Category: First Aid/Medical

After 10 Years–Some Observations and Lessons Learned by a Y2K-Era Prepper

It was June, 1998. Y2K was a salient topic of conversation. It got my attention. When the electricity went off and there would be no water to drink, and no fuel to move food to the JIT grocery stores, I could see things getting very ugly. I had been willing to fight for this nation as a member of the US Army. Now it was time to fight for my household. I bought a Springfield Armory M1A. I bought a safe to store it in. I bought another M1A (for the spousal unit of course!) I bought ammo. Lots of …


Letter Re: Request for Investing Advice

Mr. Rawles: After reading “Patriots” last year, much like Mr. H., I was decidedly ready to act, but largely unprepared logistically. It can be overwhelming and the feeling that “I had a long way to go” was ever present (it still is and I suspect always will be as my education never ends). I’d just like to remind the author to not worry, you’ll get the stuff; you’ve already taken the first step and done something. But preparedness is more than material, the mindset is most important. Start to live right, be frugal, be healthy. Don’t be reliant on outside …


Letter Re: An Army Officer’s Observations

Mr Rawles, I found your web site a few months ago and have been pouring through it ever since. This past week, I finished reading the SurvivalBlog archives through the end of 2007. Just six months of archives left 🙂 I also just finished reading your excellent novel, “Patriots” As a fundamentalist Christian who was homeschooled, I truly appreciate your willingness to unabashedly share your faith and your conservative family values through your web site and writings. I am also a West Point graduate who became an Armor officer in 2000, so I really enjoy and relate to your anecdotes …


Letter Re: Potassium Iodide Versus Potassium Iodate for Post-Nuke Thyroid Gland Protection

Jim, I’m doing some preparation research now since I’ll be pretty close to Yucca Mountain when it comes online, which I ultimately expect it to. I recently saw a posting on your blog [from “Cody”] regarding the taking of the thyroid blockers Potassium Iodate [KI] and Potassium Iodide [KIO3] in case of a nuclear event. The person writing you said that Potassium Iodate was superior because it didn’t cause as much stomach irritation as Potassium Iodide. I did a web search on “potassium iodide versus potassium iodate” and came up with these links: Approved Brands Iodide Versus Iodate WHO Guide …


Letter Re: The Wal-Mart Discount Prescription Promotion

Jim, I’m a Family Doctor in rural Michigan, and a Major in the Army Reserve Medical Corps, who enjoys your blog every day. A pharmacist friend, who works at WalMart just gave me their new list of $4 drugs for 30 days and $10 drugs for 90 days [sales promotion]. What a bonanza! If your friendly local doctor will do it, he can prescribe for you, drugs such as Cipro 500 MG (a great broad-spectrum antibiotic), # 90 count for $10. Or Ibuprofen 800 MG #90 count for $10, or a very wide selection of medications for diabetes, high blood …


Budget Preparedness–Survival Isn’t About Stuff, It is About Skills

I often stress that a key to survival is not what you have, but rather what you know. (See my Precepts of Rawlesian Survivalist Philosophy web page.) In part, I wrote: Skills Beat Gadgets and Practicality Beats Style. The modern world is full of pundits, poseurs, and Mall Ninjas. Preparedness is not just about accumulating a pile of stuff. You need practical skills, and those only come with study, training, and practice. Any armchair survivalist can buy a set of stylish camouflage fatigues and an M4gery Carbine encrusted with umpteen accessories. Style points should not be mistaken for genuine skills …


Letter Re: The Importance of Storing Vitamin C

Humans along with a few other creatures do not produce Vitamin C. (We also do not make uricase [Urate oxidase] so are prone to Gout, a human disease). As such we must get Vitamin C from our diet. We have already discussed the need of vitamin C to prevent scurvy. Since it is water soluble and [unlike Vitamins A, D, E, and K, is] not fat soluble, we must take it continually. One important time that you need Vitamin C is in the case of trauma or infection. Animals that make their own Vitamin C increase production immensely in these …


A Beginner’s Guide to Essential Oils, by Paul C.

