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Tactical Medical Gear for Individual First Aid Kits
Published on July 6, 2023 by PhillC

Recently we received a request from the Solidarity Collectives and Kharkiv Hardcore about their need for Individual First Aid Kits (IFAKs), for front line combatants. They requested seventy such IFAKs.

In conjunction with our contacts at ACK Galicja, we've been purchasing items to build these IFAKs. While we won't be able to contribute enough gear for all seventy, we'll certainly assist with a good percentage.

We found that Rhino Rescue were offering a solid discount at this time, making their heamostatic gauze, burn dressings, chest seals, Israeli bandages and emergency blankets quite cost effective. JB Tacticals in Poland also offered good prices for IFAK pouches and tourniquets.

Therefore, we've recently bought the following items:
  • 22 x Rhino Rescue z-fold heamostatic gauze
  • 22 x Rhino Rescue 6-inch Israeli bandages
  • 16 x Rhino Rescue chest seals (2 pieces in each packet)
  • 6 x Rhino Rescue emergency burn dressings (2 pieces in each packet)
  • 20 x Rhino Rescue emergency blankets
  • 20 x JB Tacticals tourniquets
  • 15 x JB Tacticals IFAK pouches
Some time ago, we also managed to purchase a job lot of trauma shears from One Shear. Ten of these basic utility shears have now been sent to ACK Galicja for the the IFAK project, with ten more available if needed.

Added to this, we also bought twenty-two, 14-gauge chest decompression needles from JB Tacticals. These aren't specifically needed for IFAKs, but are always needed in stabilisation points and medical field stations. We'll send them to Solidarity Collectives for onward distribution.
We'd also like to mention that we were contacted by a supporter in Germany, who wished to directly supply medical supplies they'd sourced themselves to Solidarity Collectives, under the Black Flag Medical banner. Of course we were very happy to assist! Two large boxes of general medical supplies, consisting of the following items, we sent to Kyiv:
  • 2 x stethoscopes
  • 1 x pulse oximeter
  • 10 x 500ml disinfectant bottles
  • 16 x 100ml disinfectant bottles
  • 11 x packages of examination gloves (2200 gloves in total!)
  • 6 x trauma shears
  • 10 x emergency blankerts
  • 2ml syringes, triangular bandages, medical strips and band-aids
Finally, we'd like to highlight that we have some small promotional materials available. Black Mosquito is selling Black Flag Medical velcro patches and buttons/pins on our behalf. Half of every sale will come to us, while the other half covers their costs and effort.

In these last couple of months, it feels like we're making good progress and contributing to our mission. We are always exceedingly grateful to all donors. Without their continued generous contributions, we wouldn't be able to continue supplying medical supplies to those who really need them in Ukraine.