It's too bad you don't see the advice you've gotten here as a bonus instead of an inconvenience. When I was your age, I made the same mistake.
BLS backpack
- Thread starter AVoiceInADarkWorld
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AVoiceInADarkWorld
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If I wanted other advice, I would’ve asked the EMTs in my department, but I don’t want that advice right now I want want advice about the topic I asked about. When I’m ready for different advice, I’ll ask for it.
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Like I said, you can ask what you want. What you can't do is dictate the answers you receive. You've been given advice by people who have been in EMS longer than you've been alive. What you do with that advice is your choice.
DrParasite
The fire extinguisher is not just for show
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ok, cool, no worries... Many of us have been in your position, and are trying to help you prevent making the same mistakes we made earlier in our career. But you're right, you didn't ask for any other advice, so I'll apologize and provide you with the answer to the question you are asking.
I would recommend you get one of these backpacks:
STOMP 2.5 Trauma Medical Bag
My Medic™ The Medic Pro First Aid Kit 10 Person Black Backpack
MCI Walk Kit: 84 Components, Nylon
First Voice™ Backpack First Aid Responder Kit
StatPacks G3 Golden Hour EMT Back Pack
Best of luck which whatever you decide to purchase, and enjoy your time with the fire department!
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CCCSD
Forum Deputy Chief
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You don’t need a backpack. You think you do, but you don’t.
As for asking the “EMTS at the station”, why are you asking on here? You don’t understand the answers and excellent tips you’re getting as you think you know it all already. Ask your station. Their replies will reflect area and job knowledge, I hope, and are more relevant than us on here.
You are recreating mistakes we all made years ago and we are trying to help. If you don’t want it, go somewhere else.
But I’ll play: Galls. They have everything a young first aider needs.
As for asking the “EMTS at the station”, why are you asking on here? You don’t understand the answers and excellent tips you’re getting as you think you know it all already. Ask your station. Their replies will reflect area and job knowledge, I hope, and are more relevant than us on here.
You are recreating mistakes we all made years ago and we are trying to help. If you don’t want it, go somewhere else.
But I’ll play: Galls. They have everything a young first aider needs.
DesertMedic66
Forum Troll
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I’ll bite. If this is a standard practice for your volunteer fire station then you will likely get the best answers from the staff who are currently doing this. Sure, we can give you recommendations however we don’t know your department. Ask around your station and find out what people are using and what they would change.
Personally, I would avoid black bags. They can get lost easily in the dark and if you get nasty on it, you probably won’t be able to see it. So then you toss that bag into your own personal vehicle and now you have blood or poop on your seats.
I would also avoid mixing “other backpack stuff”. If you are responding to a call you do not want to be carrying unnecessary items in your bag. Or you reach into your bag to grab something with bloody gloves and now your textbook or computer is contaminated. You can have a normal backpack for all your normal backpack needs and then a dedicated medical backpack.
Having an oxygen tank inside your bag is already going to place you into requiring a larger style bag as the most commonly used oxygen tank for EMS is the size D which is 16.5” tall and a diameter of 4.3”. If you want a nice, but expensive, bag I would recommend the Statpack G3+ Tidal Volume. It has a dedication section for an O2 bottle and probably enough space for everything else you want to put inside.
You are really going to be in a bind trying to find a bag that is big enough to fit an O2 bottle + additional medical equipment but at the same time have the bag still look like a normal backpack. The current bags are either going to be too small where they are only big enough for the O2 bottle or way too big where you can fit an entire hospital in it.
Personally, I would avoid black bags. They can get lost easily in the dark and if you get nasty on it, you probably won’t be able to see it. So then you toss that bag into your own personal vehicle and now you have blood or poop on your seats.
I would also avoid mixing “other backpack stuff”. If you are responding to a call you do not want to be carrying unnecessary items in your bag. Or you reach into your bag to grab something with bloody gloves and now your textbook or computer is contaminated. You can have a normal backpack for all your normal backpack needs and then a dedicated medical backpack.
Having an oxygen tank inside your bag is already going to place you into requiring a larger style bag as the most commonly used oxygen tank for EMS is the size D which is 16.5” tall and a diameter of 4.3”. If you want a nice, but expensive, bag I would recommend the Statpack G3+ Tidal Volume. It has a dedication section for an O2 bottle and probably enough space for everything else you want to put inside.
