Equipping Your Home for Self-Care     

The first step in handling health problems at home is to make sure you have the right tools, medication and information on hand. Some of these basic supplies will help you treat minor health problems yourself. Others will give you the information you need to decide whether a trip to the doctor or the hospital is necessary.

Check at least once a year to make sure that you have all the basic supplies and that the expiration date on medications has not passed.

Near the phone, post numbers for family doctors and the local poison control.

First-Aid Supplies

• Adhesive bandage strips in assorted sizes

• Butterfly-shaped bandages for closing cuts

• Elastic bandages, both 2 and 3 inches wide, for wrapping sprained ankles or wrists, or for supporting and putting pressure on injured, swollen or sore knees

• Adhesive tape (one roll)

• Sterile gauze pads, 2 and 4 inches wide, for cleaning cuts and scrapes and covering larger wounds

• Paper tape that pulls off painlessly to hold gauze pads in place

• Eye-rinse cup

• Scissors

• Two pairs of tweezers: a blunt-tipped pair for such things as removing an object from a child's nose and a pair with pointed ends for removing splinters

Medications

• Antiseptic or antibiotic ointment

• Antihistamine tablets for allergic reactions

• Acetaminophen (Tylenol), aspirin or ibuprofen for fever, pain, mild burns and stings

• Calamine lotion for itching

• Cortisone cream for itching, stings and contact dermatitis

Check expiration dates once a year.

Miscellaneous Items

• Antiseptic/antibacterial soap to clean wounds

• Ice pack, either the kind that holds ice cubes or is kept in the freezer

• Disposable gloves

• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) mask, if someone in the household knows how to perform CPR

• Fever thermometer

• Small flashlight for examining sore throats

• Heating pad for treating sore or tense muscles

• Cold-mist vaporizer for relieving the congestion of colds and coughs

Information to Keep Handy

• Medical and self-care reference books

• List of allergies for each member of your family

• List of all prescription and non-prescription medications taken by each member of your family