Quickstart:
Buy a first aid kit. If you already have some first aid supplies, put them together, inventory, and/or organize your first aid supplies in a centralized location.
Warning:
I am not a doctor. Nor, do I play a doctor on tv. As with all of my blog posts, links, videos, instructions, and other information provided by me, you are responsible for any death, injury, harm, or saved lives that the use of this information provides.
Use at your own risk.
Blog Post:
In all the wars, humans have had, infection, disease, and accidents are the number one killers. So the best way to prevent a medical problem/emergency is through prevention.
Let us look at an extreme example.
If you hangout with drug using/dealing felons, you are more likely to be shot. If you live in a neighborhood with rival gangs that deal drugs, you are more likely to be shot.
So to prevent being shoot, hangout with law abiding citizens in a decent neighborhood.
OK, let's come back to reality, for most of us.
To prevent being sick from the cold; wash you hands. Avoid people who are sick, and the surfaces they have touched. Keep your fingers out of your nose, eyes and mouth.
To prevent catching the flu, wash your hands. Avoid people who are sick. Keep your fingers out of your mouth, nose, and eyes. Get a flu shot.
The washing of your hands is a common factor in preventing most diseases. Use the bathroom; wash your hands. Shake hands; wash your hands.
Another common factor is keeping your fingers out of your nose, mouth, and eyes. If you shake hands, and can't wash your hands, keep your fingers away from your face.
The last common factor, I will mention, is to avoid sick people and their things.
There is another way, of preventing diseases, it is to get vaccinations.
The US military has a long list of standard immunizations that all soldiers receive. If a group of soldiers are deploying overseas, they may receive other specific immunizations for the overseas area.
Another method of preventing diseases, is to control disease by controlling vectors. Vectors are the animals and insects that carry a disease.
One example, that most people have heard about, is the bubonic plague that wiped out 1/3 of Europe's population from about 1350 to 1400 A.D.
To recap the bubonic plague, fleas living on rats carried bubonic plague. The fleas bit the rats; the rats died of plague. The fleas, looking for a new host, jump on humans and bite the person. The person, most likely, dies of plague.
A more recent example is malaria. A mosquito carrying malaria bites a person; the person comes down with malaria. The person may or may not die. Either way, life will suck for anyone catching malaria.
Now, there are various ways of controlling vectors. One method is to prevent the vector from living.
You can do this by interrupting the vector's life cycle. For mosquito's, you make sure every container holding more than a teaspoon of water is empty of water. This works because the mosquito larva can only survive in water.
Another way to interrupt a vector's life cycle is to kill it. You set a trap. The trap kills the rat; keeping the rat population under control. This reduces the number of fleas.
You have to be careful using traps. The bigger traps can break your fingers, if they are caught in the trap. Traps with dead animals in them also expose you to the diseases carried by the dead animal, so you have to have a safe way of disposing of the dead animal.
You can do this a number of ways. One method is to design the trap, so the trap is disposable. The inexpensive mouse traps you see in the home/farm stores, usually 2 for $1 are designed to be thrown away when they kill a mouse.
To dispose of this trap, put on a pair of medical gloves, pick up the trap, place it in a piece of newspaper and dispose of it in your outside trash can.
Another method is to design the trap to dispose of the critter for you. One trap is the bucket trap. Basically, you take a 5-gallon bucket, fill it with water, get a board to act as a ramp to the top of the bucket, and bait the trap with peanut butter.
To empty, all you have to do is take the bucket and throw the water and dead critters out by your property line.
Another method, of protecting yourself from vectors, is to prevent vectors from biting you.
You can do this in a variety of ways.
One example is using a sleeping net. The net protects you from mosquitoes as you sleep. If global warming is actually happening, the changing climate may increase tropical diseases in the southern maybe even the whole United States. Some of these diseases are carried by night-time mosquitoes.
Another method of protecting yourself, from biting insects, is to wear DEET. DEET is the active ingredient in bug spray.
Preventing medical emergencies is not limited to preventing diseases. It also includes preventing accidents, and there are many ways to prevent accidents.
Don't store medicines next to candy, and don't tell your kids that medicine is candy. Because when they want "candy," they may eat all of your medicine as candy. Just like you said.
Don't store fuel, gasoline, diesel, and/or propane, in your home.
Don't smoke in bed. Heck, just quit smoking.
Don't put power cord under rugs.
