Category: First Aid/Medical

Letter Re: Wood Stove Selection, Operation, and Safety

James, You’ve had two good letters on woodstoves recently. I’d like to add a few thoughts based of heating and cooking with wood for a couple of decades in the Colorado mountains. I have never been more contented than when there’s a blizzard raging outside and I’m inside next to a nice warm woodstove. That being said, woodstoves and chainsaws account for the vast majority of domestic emergencies in many rural areas and a constant source of amusement for EMTs. As has been written, the importance of a properly installed chimney cannot overemphasized. Do get a quote for a good …


Lessons Learned from Hurricanes Ike, Rita, and Katrina, by TiredTubes

In September, 2008, Hurricane Ike–a Category 4 hurricane–pounded the Gulf Coast of the southern US. Some coastal communities like Crystal Beach no longer really exist. Inland, life was severely disrupted. For those of us on the South Coast hurricanes are a frequent reality. We were quite well prepared, but used the disruptions and dislocations as a test and opportunity to tune up our preparations. 1. Be ready to help others and to accept help We didn’t need much during Ike, but the power went out before a neighbor finished boarding up his house. My 1 KW inverter, hooked up to …


Two Letters Re: Preparations for Eyesight & Hearing

Jim, I thought that I would respond to Jake G.’s letter on “Preparations for Eyesight & Hearing”. I feel I can offer a little insight (no pun intended) on eyesight and Lasik. I had Lasik a little less than two years ago. I had just turned 43 and, after 22 years of wearing glasses or contact lenses, I was ready to make the jump. I didn’t take it lightly, as having any procedure contains some degree of risk, but having surgery on arguably the most important of your five senses is scary. I had been in love with the idea …


Prepping for the Worst Case: Becoming a Refugee, by Dr. L.D.

I am unable to make my home self-sustaining.  So, unfortunately, my family will probably become refugees in a true SHTF scenario.  My focus presently is in becoming desirable refugees rather than shunned refugees.  The key is minimizing any negative impact (extra logistics of all sorts) and maximizing any positive impact (filling in weak spots) to someone that is geographically fortuitous.  I was challenged to figure out how a small family could best become a wanted commodity when food is tight and security isn’t. I determined the key for us was that everything carried needed to be dense in value. Density …


Letter Re: Preparations for Eyesight and Hearing

Mr. Editor: Just a quick note to follow-up regarding preparations for Eyesight and Hearing. I checked into lasik and contacts long ago (I am slightly near-sighted – too many hours staring into cameras and computers I guess). Although Lasik advances have come a long way, please be sure you talk to your eye surgeon at length before you commit to this serious expense. If you are near-sighted, a successful lasik procedure will improve your long-distance vision, but may impede your “up close” vision. I talked with my eye doctor at length about this, and after many questions he acknowledged that …


Letter Re: Preparations for Eyesight and Hearing

Hello Mr. Rawles, This is just a quick note from a new reader. If what I mention to you has been covered on your site, I apologize; your site takes more than a few multi-hour reads to digest! I see very little talk about contact lenses/solution and hearing aids/batteries post-TEOTWAWKI in most preparedness articles. I would think it would be most unfortunate to train, learn and prepare for any upcoming abnormalities and shortly thereafter not be able to see or hear. It would seem to me that at least a couple year’s supply of contact lenses on hand at all …


Is Prepping an Insurmountable Task?–The Beginner’s Primer, by Gary T.

