Category: First Aid/Medical

Letter Re: Dress for Survival Success

Jim; That was a great article by George Haystack in Tuesday’s blog! I thought I was the only one [that carried so much survival gear around on a daily basis.] Mr. Haystack takes it further than I do. First, I could not carry [a concealed firearm] at my workplace being within the secure area of an airport. I generally carried a sturdy day pack, with the following: (1) Lockback knife (2) LED flashlights (9 LED’s / 3 AA batteries) (16) spare AAA batteries (1) regular AA flashlight (4) spare AA batteries The following are all OTC medications, of course (1) …


Letter Re: Essential Oils for Survival

Knowing that a survival situation will be most likely without medical help – one of my first thoughts is – make sure I have some essential oils. What are essential oils? Think herbs, with the important oils all “juiced” out of them. I first became interested in oils after learning that oils are mentioned in the Bible quite frequently – both in the Old and New Testament. God had/has a keen interest in them. Maybe I should too, I mused. Lately, I’ve tried to stock up on my favorites, as they may become difficult to buy in the future, as …


Letter Re: Some Disaster Preparedness Information for Asthmatics

Hi Mr. Rawles, My son has asthma and I have had the unfortunate experience of not having power when he needed a nebulizer treatment. Please inform you readers of the absolute necessity of having power inverters and testing your needed appliances before an emergency. Not knowing how sensitive a medical nebulizer is and knowing that some equipment is sensitive to modified sine wave power from the cheaper inverters was terrifying. Having the power out and an asthma attack at the same time was bad enough.The prayer that I said when turning on our only nebulizer plugged into a gizmo (my …


Letter Re: Some Disaster Preparedness Information for Asthmatics

Dear JWR I am fairly new to prepping but as a lifelong asthma patient I quickly realized that I cannot depend solely on my current nebulizer WTSHTF. This is because it plugs into a wall and does not have any other alternative way to work when the grid goes down. When I did some research, however, I found a beautiful thing. There are now handheld nebulizers that have both AC and and DC car adapter abilities as well as a rechargeable [gel cell] battery. They cost around $200 or slightly more but I can tell you that this is a …


Two Letters Re: A Vehicular BoB

Mr. Editor: I have been a reader of this blog for a little while now and one of the earlier postings I read caught my eye: In regards to a vehicle “bug out” kit. That list was certainly a good place to start, but it was missing a few items, so I thought I would put my “two cents” worth in. To give you a little bit of background, I would describe myself as essentially being a realist. I watch the news, I read the papers. I know what is going on around me. I am aware of today’s political …


Letter Re: Comments on Two of the Three Bs: Bullets and Band-Aids

Greetings Jim, With [the] November 4th [US presidential and congressional election] behind us, many of us are wondering how to proceed with our preps. With regard to the bullets in the “Three B’s” consider this; your firearm will function with one magazine, most with even no magazine, but they all require ammunition. As a prep (as opposed to investment), I put forth that a good supply of ammunition is a higher priority than spare magazines, after purchasing the firearm, of course! In selecting a firearms battery, ammunition availability is a common selection criteria. You should own firearms that ammunition can …


Letter Re: A Suggested Checklist for Preparedness Newbies

Here’s a beginner’s list I made for my [elderly] father today: Food {Brown pearl] rice does not store well. Neither does cooking oil so that needs to be fresh. No, Crisco doesn’t count. Coconut oil would be your best bet. Wheat berries – 400 pounds – bulk order at your local health food store Beans – 400 pounds – bulk order at your local health food store Mylar bags Spices Salt Country Living grain mill propane tanks, small stove and hoses to connect freeze dried fruits, vegetables, eggs and meat if you can find them. Water 500 gallons of water …


Letter Re: 11th Hour Preparations: It is Not Too Late to Start

Jim: It is not too late to prepare for the hard times that are coming. But time is short, so I am going to be brutally blunt. Prices are going up. If you don’t already expect double digit inflation, you haven’t been paying attention. If you are just realizing that you need to prepare for the future, forget buying barter goods. Forget precious metals to swap for what others may be willing to sell. The idea of buying things so that you can swap them for other goods or services later is bad policy. That’s right. I’m advocating that you …


