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Surprising Science

A First-Aid Kit For Those One-Handed Situations

It's not just for the disabled: Recent design school graduate Gabriele Meldaikyte spent a year studying situations in which able-bodied people may find themselves with only one hand to spare.

What’s the Latest Development?


Designer and recent Royal College of Art graduate Gabriele Meldaikyte spent the last year of her studies looking at what happens when individuals only have the use of one hand available to them. After reviewing the data, she decided to create a product that would provide a solution at an especially crucial time: when a person is injured. The result is a first-aid kit in which all of the items can be opened and applied with one hand, eliminating the need for teeth (“our non-dentist-approved ‘third hands'”). The kit also contains color-coding and simple pictogram instructions.

What’s the Big Idea?

Besides its usefulness for people with missing hands or other disabilities that might affect their grip, the kit has potential value for those with two perfectly working hands who find themselves in situations — holding a baby, for example — where one hand is occupied. While freeing the hand may make the most sense, such logic isn’t often the first thing that comes to an injured person’s mind. Meldaikyte’s goal was “to simplify the [kit] in a variety of ways to make quick thinking (and taking action) easier for the wounded.” For now, the kit is just a prototype.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

Read it at FastCompany/Co.Design


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