You are really going to be in a bind trying to find a bag that is big enough to fit an O2 bottle + additional medical equipment but at the same time have the bag still look like a normal backpack. The current bags are either going to be too small where they are only big enough for the O2 bottle or way too big where you can fit an entire hospital in it.
AVoiceInADarkWorld
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Thank you
FiremanMike
Just a dude
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I remember being a brand new EMT at the ripe age of way too young. My mom got me a pre stocked BLS bag from galls because she was so proud and I thought I was king ****. I carried it everywhere in my trunk for a few years. Like so many of us, you included, I had delusions of saving the world
Number of times I ever used it = 0. I finally threw it away in a dumpster purge many years ago.
In fact, in my nearly three decades of doing this, I’ve stopped exactly twice off duty to help, both were crashes that looked bad and had just happened. On one, my biggest contribution was to keep a head injured motorcycle rider from wandering into freeway traffic, on the other I merely provided the driver some reassurance.
If I were hell bent on carrying a kit, it would be the smallest bag possible (like a fanny pack) and have some gloves, a few tourniquets, a few Israeli bandages, and a trauma dressing.
Side note - oxygen is a drug and we finally realized it can be harmful if given when not indicated. On top of that, there’s no way I’d want a pressurized bottle baking in my hot car in the summer anyway.
Number of times I ever used it = 0. I finally threw it away in a dumpster purge many years ago.
In fact, in my nearly three decades of doing this, I’ve stopped exactly twice off duty to help, both were crashes that looked bad and had just happened. On one, my biggest contribution was to keep a head injured motorcycle rider from wandering into freeway traffic, on the other I merely provided the driver some reassurance.
If I were hell bent on carrying a kit, it would be the smallest bag possible (like a fanny pack) and have some gloves, a few tourniquets, a few Israeli bandages, and a trauma dressing.
Side note - oxygen is a drug and we finally realized it can be harmful if given when not indicated. On top of that, there’s no way I’d want a pressurized bottle baking in my hot car in the summer anyway.
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My first VFD was a non-transporting first response with the old Johnny and Roy squad truck. The department issued jump bags to the EMTs under the premise we'd stop and use them if we had to drive by the scene to get to the station. We had a contract with a private ambulance company at the time that actually stationed one of their rigs at the fire house so unless they were on a long distance transport or a previous call we rarely used them
PotatoMedic
Has no idea what I'm doing.
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Resus tailor because if I'm buying a bag im going all in.
CCCSD
Forum Deputy Chief
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I’ve got my .MIL Bags…because I DO use them.
FiremanMike
Just a dude
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Anyone think these drive-by angry posters are just ffemt incognito - trying to keep this forum on life support?
lol
lol
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Even I have some standards.
DrParasite
The fire extinguisher is not just for show
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Ehhh, i don't think that's exactly why he's doing it...
Ehhhh, I can count on both hands how many times I have stopped at wrecks... usually it's 1) I am the first person there, so I call 911 first to get the AHJ coming and 2) it's more than just a fender bender. But I don't think that's what OP's department does
What's the worst that can happen? after all, Oxygen is not flammable...
Sidenote: all of our spare oxygen bottles were stored in the non-insulated ambulance bay... it did get pretty warm in there too.
As I am reading OP's use case, his reasoning isn't the same as yours... there are quite a few volunteer first responder agencies that still respond POV to a scene. Call goes out, nearest people head to the scene, and someone goes to the station and picks up the transport vehicle. I'm not saying I agree with the practice or not, but in the rural (and some suburban and even urban) parts of this country, it happens more than you want to believe. While your use case is to assist on MVAs while off duty (I agree, TQs and gloves are likely all you need, and maybe a trauma dressing if you are feeling generous), if his department's SOP is to respond directly to a scene before an on duty vehicle arrives (think 80 square mile rural town with one fire station and no in-town ambulance). If a member is closer to the scene, they should have a fully stocked BLS bag, provided they are a credentialled provider and are able to assess and perform interventions until the AHJ vehicles arrive. Could be 2 minutes, could be 20. OP might be first to a cardiac arrest, so he would need to do compressions, ventilate, suction, and provide update to the responding crew for 5-10 minutes until additional help arrives. Or he might arrive at a little old lady who fell and fractured her hip, so all he is able to do is hold her hand until the ambulance arrives. two completely different use cases.
CCCSD
Forum Deputy Chief
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OP isn’t even there yet.
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Possibly but he hasn't provided any details other than what he wants to stock in his bag, and even those leave open some questions. Who carries a box of gloves in any kit?