Any basic care kit in a WTSHTF scenario would be lacking if it did not include several essential oils. Aromatherapy has been used since ancient times for medical and religious purposes; its proponents have included Galen (personal physician to Marcus Aurelius), Avicenna (an Arab physician at the turn of the first millennium) and Rene Gattefosse (the father of modern aromatherapy). Essential oils are mentioned in Chinese medical texts dating back over 4,000 years; they were utilized by the Egyptians to embalm their dead. When the Black Death (bubonic plague) ravaged Europe during the Middle Ages, aromatherapists were largely unaffected (probably …


Letter Re: Potassium Iodide Versus Potassium Iodate for Post-Nuke Thyroid Gland Protection

James, You mentioned stocking up on Potassium Iodide (KI). The head trainer at Medical Corps–(I took their awesome class, thanks for giving it kudos)–developed Potassium Iodate (KI03). It has a huge benefit over KI, in that it doesn’t upset the stomachs of the people taking it [as much as KI]. Medicine is much more beneficial if you don’t involuntarily purge it. Another thing I’d like to mention to SurvivalBlog readers is that KI and KI03 don’t expire, even if the bottles have expiration dates marked. Since it is not an organic–it a very basic chemical compound. Iodine might leach out …


Two Letters Re: Beyond First Aid–Where to Learn Medical Skills

James, It’s funny how life gets in the way. I was in the process of writing a fairly long (I stopped at 15 pages) discussion of pandemics and medical care at home when the report in Chest came out. Suffice it to say that the wind was somewhat taken from my sails. And my take-home messages would have been 1) Hospitals are terrible places to be in a pandemic so stay away (I plan to), 2) Since you’re not going to the hospital, people at home better learn how to do basic nursing care (so finding older nursing textbooks and …


Letter Re: Beyond First Aid–Where to Learn Medical Skills

Jim, There has been a recent thread on learning medical skills. Studying the disasters like the recent Chinese earthquake, Myanmar storm and Tsunami teach us that in mass casualty situations like these, you can go a long way knowing how to deal with broken bones, lacerations and infections. Imagine the help you could be if you could: Apply a cast Run an IV Clean and dress a wound Do minor suturing Administer antibiotics from your medical kit These skills can each be learned in a weekend. Sure, knowing how to manage an airway, insert a chest tube, decompress a pneumothorax …


How To Prepare for Radiation Emergencies, by KLK

Scenario 1 You are sitting at your retreat, enjoying the scenery, when you hear on the radio that there has just been a nuclear weapon that has detonated in a contiguous State . You decide to run into your shelter. After a few days in there, you start to wonder when it might be safe to come out. You also wonder if you would have been better off evacuating and getting as far away from the radiation source as possible. A radiation disaster is a scenario for which we must be prepared. It may be from a radiological source, such …


Two Letters Re: Triage in Emergency Mass Critical Care (EMCC) Events

Jim: Two minor notes:regarding the letter from DS in Wisconsin: Pulse Oximeters are cheaper now than ever. Some drug companies give them away as promo’s. You can find them online starting well under $100, some nearer to $50. These are battery operated self-contained finger clamp units, but I’ve seen nurses at more than one hospital using them to take vitals. Secondly, while it is possible to ventilate a patient by hand for long term, it is not very practical. You’d need a staff of dedicated people that are willing to perform a laborious and painful task for hours on end, …


Two Letters Re: Triage in Emergency Mass Critical Care (EMCC) Events

Dear Jim, This letter is in response to NC Bluedog’s very informative article that appeared today. Here in rural Wisconsin, we have the same problems as he noted–shortage of high-technology life-saving devices. This is due to the overall situation that our medical care industry is dollar-driven. He have a small hospital, and two more within a 15 minute dash via ambulance. Each hospital has at least a four-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with a ventilator per bed, and at least two extra ventilators that can be used outside of their ICUs. Beyond that, there are none available. Extra units would …


Letter Re: Triage in Emergency Mass Critical Care (EMCC) Event

Dear JWR: I feel that there is a strong premonition in the article you flagged on Wednesday (Who Should Doctors Let Die in a Pandemic?) This hit the Main Stream Media (MSM) early this week and quickly fell off the news cycle. The topic is simply too uncomfortable. The original articles were published in the medical journal Chest (The Journal of the American College of Chest Physicians and are very dry and difficult reading even for a physician. This is unfortunate because it is a salient topic which needs to be vigorously publicly debated (instead of who got voted off …