Re: Katrina like disaster and YOU are the health care provider

[Guest guest]

One very important item I learned to keep is a headlamp...for use

instead of a flashlight. Also a hunting/fishing vest with all those

pockets...and a waistworn fishing tackle box. If having to travel

with triage supplies and assist folks it frees up ones hands.

A latrine trench is fairly easy...long and shallow, cover as you

go...pun intended. Keeping the shovel in mind is handy.

Kit

> Here's a hypothetical situation for discussion. A large scale

> disaster hits your community and you are the health care provider for

> your family and the local band of disaster area survivors. What do we

> do as healers to help people until profesionals take over (FEMA takes

>

[Guest guest]

I like the fishing vest and headlamp ideas, Kit. My EMT bag

isn't something that is comfortable to carry around while you're

being active and holding a minimaglight in one's teeth while both

hands are full trying to get something done in the dark sucks. A

first aid type cross sewn on the back along with some reflector tape

would amp up one's visibility.

A hiker friend uses grapefruit seed extract to purify water

when she's on the trail. Regular chlorine bleach will kill off

germs in water too but I don't remember the drops/gallon. It's a

cheap way to go for at home emergency water purification. Doesn't

do anything for chemical contamination (one could argue successfully

that it adds that to the water) but does keep one from getting the

trots. So does boiling if you have fuel.

Essential oils pack a lot of bang for the size. I am in love

with thyme oil as a germicide/antiseptic now. Might be just the

thing to spray on one's hands now and then (diluted of course) if

one was in a nasty area. Tea tree oil is a given for that too.

Some favorite Wilderness First Responder tricks: Cut a

butterfly bandage out of a piece of adhesive tape with 2 snips.

Fold tape in half and snip two corners off at the center fold. When

unfolded you have a narrowed-in-the-middle piece of tape that does

wonders to hold a wound shut (think stitches). For wound irrigation

fill a ziplock bag with your irrigation medium, snip a small corner

of the bag, then squeeze a stream of the water out with pressure.

This is pretty important for cleaning nasty wounds. A sterile

source of fluid for irrigation is your own urine if you don't have

hepatitis or a bladder infection. Otherwise boil water, add

providine, or similiarly to sterilize the irrigation solution.

DON'T FORGET GLOVES IN YOUR KIT.

Hope all of you down that way do okay.

Chris

[Guest guest]

When I was in high school (yes they had it back THEN), I was in a

course that took a good part of the school year. It was called Medical

Self-Help Training. I was trained for emergency (First Aid) care

as well as long term care in the event of a nuclear disaster. It

covered pretty much everything from bug bites to delivering a baby and

caring for the newborn. I guess it was A to Z sort of.

The course taught ways to make do with what was at hand and how to tear

and bind with cloth, shirts or whatever else you had. I wonder if

I still have that book. Seems it was a Civil Defense course if I

remember right. Is Civil Defense around or has that been replaced

by Big Pharma too?

I've added to that over the years with herbal remedies and the intro herbal course that I took last year.

The one thing I've never made is an emergency pack. It's been a thought but the money has never been there.

With all the recent 'end-of-the-world' activities, it seems prudent to

start thinking more about how to survive and help those around you

survive. It's pretty obvious that our government is hopelessly

inadequate at anything but wars , creating misery and sucking our

wallets dry.

For one thing, if you have flashlights it's best to get either one that

you shake to recharge or one that uses batteries with LED lights. The

batteries will last longer in the LED lights and Walmart does have

headlamps for about $20 that have both LED's and regular bulbs and it's

BRIGHT.

Another thing to remember is food and water. There's a pretty

good site on what to keep on hand and helps to plan for

emergencies. The site is part of the LDS Church and has really

good info.

You can find out more on this at http://www.providentliving.org/ Read areas you find appropriate.

There's one question paramount in my mind right now. In the late

1960's I was trained to help save lives, treat injuries, keep people

alive and bring life into this world. Is there any high school

doing this with children today? Is there a college doing it

today? Has our government decided they can provide (that's a

laugh). If these are not available, why not?

That's my rambling 2 cents worth.

Skip

On 9/22/05, prayerfulmantis <prayerfulmantis@...> wrote:

Here's a hypothetical situation for discussion. A large scaledisaster hits your community and you are the health care provider foryour family and the local band of disaster area survivors. What do wedo as healers to help people until profesionals take over (FEMA takes

at least 3 days to get active and as we saw with Katrina it can be alot longer before help gets to you)?