Hey, Camp Fans!
When you get a scrape or a cut or a bump that breaks skin—whatever unfortunate accidents befall you—we’ve become accustomed to making a trip to the medicine cabinet or wherever your family keeps the Band-Aids for a quick, convenient fix. But how did people bandage themselves in the days before the Band-Aid? Let’s take a look at the history of bandages.
What did people do for their cuts and scrapes before the Band-Aid? Ancient cultures like the Egyptians used sugar and honey to seal up their wounds. It wasn’t necessarily the most efficient or easy means to stop bleeding, but it did produce the result they needed.
Eventually people transitioned over to using linens and clean cotton that they rolled around the wound. By the time of the Civil War, doctors created a sticky mixture of resin, olive oil, lard, and lead monoxide that they would spread on these linen fabrics. Once the mixture dried on the fabric, it could be rolled up to be transported or stored for future use! You could cut a strip for whatever size you needed and then heat it up to activate the adhesion in the dried sticky mix.
It was 1888, more than two decades after the Civil War, the company Johnson & Johnson introduced the first commercial first-aid kit that was small enough for folks of the general public to pack along on travels. They were packed with sterile gauze, bandages, and dressings. The initial design was meant for injured railroad workers. Injuries were common for those folks and they typically worked lengthy distances away from proper medical treatment.
Careless Mrs. DicksonFinally, it was 1920 by the time our story gets to a newlywed couple. The wife, Josephine was a wonderful woman but had a problem with kitchen-related accidents. Much like my mother, Josephine could barely hold a knife without somehow slicing herself. Her husband Earle came up with his own adhesive bandage with a simple piece of tape and a thin gauze pad. This way his wife could dress her own cuts easily. This was the invention of the BAND-AID® Brand.
First-Aid Kits are an essential item to bring along for your trips out into the wilderness. We’re sure to have them available on our summer camp shop. Check out our First-Aid Kit by clicking right here and keep yourself protected! As always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks!
- John
innovations and new techniques in the production of high-strength and lightweight alloy poles. That company: Dongah Aluminum Corporation—known to those they worked with as DAC.
This fun-filled boys and girls summer sleep away camp is situated nicely on top of 350 acres very close to the beautiful coast of Maine. Each summer since 1948, kids between the ages eight and fourteen are invited to spend a 4-week stay at this beautiful visual arts camp.
being away from home period. I was scared at first because I wasn’t going to know anybody there and because I sleep walk. A couple days before I left I told my mom that maybe I just shouldn’t go. But my mom told me that everything would be okay. She showed me pictures and shared stories of all the fun adventures she had at camp herself when she was a kid. So I pushed through all my fear and I went to camp. As much as I hate to say it, my mom was right, Camp Overlook ended up being totally awesome and I can’t wait to go back again! Once I got there I made lots of new friends and one especially great friend, Corbet. Corbet stood out from all of the others, not because he had Autism but because he liked YU-GI-OH just like me except he was a Yu-GI-OH genius! He was also really nice and funny, we laughed a lot! My camp counselor, Jim, did just as he promised me and my mom, he kept me safe even while I slept. My most favorite thing there was “The Blob” a water trampoline that we bounced off of into the lake. When the week ended and my mom picked me up I felt sad to leave but I know I’m definitely going back next year to see Jim and Corbet! EVERYTHING about SUMMER CAMP was awesome!!”
get to choose our schedule. I did all sorts of activities, such as cooking, pottery, horseback riding, and kayaking. I even got to try out some new activities while I was there, mountain biking and lacrosse, and I loved them both! Every night there’s a different program, which is so much fun. My favorite was square dance because it’s such a fun tradition. One of the coolest things we did was go on an overnight. My cabin and I hiked out in the woods a little bit, then made s’mores over the campfire and talked. Then, we got in our sleeping bags and talked till night time. Everyone was afraid to be in the woods in a sleeping bag at night, but experiencing it together was so cool. The best part about Camp Highlander is the feeling of love and tradition. Everyone is so welcoming there, it’s like a big family. I had an amazing experience and I can’t wait to go back next year.”
