LIFESTYLE

Finding a Good Bleeding Control Kit for Your Office or Classroom

On April 11, 2019
By Kimberly

When we began looking at putting together my Classroom First Aid Kit, my diving/cycling/marksmanship partner Bill and I went online to search for existing resources. We ended up contacting several companies in the process, and this is a compilation of the best of the best that we found.

Why You Need a Bleeding Control Kit In Your Office or Classroom

Once our school district introduced a Guardian Program with administrators carrying firearms on campus, I knew it was time to wake up and get serious about building a Classroom First Aid Kit.

Anything can happen – and the more we researched, the more we realized we needed additional training and additional supplies.

Any serious bleeding event that must be handled within three to four minutes. Whether it’s a student falling on scissors, an active shooter, or an accidental discharge or something else, I would be left in that “you are the help until the help arrives” position.

So would you in your business or office. In the event of an active shooter, EMT’s won’t rush right in until after officers make the area safe, and that’s too long for anyone with an injury.

So, I decided to be proactive and show up for my First Day of School with a Bleeding Control Kit. You might want read more about why I have this kit in my own classroom, especially if you work in anywhere other than home.

The Best of the Best Kits Available

Our research revealed a lot of really great quality pre-assembled kits available on the market. We watched hours of videos, read dozens of articles, piles of reviews, and started taking classes.

Every bit of research added more to our knowledge. Here are our picks in no particular order:

BleedingControl.org

Bleeding Control and their Stop the Bleed Program Shop offers a Personal Bleeding Kit^® for under $70. It contains:

Instructional booklet on bleeding control
C-A-T™ tourniquet
QuikClot^® Bleeding Control Dressing™
Mini Sharpie™ marker
1 pair of protective gloves
Compression bandage

“The Personal Bleeding Control Kit was developed in collaboration with leading manufacturers in the hemorrhage control industry and military. The tourniquet and hemostatic dressing in the kit are the same technology recommended by the U.S. military to control bleeding,” according to the description.

TacMedSolutions

TacMedSolutions also has a Pocket Medical Kit, or PMK, for under $55 that includes:

1x SOF® Tourniquet Gen 4 (Rescue Orange)
1x Esmark Bandage
1x Compressed Gauze OR Combat Gauze
1x Beacon™ Chest Seal
1PR Black Gloves

The description says, “The PMK is designed to fit neatly into the chest pocket of a duty shirt, trauma plate pouch of a concealed armor carrier, or the back pocket of your jeans. So whether you wear a traditional uniform, external carrier system, or civilian clothes, you can be prepared and confident knowing you have a combat-proven tourniquet for any emergency situation.”

TacMedSolutions also has a TacMed™Bleeding Control Kit, for under $65 that comes in a nylon bag and includes:

1x Red Pouch
1x TacMed™ Bleeding Control Patch
1x SOF® Tactical Tourniquet Wide (black)
1x Esmark Bandage
1x 4″ Control Wrap
1PR Nitrile Gloves
1x Trauma Shears 5.5″
1x Comp Gauze OR ChitoGauze OR Combat Gauze

Also, TacMedSolutions has a simple TraumaKit called the Tramedikit for under $45 that contains:

1x SOF® Tactical Tourniquet Wide (Rescue Orange)
1x Tramedic® Trauma Bandage
1x Petrolatum Gauze
1x Surgical Tape (2″)
1x Mask w/ Eye Shield
1x Heat-Reflective Emergency Blanket
1PR Nitrile Gloves (size XL, purple)

SOF tourniquet, bandage, gauze, tape, mask, blanket, and gloves. It lacks shears, but is an affordable way to add more supplies to an existing kit that already has shears or cutters.

North American Rescue

The NAR Public Access Individual Bleeding Control Kit – Vacuum Sealed is a really good value at under $53 when a good tourniquet alone will cost about $24-$25. Included are:

1 x C-A-T® Tourniquet
1 x 6 in. NAR Responder ETD (Emergency Trauma Dressing)
2 x NAR Responder Compressed Gauze
2 x Pair, Responder Nitrile Gloves, Lg
1 x Responder Trauma Shears, 7.25 in.
1 x NAR Survival Blanket
1 x Permanent Marker, Small
1 x Just in Time Instruction Card

North American Rescue, NAR, has several different levels of what they package as a bleeding control kit. They make a quality CAT Tourniquet, and a bleeding control kit containing their Cat Tourniquet for around $65 Beware of buying knock-offs and dupes from other online wholesale sources.

