# How do you carry your gear?



## leftysoftball (Aug 17, 2010)

Plenty of talk on "what" you carry on your person, at work but I'm curious to hear "how" you carry it. I hate the bulk of my cuff and scope in my cargo pockets. Do any of you use a pack or pouch for your personal equipment?
Thanks


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## abckidsmom (Aug 18, 2010)

Big bag, loaded with a bunch of stuff.  I carry it and the laptop into the house with me.   All of the equipment is in the bag.

I keep a pair of gloves in one pocket that I use for that purpose (ie my phone is not also in there).  

One ink pen slipped into the edge of my pocket too.

I can't stand pants with pockets on the leg.  I'm carrying around an abdomen that gestated 6 humans, 5 to term.  I don't need thighs like a pack mule.


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## LucidResq (Aug 18, 2010)

abckidsmom said:


> I can't stand pants with pockets on the leg.  I'm carrying around an abdomen that gestated 6 humans, 5 to term.  I don't need thighs like a pack mule.



I kinda love you!  Lol part of the respect that comes from a nulligravida woman who worked as a nanny for years before doing OB-GYN for a few. 


Anyways. Pen is a must. In the nice Flying Cross shirts I have for SAR it goes in the convenient chest pen pocket. Somewhere in my pants pockets for anything else.

Always have a pair of gloves in a pocket... a few bandaids too but that comes from working at an amusement park. 

Thing I loved about the amusement park was our messenger bags with the bare necessities... we used to have fanny packs... but I'm sorry... fanny packs look really stupid and don't provide enough storage to justify looking that dumb. The messenger bags are perfect size. Enough room to carry plenty of bandaids, tape, emesis bags, gauze, etc to get you through the first few messy minutes of most calls. Of course you could change this around to better suit your needs as an EMT responding on an ambulance and stash a BP cuff... steth... whatever.


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## Combat_Medic (Aug 18, 2010)

I carry a drop leg pouch with my go to gear.  Everything else will soon be stored in my blackhawk stomp II aid bag.


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## MrBrown (Aug 18, 2010)

We have a large Thomas Pack we carry most of our diagonstic equipment, resus gear and drugs in.

Aside from that we have the monitor/defibrillator and oxygen as well as the stair chair, scoop and stryker.  Collars come in a zip up and we have a few other bits and pieces in the overhead storage eg Glad Wrap, slippery sam etc.

Fentanyl, morphine, ketamine, suxamethonium and vecuronium are carried in a hip pouch.

Some Officers have shears, penlight, gloves, clamps in a seperate hip pouch but not all.


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## Akulahawk (Aug 18, 2010)

How do I carry my gear around? It depends on the situation. Steth goes into a cargo pocket when I'm not using it. The rest either goes in a fanny pack or it goes into a larger kit. My fanny pack that I use on duty is NOT a large one. It's just big enough to carry a BP cuff, an IV start kit or two, perhaps a little bit of tape, and a small assortment of bandaids and sterile gauze pads and the like. Basically, I carry just enough stuff to work through the 30 seconds to a minute that it takes my partner to open the larger bag and get the stuff I might really need. 

While I recognize that fanny packs aren't exactly fashionable, I really  don't care. I use them for a specific purpose and if I don't need it, I  don't use it.

I'm actually in the habit of customizing my kits to suit the specific application. A kit I might use while doing sports standbys will be different than one I use primarily for IFTs. It all just depends upon the circumstances of how and where I carry the necessary equipment.


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## WolfmanHarris (Aug 18, 2010)

Personal gear:
- Steth around my neck (I know, I know)
- Protocol book and drug book in R-cargo pocket
- Notebook in left cargo
- Shears, flashlight, multitool, phone, key clip and radio clip on belt
- Business cards in breast pocket with ipod earbuds
- Pen

Most of this stuff sits in the truck or slung over the couch arm until a call. I don't really like the duty belts, but I like not carrying the stuff between calls better.