The don'ts could and do continue forever. There are many of them. You will need to use common sense and do research on your specific situation.
Just like the "Don'ts," the "Dos" are endless.
Do wear the proper safety equipment when using any equipment. Goggles and safety glasses are needed to protect your eyes. Ear plugs or ear muffs protect your hearing, Gloves protect your hands, and a hard hat protects your head. Climbing harnesses protect you, if you fall from your roof. But all of this equipment will only protect you, if you are wearing and using the equipment properly.
Sleep is also important. Get enough sleep, so you are rested before doing something potentially dangerous.
OK, you have taken steps to prevent accidents. What happens if there is an accident. What do you do?
Call 911. Cool
What happens if emergency services are too far away?
You could provide "First Aid." Don't know first aid!
That's OK. The Red Cross will teach you first aid for a small fee.
Don't have any money. You can download the U.S. Army's first aid manual, and you and some friends can practise on each other. If you don't know how to get the U.S. Army first aid manual, read the "Second Half-Health/Medical" for instructions.
If you are going to provide first aid, you are going to need a quality first aid kit. Now, don't go to the store and expect to buy a quality first aid kit for $19.95.
The inexpensive kits are ok, if you are expecting to only treat minor cuts and scraps. If you expecting to treat broken bones, severe bleeding, gunshot wounds, and other severe injuries you are going to need a better kit.
There are several different ways of getting a better first aid kit.
One way is to buy it. When buying a prepared kit, you are paying someone to assemble the contents of the kit. This cuts into the amount of supplies you have. Plus, you don't know the quality of each individual item in a prepared kit.
Another way is to prepare the kit yourself. Do some research and buy the equipment and supplies, you think you need.
Another way is to make or improvise the items you need. Somethings, you will have to buy. Some things you can make, such as backboards from plywood and bandages from bed sheets; additionally, you can improvise wound compresses from maxi- pads.
So you have a first aid kit, but you feel the need for something more. You can obtain further medical training.
Usually, people check out the local community college. These community colleges offer classes on becoming an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Paramedic, Nurse, and beginning courses for people later transferring to medical school to become Physician Assistants (PA) or Medical Doctors (MD).
Avoid "Doctor Assistants" schools. They usually teach people to be paper pushers for doctors.
So get your first-aid kit together, learn some first-aid skills, and ...
I'll see you next week!
Links:
Common Cold
http://www.commoncold.org/prevent.htm
American Lung Association: The Common Cold
http://www.lungusa.org/site/c.dvLUK9O0E/b.35873/k.A28F/Cold_and_Flu_Guidelines_The_Common_Cold.htm
Kid's Health: Infections: Common Cold
http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/common/cold.html
Hands On Health-South Carolina-How can you prevent influenza?
http://www.handsonhealth-sc.org/page.php?id=1300
Mouse Bucket Trap
http://www.kountrylife.com/content/gal1017.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Mouse-Trap
Women: Stay Healthy at Any Age
http://www.ahrq.gov/ppip/healthywom.htm
Men: Stay Healthy at Any Age
http://www.ahrq.gov/ppip/healthymen.htm
Preventive Care Timeline
http://www.ahrq.gov/ppip/timelinead.pdf
Hooah For Health-Deployment Immunization:
http://www.hooah4health.com/deployment/immunizations.htm
Deployment Medical Information Sheets:
http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/dmis/
Public Health Pest Control Manual
http://vector.ifas.ufl.edu/manual.htm
U.S. Navy - Shipboard Pest Control manual
http://www-nmcphc.med.navy.mil/od/documents/us_navy_sbpc_manual_sep03.pdf
Armed Forces Pest Management Board Technical Guide #36
http://www.afpmb.org/coweb/guidance_targets/ppms/tg36/tg36.pdf
DEET
http://www.deet.com/
DEET - Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.deet.com/faqs.html
Accident Prevention
http://www.noah-health.org/en/healthy/home/index.html
Accident Prevention
http://www.preparedness.info/npi/accprev/default.htm
First Aid Kit
http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/firstaidkit.html
http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/lifeline/fakit.html
Wilderness Medical Systems
http://www.wildernessmedical.com/
Survival Unlimited-Expedition First Aid Kit
http://www.survivalunlimited.com/firstaidkits/expeditionamk.htm
Doctors for Disaster Preparedness: A Basic Medical Kit for a 10-20 person Shelter
http://www.ddponline.org/medkit.htm
