There’s a gigantic supply list required to raise twenty-first century children. From cradles to college, the tools needed to support a happy and healthy family are endless, even in the immediacy of the daily grind. In any given family moment, there is always a demand for new sneakers, cooler clothes, duffle bagfuls of sporting gear, and kitchen cabinets crammed with the “right” kind of snacks. Today, keeping up with the Jones’ children probably means that your kids also need a plasma TV with Tivo just to survive. But it’s what you don’t find in the typical American home that is most important to the family living inside it. Chances are, if you’ve got little ones running around, they’ll eventually run into something, and that means a lot of cuts and bruises that most parents aren’t equipped to deal with.
There isn’t a lot going on in most household medicine cabinets. Bandages slip behind vanities, thermometers squeeze themselves between couch cushions, and tubes of ointment seem to spontaneously combust before they are used more than once. It’s troubling that most parents do not have basic first-aid on-hand, and even scarier that they often don’t know how to use the equipment when they can actually find it! Feeling nervous? Enter: the medibag, an all-inclusive, kid-friendly first-aid kit that’s a lifeline for parents and an outrageous hit with kids.
When her oldest son was stung by a bee, inventor Richelle Nassos wasted precious time tearing through parenting books to find a remedy. After seeing her child hurt longer than he had to, Richelle decided to create a family medicine bag that responded to 25 of the most common household injuries, including beestings. Three years later, she and her husband have developed one of the most practical, lifesaving items any family can have in their home. Portable, brightly colored, and packed with the latest in kid-friendly medical products, the medibag makes complete first-aid less frightening for children, simpler for parents, and easier to store in one place. The basics are all covered: the medibag™ is filled with brightly colored crayon bandages and gauze pads in any shape, size, and color, an assortment of child pain relievers such as burn gels, eye washes, sting relief pads and much more (including colorful stickers!), and disposable tools from tweezers to thermometers. Most importantly, the medibag is also a complete lesson in family first-aid, stocked with interactive home-safety media and a quick-action first-aid flip chart for immediate solutions to at-home health dilemmas. “We realized that part of growing up is falling down,” said Pete on creating the medibag. “Parents aren’t trained properly and they don’t have the equipment to treat all of the injuries that can happen with children. Nine out of ten parents aren’t CPR certified. Nine out of ten don’t have a complete first-aid kit. People say they have things they can use in their house, but they usually don’t have all of it, especially not in one place.”
Since it won iParenting’s award for Hot Product in 2006, families have been scooping up multiple medibags for the home, the car, and the stroller. Some are even buying one for each child, “It’s one of those things where children want to call it their own, especially since there is a place on the bag where each child can put his or her name,” says Pete. And since they’re doctor recommended, easy-to-use, organized, and customizable, medibags are showing up everywhere from classrooms to fire trucks.
Taking the fear out of injury is what the medibag has become known for, but its inventors are ardent that the information within the medibag is the product’s true claim to fame. “We found that, because of the lack of knowledge, the first thing that parents do when their child gets a household injury is call 911 or take him or her to the emergency room.” The tools in the medibag eliminate the need for an overwhelming majority of such doctor visits, and this cuts down on wasted time, anxiety, and money. “Without the medibag, something that can take 15 cents to cure could cost $1000.”
Using the medibag, parents are confidently learning how to solve child-rearing’s scariest situations and kids are enjoying entertaining ways to treat backyard booboos. The Nassos say, “Putting something as small as a bandage on makes a world of difference,” and their customers agree! With the medibag, now you can actually find them.
