Our Team's pharmacist Spyros Ziakas, left his paddle for a moment, wore his white uniform and took a minute to write down for us, the contents of the paddler's first aid kit. I'm sure that he wouldn't mind to "fill it up" for you, either...

Leaving outside, the rest of the survival stuff - that he wouldn't care for anyway, until our little adventure in Krikelopotamos, last winter - the basic contents in our team's first aid kit, should be the following:

• 1 elastic bandage, medium sized, preferably an adhesive one
• 3 adhesive - waterresistant sterile compresses, various sizes
• 3-4 adhesive bandages (Band-aid, Hansaplast, etc)
• 2 adhesive stitches for deeper cuts
• haemostatic cotton pad
• a small bottle of Betadine solution
• 2 compeed type adhesives, for hand blisters, because you may pass the take out and the next one is 15kms paddling away!
• water purification tablets, because you 'd certainly need some water during this extra 15kms ride!
• pain and fever relief paracetamol tablets (Depon, etc)
• anti-inflammatory , analgesic capsules (Mesulid, Voltaren, Ponstan,etc)
• Muscoril or Norgesic capsules
• antacid capsules (Zantac, etc)
• anti diarrhea capsules (Imodium,etc)
• antistaminic capsules (Zirtec, Clarityne-D, Aerius, Xozal)
• eye drops (Dispersadron-C)
• tweezers, not for perfect eyebrows, but for extracting a splinter or a sting!
• antistaminic cream (Fenistil, Celestoderm with Garamycin) also for sting bites.

For more severe cases, 3-4 syringes of 5ml and injection ampules, like:

• cortisone injection ampules (Solu cortef 500mg, Solu medrol 500mg) to deal with an allergic shock
• anti inflammatory, analgesic ampules (Voltaren)
• spasmolytic ampules (Buscopan)
• ampules Muscoril

A bruised elbow, shoulder, wrist, should be treated with ice at first. Cold river water will be our first ally, but there are some special compresses, that become icy within moments that we may also include in our kit.

The first aid kit, should be in a waterproof holder, a hard shell if possible and should be carried by a person with a basic knowledge of the content and what medicine is appropriate for each case. A medicine list with the basic instructions, along with a first aid booklet, should also be inside the kit.

Every paddler must also have a small and simple medicine pack inside his personnal emergency kit, to be able to help himself in the case that the team's first aid kit is not directly accessible, or lost! See what I mean here

Here are a few links for further review and more medical stuff:

Shoulder dislocation:
• Dr. Ben's advise for field relocation
• P. Nicollazzo's field treatment methods.

CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation)
• Learn CPR CPR information and training resources
• Basic First Aid

Hypothermia:
• OA guide to hypothermia and cold weather injuries
• How to avoid hypothermia by Dr. Art LaBelle

More medical links:
• The Heimlich maneuver
• OA First Aid and Safety Homepage