Medical Preparedness; Preparedness is More than Beans, Bullets, and Band-Aides

Medical Preparedness~Preparedness is more than Beans, Bullets, and Band-aides.

This is the third post in the series. You can also read about Physical Preparedness and Spiritual Preparedness.
The title says prepping is more than beans, bullets, and band-aides, then I go an write about medical preparedness. This post isn’t about the little first aid kit from Walgreen’s. Not to say those aren’t bad, but you will need much more than that little kit can offer.

When there Is No Doctor

Not trying to fear monger here. That’s not my style. I am an introvert and with that comes a brain that never shuts off. I am always thinking about the possible scenarios that could happen. The way today’s health care system is makes doctors not being readily available a possibility.
83% of doctors considered quitting when Obamacare first come to fruition. 83%! This number is from a study done in 2012. That number could be bigger.
This is what prompted me to take control of our own healthcare. Learn what I could to take care of my family and be more self reliant. This isn’t to say that if there is a broken bone or sever illness we will try to deal with it on our own. But for the not so emergent things we will take care of them ourselves.

Basic First Aid

Knowledge is power. Learn advanced first aid. How to set that broken bone until you can get help. There are times I wished I had known how to suture up one of my boys.I would have saved a ton of time and money. Now we have a son who is trained as a Wildland Firefighter and EMT. Great training to have. I am not saying go out and get EMT training. It’s expensive. Taking an advanced firs aide course won’t hurt though.
We do have a suture kit in our preparedness first aid kit. We also have lots of Quik Clot We also have a stapler.
A few other things that aren’t just band-aids and Bactine:
Space Blankets for in the car. Israeli bandagesfor traumatic injury. I have also fully stocked assorted sizes of gauze and medical tape. Whatever the EMT son said we should have on hand.
You can’t go wrong with Amazon when it come to looking for First Aid Supplies. You will find everything you need and then some.

Sanitation

Do you have a plan for sanitation?
If we lose power we lose water. This also means we lose our toilet. We can store water just for the toilet if we want. (Milk jugs are good for this. DO NOT DRINK WATER STORED IN MILK JUGS) We only have so much room to store water, as well as if it’s is a long term situation we would most likely run out.
What about keeping yourselves clean? Cooking areas clean? What will you do?
This is our plan.
We do have a hand pump for the well. We bought one. Search YouTube for directions on how to build your own. We will ahve to haul it to the house, but it’s better than no water at all.

I have store bleach tabs. I did this after I learned that liquid bleach has a shelf life of 12 months before it becomes ineffective. Of course I have a ton stored. My theory is bleach that is less effective is better than no bleach at all. So bleach tabs it is. Bonus: they take up hardly any space at all.

I also store vinegar for cleaning. It has an unopened shelf life of 2 years, 1 if opened.

Here is a comparison of using bleach vs. vinegar. To be honest, I used to use bleach on kitchen and bathrooms. Then I moved to vinegar and my orange peel infused vinegar. Now I don’t use either.

Essential oils

Enter my arsenal that covers so much. No I don’t use vinegar or bleach. I use oils. For everything. When I say I’ve Got an Oil for That…it’s true.
And each oil can be used for more than one thing.
First aid. Cleaning and sanitation. Nervousness over an emergency.
I can use oils for ear discomfort and conditions or to stop a cut from bleeding. I can make sunscreen or lip balm or mouthwash. Purify water. The oils are portable so will fit in my Go Bag and their shelf life, if kept in a cool, dark place, is indefinite.

In my opinion, knowledge is better than any stuff. These supplies are important and necessary. Learn to improvise in case you don’t have that package of Quik Clot or you left your oil supply at home. Or worse you don’t even have oils yet.
Just be prepared.

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It doesn’t cost you extra to use them, so thank you.
Sometimes I get free stuff to review.
I promise you I will always be honest with my opinion
of any product regardless of if I were paid in addition
to receiving the free product. You can trust me.
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Do you need Essential Oils of your own?
You can send me an e-mailand I will personally assist
you in choosing the best oils to fit your needs.
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Please use discretion if using is that are not CPTG oils.
I am not a doctor and can not diagnose or treat what ails ya.
I can just give my advice. Essential Oils have yet to be
approved by the FDA.