, linens, dishes, clothes, toys, toothbrushes, bodies, etc.

Pandemic Preparedness Gear

I previously posted about my personal and vehicle Pandemic Go-Kits and discussed the preps I’ve taken there.  This next kit is another Go-Kit but is meant for being able to take care of someone sick whether you’re at home or bugged out somewhere else.  Here is my Pandemic 72 hour kit:

From left to right, front to back, here are the contents:

• Front Row
  • Replacement razor blades
  • Sanitizer spray
  • Razor blade knife
  • Battery powered shaver
  • Flashlight
  • P95 replacement cartridges
• 2nd Row
  • Pack of 10 N95 masks with exhale valves
  • Industrial gloves
  • Shoe covers
  • Tyvex chemical suit with hood (2)
• Back Row
  • 3rd Tyvex Suit
  • Face Shield
  • P95 Respirator
  • Goggles
  • Lysol Disinfectant Wipes
  • Alcohol Wipes

The knife and flashlight are tools that can be left in the contaminated area and used easily with bulky gear on.  The shaver is to remove facial hair if needed so that masks can achieve a good face seal, it is specifically battery powered instead of electric/rechargeable in case power is not readily available.  N95 masks are for the patient disinfectant wipes and spray are for the reusable mask and other gear and for wiping up in the sick room.

Here’s what this very unflattering gear looks like on:

This gear setup isn’t perfect – or final for that matter – and much of it was bought this last week.  Yes, I was surprised to find that I was not properly prepared for a Pandemic but have made sure this week that I have the minimum of what I needed.

I plan to find and purchase several washable bio suits – I’m looking for ones with booties and a hood built into them.  This is very close to what I’m looking for.  Currently, the filters I have for my respirator are 95% (like N95) filters – meaning they miss 5%.  I’m planning on getting N100 filters to replace them.  I’ll be doing that in the next week or two.  The critical part for me is that I have the minimum preps required to implement my plan.

More Mask Information

I also want to pass on some further information I found this week.  By now we’ve all heard of N95 masks, what you may not have heard of yet are P95 and R95 masks.  With mask supplies acting like ammunition lately N95 masks have become rather scarce.  However, most hardware stores still have decent supplies in their painting and tool safety sections.  What you’ll find there though are N95, P95 and R95 masks.  When I first saw this I wasn’t sure what the other two were or if they would work for me.  What I found out about NIOSH ratings is this: N = Not resistant to oil, R = Resistant to oil, P = oil Proof.  The 95, 99 and 100 rating are the filtration levels.  The prefixed letter is the oil filtration rating.  What this means is that any Nx, Px, Rx rated mask will work for you as a pandemic filtration mask.  95% filters are good enough to get you home, but for in home care I want a 100% filter.  Here’s a pdf that explains all this.

Hopefully this post will give you some good ideas for considering your own pandemic quarantine preps.  Remember, the main thing to gain from the swine flu outbreak to this point is a good understanding of how well prepped you are for a Pandemic! Don’t miss Angela’s excellent post on avoiding Cabin Fever during quarantine!

Have you gained a new perspective on pandemic preps from the current outbreak?  Have you considered quarantine preparedness?

My previous posts about Pandemic/Swine Flu Preps are here and here.

I made one of the large kits for each vehicle and the smaller one for my daily carry bag.  They’re very simple and easy to throw together.  I wanted to demonstrate for you just how easy it will be to put one together for yourself.

In each one I have:

• 5 N95 masks (I have 5 so I have a couple to share with people I would rather not die, like the payroll dude).
• 25 Pairs of disposable vinyl gloves
• Alcohol based hand sanitizer
• In my EDC kit I also have alcohol based wipes to wipe off any surfaces I might need sanitary

That’s it. Most of this stuff is available at Wal-Mart or K-Mart.  Actually, all of it usually is but N95 masks are pretty much out of stock in Utah County.

As regular readers will know, I also carry plenty of other survival and prep stuff in my EDC (EveryDay Carry) bag.  I now just throw this small kit in there as well.

Putting together your own First-Aid Kit is a pretty personal thing – it reflects your families medical situation and shows what you think you might have to treat someone for.  For my family, we have endless supplies of medical stuff including a lot of specialized equipment.  We have a 2 year old daughter with Leukemia and a 4 year old son who has some intestinal issues.   We are also home birthers and use a lot of natural treatments.  I explain all this because I’m about to show you some of our medical kits.  These kits are specifically supplemental to our cases of medical supplies and to our extensive medicinal storage.  Many of the things you won’t see in these kits are in our extended supplies.

The following 2 kits are put together for a bug out scenario (see picture above).  One is a Fanny Pack that attaches to my MOLLE BOB and the other is a messenger bag that can be carried by any of the family.  The Fanny Pack is more of a Triage system while the Messenger bag is more of a resupply and extended storage of things needed post-triage.

Here is the list of what is in my Triage Kit:

• Environment and Prep
  • 5 Light Sticks
  • 50 Alcohol Wipes
  • 10 pr Vinyl Surgical Gloves
• Procedural
  • Sting/Snakebite Kit
  • 1 Roll Medical Tape
  • 3 5×9 Surgical Dressing
  • 3 4×4 Gauze pad
  • 10 3×3 Gauze pad
  • 1 Burn Gel
  • 1 4.5 in x 4 yd Bandage Roll
  • 1 Ace Bandage Wrap
  • 3 Gauze Wraps
  • 1 Eye Wash
  • 1 Moleskin
  • 50 Multiple sizes Large to small bandaids
  • 2 Sterile cotton tipped applicators
  • 1 Surgical Scissors
  • 1 EMT Shears
  • 1 Hemostat
  • 1 Tweezers
  • 20 Safety pins
  • 1 Large Sling Bandage
  • 1 CPR Shield
  • 1 Lighter
  • 1 Ipecac Syrup
  • 2 Neosporin/Antibiotic Ointment
  • 1 Analgesic Gel (Benzocaine)
  • 2 Finger Splints

Here is what is in my Extended First Aid Kit:

• 100 pr Vinyl Surgical Gloves
• 200 Alcohol Wipers
• 2 Surgical Scissors
• 1 EMT Shears
• 1 Hemostat
• 2 Moleskin
• 1 CPR Shield
• 25 4×4 Gauze pad
• 10 5×9 Surgical Dressing
• 20 3×3 Gauze Pad
• 5 4.5 in x 4 yd Bandage Roll
• 2 Instant Cold Pack
• 2 Instant Heat Pack
• 1 Eye Wash
• 4 Rolls Medical Tape
• 2 btls Potassium Iodide (KI)
• 1 Roll-able Splint
• 1 box Nox-A-Sting Wipes
• Emergency Candles
• 200 Band-Aids

I’d love to hear other things you keep in your First-Aid Kit and any ideas you have for adapting mine.