Letter Re: Impressions of Medical Corps Training

Dear Mr. Rawles: Thanks for a wonderful book and blog site. They are very, very helpful. I also wanted to thank you for a posting I saw last spring on your web site about the Medical Corps class led by Chuck Fenwick, called Field Medicine in a Hostile Environment. Because of that posting, I took Chuck’s course in Ohio in May and found it to be invaluable. I couldn’t believe all the techniques and information imparted in such a short period of time. Although not on the curriculum, when I asked if he’d show us how to give injections, he …


A Girl Scout Troop Leader Wants to Get Her Girls Prepared

We recently got an e-mail from a Girl Scout troop leader, describing how she wants to start a project making 72-hour “bug out” bags for the troop members. Her goal is to get her troop members better prepared, yet not tip-off their parents to her own level of preparedness. She wants to avoid making herself look like some sort of “preparedness nut” or “whacko”. The important thing to keep in mind is that terminology and phrasing are crucial to how people form opinions. Do not use terms such as “Bug Out Bag” or “Get Out of Dodge Kit” or “Survival …


Five Letters Re: Preparedness Advice for the Parents of a Newborn Infant

Dear Memsahib: I’d like to suggest exploring the Wear Your Baby site There are free directions for making your own baby wearing wraps and free videos demonstrating different wrapping/carrying styles. The free printable items have good clear photographs to help in choosing the right fabric for the job. Now that slings have become poplar and trendy the prices have become rather expensive. There is nothing like spending $30+ dollars to find that baby doesn’t like that carrying style or is wrong for momma’s back. I’d rather buy fabric and try different styles (more comfy). If it is a total washout …


Letter Re: Preparedness Advice for the Parents of a Newborn Infant

Mr. & Mrs. Rawles, I hope you and the family are doing well. I have been reading your blog for over a year now and it has been quite helpful. We are making our way slowly in our preps but now I have a new issue. My wife has blessed our home with a child. We had been trying for 12 years with no luck, I guess God decided it was time! My daughter is now two weeks old and with all the excitement I hadn’t put any thought into preps for a new born. Maybe the Memsahib could give …


Letter Re: Some Thoughts on Practical Preparedness — Things That Work

Jim: To follow-up on the last two e-mails that you posted from me, here are some random thoughts that I’d like to share on preparedness for when the Schumer Hits the Fan (WTSHTF): Use an eyeglasses “leash” (lanyard) to prevent the loss of glasses and reduce the risk of damage. Buy janitorial-size rolls os toilet paper, without perforations. Each roll is 1,000 feet long, and a box of 12 rolls measures about two feet square. These take up just a fraction of the room required to store the same length of toilet paper in standard household rolls. Use a kiddie-type …


Letter Re: Recommended Preparedness Focus for a Dentist in Kansas?

Dear Sir, It was James Howard Kunstler who alerted me to the problems that has caught so many other people unawares in early 2002. Alas, although we’re light years ahead of our fellow citizens in terms of preparedness, we’re many parsecs behind the majority of your readers! We do have about six months of food on hand (which keeps growing each day), plus containers for water storage and filters for water purification. We have some basic medical supplies. Our “battery” has been augmented including the storage of several hundreds (although not thousands yet) of rounds of ammunition. Soon, I’ll have …


Three Letters Re: Welding Oxygen Versus Medical Oxygen

Jim, I write to you again as I pull another EMS duty shift. So far tonight I have had one EMS call and it was a “difficulty breathing” call. Our local law enforcement officers (LEOs) already had the patient on 15LPM. of 02 via non-rebreather mask (NRBM) before we got on scene. The LEOs tend to over inflate, so I titrated the flow down to 8LPM., which worked for the patient’s breathing pattern. I’m glad our LEOs are proactive, but this means that I don’t get a baseline Room Air (RA) 02 saturation for comparison and it does waste some …