The Public Access Individual Bleeding Control Kit – Nylon is like the vacuum-sealed one, but in a nylon bag, which allows you to pack a few more tourniquets if you wish. You can choose “Basic,” “Intermediate,” “Advanced,” and “Advanced BCD.” Each choice adds a few more supplies.

The Basic Kit contains:

1 x C-A-T® Tourniquet
1 x 6 in. NAR Responder ETD (Emergency Trauma Dressing)
2 x NAR Responder Compressed Gauze
2 x Pair, Responder Nitrile Gloves, Lg
1 x Responder Trauma Shears, 7.25 in.
1 x NAR Survival Blanket
1 x Permanent Marker, Small
1 x Just in Time Instruction Card
1 x PVC Bleeding Control Patch
1 x Red Nylon Bag

Their Audio Bleeding Control Kit from NAR is like an AED kit in that it audibly walks you through providing bleeding control care in English or Spanish. It also has pictures and instructions. It includes shears, dressings and a tourniquet. You can choose an orange or a black tourniquet.

1 x Audio Bleeding Control Box
1 x Tourniquet Supply Pack:
- 1 x C-A-T^® (Combat Application Tourniquet^®) Orange
- 1 x pair Responder Nitrile Gloves
- 1 x Red Vacuum-sealed “Tourniquet” Pouch
1 x Hemostatic Dressing Supply Pack:
- 1 x QuikClot Bleeding Control Dressing
- 1 x 6 in. NAR Responder ETD™ Emergency Trauma Dressing
- 1 x pair Responder Nitrile Gloves
- 1 x Yellow Vacuum-sealed “Hemostatic Dressing” Pouch
1 x Compression Dressing Supply Pack:
- 1 x 6 in. NAR Responder ETD™ Emergency Trauma Dressing
- 1 x pair Responder Nitrile Gloves
- 1 x Green Vacuum-sealed “Compression Dressing” Pouch
1 x Accessories Supply Pack:
- 1 x pair Responder Trauma Shears, Large
- 1 x Permanent Marker
- 1 x Biohazard Bag
- 1 x Clear Resealable Pouch

NAR says an average for these active acts of violence – not necessarily shooter – but there’s an average of 3.6 casualties that occur.

If you are a government employee, for more information on spending your supply money on a bleeding control kit, here’s: how to purchase North American Rescue’s quality supplies from Class Wallet.

MyMedic

The MyMedic RangeMedic is designed for easy portability.

“The RangeMedic is the best First Aid Kit when you’re going to the range, hunting or in the field that you’ll find. Anywhere. Ever. Period. The First Aid Experts at MyMedic have designed this First Aid Trauma Kit by using range injury data, field testing with Firearms Professionals and advisors from the professional medical community to cover any range day mishap from minor to catastrophic,” according to the website.

Truly, this is just as applicable to an office or classroom.

4 Bandages
1 Compressed Gauze
1 Dyna Stopper
1 Burn Gel
800mg Advil
1000mg Tylenol
50mg Benadryl
524mg Pepto Bismol
1 Lip Balm
1 Sunscreen
2 Antiseptic
2 Alcohol Prep Pad
1 Triple Antibiotic
1 Hydrocortisone
1 White Petrolatum
1 Sting & Bite Relief
1 Tweezers
1 EMT Shears
30ml Wound Wash
1 pair Nitrile Gloves

Upgrading from the basic to the RangeMedicAdvanced goes one step further and includes:

1 Emergency Trauma Dressing
1 Liquid Skin
1 Quikclot
1 Tourniquet
1 Chest Seal
Minus the Dyna Stopper

MyMedic has a variety of kits, designed for treating one to ten people, in a range of skill levels. As a brand ambassador for MyMedic, I can share with you my link above, and use my code “KimW” to save 10% on any purchase.

SOS Survival Products

SOS Survival Products markets the North American Rescue Public Access Bleeding Control Kit for under $50.

This individual basic kit provides intuitive and easy-to-use tools that are proven to help save lives in the event of life threatening bleeding. Kit is packaged in a compact, vacuum-sealed pouch.

Contains:

1 C-A-T tourniquet
1 Emergency trauma dressing 6″
2 Compress gauze
2 pair Nitrile gloves
1 EMT shear
1 Permanent marker
1 Instruction card

First Care Provider
— Buy One, Donate One —

First Care Provider has announced they will donate a CARE kit to a classroom for every CARE kit purchased. While initially, the kit might appear to be a tiny bit more expensive than some of the others, you get the satisfaction of knowing you donated one to a classroom in need. Right now, it’s on sale for under $60, regularly under $70.

