Another key element in this course is the resourceful use of common items in the home or office. When a disaster strikes, you may not have medical supplies available. But you need not feel helpless or intimidated by the lack of them. In a pinch, you can probably manage with whatever you do have.

Some suggestions for your improvised First Aid supplies are: clean handkerchiefs, bandanas, neckties (for tying splints), towels, shredded paper, or other soft materials (for padding splints) corrugated cardboard from boxes, or folded-up newspapers or magazines (for splints). Clean sanitary napkins, or other absorbent clean material make good dressings for wounds and to control bleeding. Clean sheets or other material torn in strips make good bandages and splint-ties. Pillowcases and even T-shirts can make good slings.

We encourage “outside the box” thinking. Learn to use whatever you have, and you will always find what you need, no matter where you are. In the back of the book are more suggestions, as well as a First Aid Supplies list and a diagram for making a "Roll-Your-Own" First Aid supplies kit/bag.

Have a party, potluck, or neighborhood meeting and enjoy socializing while you make up emergency supplies for your group or individual First Aid Kits. It's an old idea (from the wives and daughters of World War I) that has become a practical and valuable alternative to the high cost of the medical supplies at the drug store.

You will have to buy some large sterile dressings and rubber gloves for your first aid kits, but most bandages and ties, etc. that do not touch the wound directly do not have to be sterile, and any clean material can be used. In a disaster, you may have to improvise, so why not start with a little creative thinking in your workplace or neighborhood group?

Excellent roller-bandages can be made from old sheets. Pillowcases make great arm-slings for fractures or sprains of arm, wrist, or collar-bone. Those faded old towels make good padding for splints. Wash all of them in hot water with a good dose of chlorine bleach (an effective disinfectant). Colors don't matter, bleach them all together. Since these are going to be padding or bandages (the outer wrapping that doesn’t touch the actual wound) they don’t need to be sterilized, just disinfected by washing with bleach.

At your meeting, neighborhood party, or Potluck, everyone can help, even the kids. You will tear the sheet material into strips of different widths, then roll them up into convenient sized rolls. Store them in ziplock baggies for your individual or group First Aid supplies cache. These rolls of cotton material are very good (superior to gauze) for splinting, bandage wrapping, and many other uses from controlling bleeding to repairing tents.

You can cut some triangles of material for arm slings. Pillow cases also make great arm slings. Make up lots of bandages and slings and put them in your group or individual First Aid Kits. You will probably come up with other good ideas too. Meanwhile get to know your neighbors and friends a little better and have fun.