Remember those small boxes with the Bandages and some Dettol and some medications!? The humble first aid kit!
Now of course most schools have nurses and nursing station with loads of instruments and a trained nurse! We used to have the first aid box if we are lucky with some dettol and some bandages!
The sticker ones were the first to go or get used! While the messy Iodine cream would always leak! The case would smell of a combination of dettol and iodine! If the box was metal then it would most definitely be rusted!
But still to get hurt and get treated by the first aid kit was an achievement!
Now of course you would have the first aid kit in every nook and corner! IN major places like the airport and railway station you would also have a proper clinical set up! And to think that this actually started in the train!
The story told many times in the history of first aid kits involved Robert Wood Johnson, the founder of the Johnson & Johnson medical supply company!
The story of the First Aid Kit begins with a conversation on a train. The people involved were Robert Wood Johnson, and the Chief Surgeon of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway Company.
In 1888, the Chief surgeon explained to Robert the many dangers of railroad construction and the lack of medical supplies to treat industrial injuries miles away from any hospital.
In the early days, untrained laborers cared very little for hygiene. Still, they were the first to take action when accidents occurred. Unfortunately, they did more harm than good as their clumsy and unhygienic handling of the injured often caused the spread of infections and exacerbated injuries.
The ever-enterprising Johnson saw this as an opportunity !
Not only would he solve a growing problem, but he would open a new avenue of business for his fledgling company. After careful consideration, J&J’s Chief Pharmacist Fred Kilmer introduced the company’s inaugural medical kit.
First-generation First Aid kits were packaged in durable wooden/ metal boxes. It consisted of various existing J&J surgical products such as gauze, bandages, and sutures. Since the equipment was made specifically for the railroad industry, it also contained supplies specific to the industry. Furthermore, the company understood the importance of educating the public.
In 1901, Johnson & Johnson published the Handbook of First Aid. The text became the United States’ first comprehensive and commercially available guide to First Aid!
The boxes were often decorated with bright colors!
In the late 1910s, 1920s and 30s, other companies began to produce their own First Aid kits customized to specific organizations such as the Boy Scouts. Other customized kits included the Auto-kits which were the First Aid kits designed for early automobiles and the Air-kits designed for aircraft.
The modern first aid medical center is of course a much more complex entity! The clinic would not only have the first aid kits but also something called the crash cart with a variety of medications and injections to be used in case of emergencies and also instruments like the monitors and AED or An Automated External Defibrillator (AED) which is a portable, electronic device used to restore a normal heart rhythm in someone experiencing cardiac arrest. It automatically analyzes the heart’s rhythm and, if necessary, delivers an electric shock (defibrillation) to help the heart restart! Of course it has to be used only in specific conditions and by trained professionals.
From the humble first aid kit to the AED; first aid has progressed by leaps and bounds!
Then again some say laughter is the best medicine but don’t take that literally! Laughter reminds me of jethalal Dilip bhai!
Shubh ratri…
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