Gear bag (issued), stored in exterior compartment of the truck. Stays there I just grab what I need from it during the shift.
Issued gear
- Helmet
- Vest
- Extrication gloves
- Box of N95's
- Safety eyewear
- Hospital contact info/map cards (to give family)
- Cardboard model ambulances (from our Community Programs Divsion, I keep these for the kids that are too old for the teddy-bears)

Own gear
- Box of pens
- Lint brush
- Pocket febreeze
- Tide to go pen
- Vick's vapour rub
- Extra granola bar
- Whatever book I have on the go
- Boot polish kit (actually a gift from the service. Part of the incentives program. I got a thank-you letter from a Pt. so the service kicks in a small gift)

Patient Care Bags
- Symptoms relief bag (carries PCP drugs)
- Airway bag (suction, BVM, King LT's, OPA, NPA, CPAP, etc.)
- Oxygen tank bag (tanks, NRB, NC, OPA, NPA, manual BP cuff, emesis bags)
- Trauma bag (collars, splint, head rolls, backboard straps, hot packs, cold packs, bandages, etc.)
- ACP bag (ALS drugs, Narcs, IV set, intubation roll)
- LP12 (Pouches hold ETCO2, tympanic thermometer as well as usual defib/monitor supplies)


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## Fox800 (Aug 18, 2010)

Duty Belt
-Bianchi velcro inner/outer belt set
-Medical direction clearance photo ID card
-Surefire G2 Nitrolon flashlight
-Motorola Minitor pager pouch
-Motorola XTS-5000 radio pouch
-Glove pouch w/4x gloves
-Big Shears in vertical pouch
-Large side pouch (Informed ALS Field Guide, penlight w/pupil gauge, pocket clinical guideline book, pediatric quick-reference for medication dosages, Lifepak 12 adaptor for our defibrillation pads, North American Rescue BOA constricting band for difficult IV's, N95 mask, fluid splask mask, Atropine/2-PAM autoinjector kit)
-Key clip
-Pager pouch for the pager that's issued to each specific ambulance

Personal Gear
-Stethoscope around neck
-iPhone 4
-ResQMe tool on my car keys (seat belt cutter/window punch)
-G2 black gel pen
-Gerber Hinderer CLS rescue knife
-Personal pager
-Chewing gum

Gear Bag
-Ballistic vest (stays on the dash)
-Rain/winter coat w/zip-in fleece liner
-Extrication turnouts (USAR technician rating) and gloves
-Firefighting/HAZMAT boots
-Helmet
-CBRN mask
-Spare uniform shirt/pants/undergarments
-Small tolietries bag (toothbrush/toothpaste, naproxen, Tums, Pepto-Bismol, etc.)


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## Dominion (Aug 18, 2010)

On my person I carry a tourniquet, small spray nitro, scissors (use em for opening snacks more than anything else), a sharpe, and a clean cloth to wipe my head and face with.  

I have my own ALS kit (personally provided) as required by my company which has a few drugs, IV start kit, intubation kit, some basic trauma supplies, BP/scope, and some drug admin stuff.  We no longer stock company supplied ALS kits, all of our bags tore and we don't have the budget to stock more for each vehicle so we're required to furnish our own bag nad maintain our own stock and inventory from the supply closet as long as the supplies do not exceed the old ALS inventory sheets.  

That's all I carry besides my lunch and laptop.


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## Rob123 (Aug 19, 2010)

WolfmanHarris said:


> ...
> - Cardboard model ambulances (from our Community Programs Divsion, I keep these for the kids that are too old for the teddy-bears)
> ...


 
Oooh, I like that idea. It seems "cooler" than the Junior Paramedic Shields (stickers) that the kids seem to like.


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## WolfmanHarris (Aug 20, 2010)

Rob123 said:


> Oooh, I like that idea. It seems "cooler" than the Junior Paramedic Shields (stickers) that the kids seem to like.



I'll snap a pic of the one on my bookshelf. Their must be a common supplier somewhere, since Toronto has the same one's but in their markings.


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