Once you realize the importance of being prepared for coming hard times, you may ask yourself, “How can I possibly prepare for any scenario?  This is an insurmountable undertaking.”  The more you ponder this, the more the reality of this seems to be confirmed.  Let not your heart be troubled.  As with almost any endeavor, the road to success begins with the first step and continues one step at a time.  Consistent, prioritized, careful preparation over a period of time, preparation built around what your personal situation (budget, job, family, medical needs, etc.) will allow, can get you in a …


Hypothermia Prevention and Treatment Part 1–Staying Warm, by Lumberjack

This two part series of articles is meant to address a basic physiological need that may be severely threatened both in a TEOTWAWKI situation and any time a lesser emergency takes us out of our bubble of comfort and preparedness. That issue is warmth: specifically how you stay warm and avoid hypothermia when your car slides off the road in a snow storm or you don’t get out of dodge fast enough and find yourself hoofing it overland with only what you can carry, through rain and wind. Part two deals with the possibility you or a loved one or …


Two Letters Re: Preparedness Information for Diabetics

Dear Mr. Rawles, I have a few suggestions to add to the recent article about survival and preparedness for diabetics, particularly type 1 diabetics. I’ve had type 1 diabetes for 13 years and one of the few things I learned pretty quickly is that the power will go out and even if the bottle of insulin is unopened, temperatures higher than 40 degrees Fahrenheit for a long period of time will degrade the activity of the insulin. This will require a much higher dose than what would otherwise be necessary if the insulin is stored properly, if the insulin works …


Preparedness Information for Diabetics, by Chuck Fenwick

I ran across an article on survival and diabetics written by a nurse. It was what we call a basic brush and floss kind of article that quoted from some well-known medical books. I call it a brush and floss article because it contained mostly information which a diabetic already knows, much like the way a dentist tells you what your mom has told you a bazillion times about brushing your teeth. However at the end of the article the nurse pretty much consigned type 1 diabetics to doom and even referenced Darwin and the “survival of the fittest”. I …


Letter Re: Advice for a Post-Thyroidectomy — Potassium Iodide?

Mr. Rawles, I have read your blog for awhile, I would like to know if you about the following: I was diagnosed with Graves Disease over two years ago. They cured the Graves Disease and the way that was done was to completely remove my thyroid gland, If the main concern with radiation is thyroid cancer, without a thyroid what would radiation do are what organ would it damage the most. I would like to also know if there would be any need for myself to take Potassium Iodide (KI). JWR Replies: There would be no need for you to …


Basic Survival Skills for Children, by M.L.

Children play a part in many of our lives. Protecting them becomes an important issue in daily life as well as in an end of the world as you know it moment. However, what happens when adults can’t be there to protect them? What happens when they may need to protect us?             Our government and even many schools across the country, as well as parents and other adults, often do not see the potential in children. I am not talking about the educated potential one might find in the youth of a suburban school, but the potential to rise …


Preparedness Beginnings, by “Two Dogs”

I am a retired Marine Corps officer and Naval Aviator (jets and helicopters), commercial airplane and helicopter pilot, and most recently, an aircraft operations manager for a Federal agency. I graduated from numerous military schools, including the U.S. Army Airborne (“jump”) School, U.S. Navy Divers School, Army helicopter, and Navy advanced jet schools. In addition, I have attended military “survival” courses whose primary focus was generally short-term survival off the land, escape from capture, and recovery from remote areas.  Like most Marine officers, I attended The Basic School, an 8-month school (only five during the Vietnam era – my case), …


Letter Re: The Virtues of Fasting Experience for Well-Rounded Preparedness

Greetings! I have an idea that I have been wanting the patriot survival community to consider. Here it is: Basically we are able to go without food for much longer than most people know. This is not true with water to be sure. A normal, reasonably healthy human body is easily capable of going three to six weeks on very, very little nutrition and remain completely mentally alert and even physically active. During a prolonged fast you will not be able to pick up as much furniture as normal but you may easily be able to walk for 100 miles! …


Gear Up — Appropriate and Redundant Technologies for Prepared Families

I frequently stress the importance of well-balanced preparedness in my writings. All too often, I’ve seen people that go to extremes, to the point that these extremes actually detract from the ability to survive a disaster situation. These range from the “all the gear that I’ll need to survive is in my backpack” mentality to the “a truckload of this or that” fixation. But genuine preparedness lies in comprehensive planning, strict budgeting, and moderation. Blowing your entire preparedness budget on just one category of gear is detrimental to your overall preparedness. Another common mistake that I see among my consulting …