This kit is very compact, 10.5 ounces, and it can fit in the pocket on cargo pants, a suit jacket breast pocket, handbag, or other small location. It is only one inch thick and 4″ by 5.5″. The idea was that people would be more likely to keep it as an everyday carry item, in arms’ reach, if it was more conveniently sized. First Care Provider recommends adding one of these kits plus a CAT tourniquet to a basic First-Aid kit.

This kit was designed by First Care Provider with their partners at Tomahawk Strategic Solutions, to be a compact trauma kit for emergency use – not a First Aid kit. It is designed to combat the four preventable causes of traumatic death; blood loss, tension pneumothorax, airway, and hypothermia problems.

SWAT-T Tourniquet
Compression Bandage
Vented Chest Seal
Compressed gauze
Emergency Blanket
Nitrile Gloves
CARE Card

Why a Pre-Assembled Kit

The pre-assembled kits save you time and effort; they’re ready to go. If you are ordering a kit that is sealed, it will have a longer lifespan than some of the individual items when they are not sealed.

Some of these items are a one-time purchase, like safety scissors or material cutters. Others, such as some treated gauzes, have a shelf life of about two years, so you can expect to put a bit more money into your kit every couple years if you assemble it.

With a pre-assembled vacuum-sealed kit, if you were to need it sometime after the five years have passed, there are items in there such as safety scissors that don’t expire.

For example, I ordered the Public Access Individual Bleeding Control Kit – Vacuum Sealed listed above in February of 2019, and it arrived with an Expiration Date of January 31, 2024. This is almost five years. Some of the individually-purchased items in my own kit expire in two years and must be replaced.

My Own Kits

We finally settled on assembling a kit for my classroom for around $100, and have been adding to it steadily. Not that we can put a price on saving lives; but by assembling it ourselves, we could put together exactly which products I wanted, and have the satisfaction of assembling it ourselves.

1. My Little Red Classroom First Aid Kit

This kit is designed to treat two or three people, be carried in one hand, and to be very portable and throw-able. It has a strap cutter, two types of tourniquets, gauze, bandages, gloves, head lamp, scissors, chest seals, elastic bandages, duct tape, triangular bandages, and thermal blankets. You can find the list of exactly what is in my little red kit here.

2. SRO Crisis Response Kit

My second kit is the black bag above, the North American Rescue Combat Casualty Response Kit sold under the name “SRO Crisis Response Kit.” SRO stands for School Resource Officer. I chose it because it is large enough to hold sufficient supplies to treat many, while still being portable.

At the link above, you can access its features, description, specs – a full list of the contents of the SRO kit – and under “downloads,” there is a full product information sheet with graphics of all the contents. I ordered it thorough our Class Wallet school supply vendor that also services government employees in 18 states.

The black SRO bag is designed to be worn on the waist, leaving my hands free, in the event I need to relocate but continue administering first aid.

3. Public Access Individual Bleeding Control Kit – Vacuum Sealed

My third kit is the Public Access Individual Bleeding Control Kit – Vacuum Sealed listed above as well. It is available directly through North American Rescue at the link above. I ordered mine through Class Wallet with my classroom supply money – this Class Wallet article link tells more about how to do that if you are a teacher or a government employee.

Brand Ambassador for MyMedic

I’m a Brand Ambassador for MyMedic because I like their affordable, quality products. Many of the items in our first vehicle kit come from
MyMedic. This link and using my code “KimW” will save you 10%: MyMedic I earn a small percentage of your purchases that I can use for stocking my own kits, but your price does not increase.

Using my links helps me continue to bring free content to you and increase the number of supplies in my own CFAK. I usually add a few more items to my bag every couple paydays, so thank you in advance for your care for your own students and co-workers’ safety.

Training from Crisis Medicine

Crisis Medicine – excellent training. History buffs and anyone who appreciates the backstory of whatever they are studying will appreciate the precise attention to detail. Also very graphic, and also what will serve you well to experience. Dr. Shertz from Crisis Medicine says the first time you see blood shouldn’t be when you have a loved one or student in front of you. Please use my link above and my code “DeepWH” for 20% off the Tactical Casualty Care TC2 online course.

Updated April 16, 2019, updated again April 22, 2019