June is Men’s Health Month, and we’re here to do our part as emergency preparedness advocates! This month is all about raising awareness of common conditions affecting men and encouraging positive behaviors around prevention and treatment. This usually has to do with disease, but we believe this is also a great occasion to think about injuries and accidental medical emergencies such as choking.

In that spirit, let’s talk about first aid! Here are our best first-aid tips for guys.

Get Your First-Aid Kit Together

This is your reminder to pick up that first-aid kit you’ve been meaning to buy! It’s the kind of item you don’t think about until you need it, and then it’s too late. If you don’t already own a decent first-aid kit, now is the time. We recommend most adults keep a kit in their homes and their vehicles. We also suggest you make sure your workplace has a kit and that you know where it is.

Here are the Red Cross recommendations for what a good kit should include. If you already own one, good for you! Take this opportunity to check your kit over and see whether you need to restock anything, as well as check expiration dates.

We also recommend you consider special additions at this time, such as adding The Dechoker to your kit. You can learn more here about why we believe it’s an essential component.

Consider Your Region & Routine

Once you have your standard kit together, consider whether there are any special items you should add. For instance, do you or the people in your life have any allergies or conditions that might require special medications, such as an EpiPen or fast-acting glucose for people with diabetes? How about heart conditions that might require a defibrillator?

Also think about where you live and whether certain items might come in handy. People in cold climates might consider adding emergency blankets or instant hand warmers to their kits, for instance. Those living near water might want a CPR mask for drowning emergencies. If you live in an isolated area that may lose power, your first-aid kit might need to include items like batteries, flashlights and food rations.

Finally, think about your specific activities, hobbies and routines. If you hike often, there are lots of items you may want to add to your kit, from a helpful multi-tool to bug spray to cold packs for injuries on the trail. If you spend a lot of time at the beach, remember sun protection and treatments. Now is the time to ask yourself what you do regularly and what could go wrong.

Brush Up on the Best Techniques

Let’s go beyond getting the right first-aid materials together and talk about the next step — do you know how to use them? Now is the time to give it some thought, rather than waiting for an accident or emergency to occur, when you might feel shaken.

Go through your kit now and make sure you understand how to use each of the items. Most should include instructions right on the packaging. This might seem like a simple reminder, but we think it’s an important one.

Prevention, Prevention, Prevention

Lastly, we would be remiss if we didn’t talk about preventing accidents and emergencies from the start. First aid is all about being reactive to problems, but true preparedness means being proactive about preventing them in the first place.

Here at Dechoker, we talk a lot about choking prevention tips for families, information we believe everyone should know. What other health or safety steps can you take to prevent accidents in your life? Could you be a more careful driver? Could you adopt some safer habits in the kitchen involving knives or cooking? Could you use some new safety glasses or gloves for when you’re working on projects around the house, or are there ever moments at work when you could just see an accident waiting to happen?

According to the Men’s Health Network, unintentional injuries are one of the leading causes of death for men, who are far more likely to experience them than women. Let’s use this month as a reminder to take control of our health and safety by putting more thought into emergency preparedness and prevention.

Take a further look at the Dechoker here.