the simplest accidents can happen at any time, whether that’s a slip and a fall, a kitchen burn or even getting
industrial glue stuck in your hair.
most people are familiar with first aid kits and have one in their home and workplace. the kutzy and/or paranoid likely also have one in their glove compartment, purse, or really just on their person at all times. but how did the little emergency box become to so common? the answer lies in a chance meeting on a train in the old west.
for the unfamiliar, the first aid kit is a pretty standard medical tool, typically containing the following: bandages, dressings, antiseptic wipes, aspirin, gauze, disinfectant, cotton balls, eyewash, sanitizer, ice pack, saline, eyewash, scissors, thermometer, emergency blanket, flashlight, safety pins, tweezers, etc.
the first aid kit, like many medical supplies we still use today, was first created by medical supplier johnson & johnson just two years after the company was created. according to the company’s
history
, founder robert wood johnson was on a train headed to a colorado cattle ranch for vacation in early 1888 when he started chit-chatting with another passenger.
the passenger turned out to be the denver & rio grande railway’s chief surgeon. he began telling johnson about how hard it was getting immediate help to injured railroad workers, as railroad sites were often hundreds of kilometres away from hospitals. at the time, the standard practice when there was an accident was to send someone to fetch a doctor – that is if there was one nearby. when others nearby would try to help, they’d often only make the injuries worse. medical supplies, too, were scarce, especially when it came to treating the kinds of industrial injuries these workers were facing.