Preparing for What is Coming

Survival Pulse via SHTF Plan ^ | 8/22/13

[Kartographer]

Don’t be a victim of the chaos if/when the time comes. Even having a basic level of preparedness will help you avoid the most dangerous parts of a disaster.

1. Create and Practice an Emergency Plan with Your Loved Ones

2. Keep Some Extra Supplies in Stock

3. Learn Critical Skills

4. Monitor the News and Be Ready to Act

[Kartographer]

[Kartographer]

Preppers’ PING!!

[Kartographer]

There’s a Great Storm coming you can feel it and the great cities of Europe are on the edges of it now, soon it will consume them.

Its your choice you can prep or you can stand around on a bridge waiting for FEMA to bring you a bottle of water, a MRE, a warm blanket and a kiss for your boo-boo and maybe you can even get your picture as you stand there on the national news.

Any one with half a brain can look around and see for themselves what is happening right before their eyes.

So listen to what the bible says: A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. NIV Proverbs 22:3

One of the things Selco covers in his blog was the fact that many will not accept a breakdown is occurring even as they watch it happening before their eyes. Why don’t they realize it? It’s caused by a condition called ‘Normalcy Bias’ a mental state people enter when facing a disaster.

It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.

A good article on ‘Normalcy Bias’ is on our own ChocChipCookies Blog The Survival Mom:

http://thesurvivalmom.com/2010/12/29/normalcy-bias/

You either prepare and stand on your own beholden to no one or you become dependent on others to provide your basic needs and become their ‘serf’. Me I don’t want to be beholden to anyone for providing what is needed for me and mine. I certainly don’t want to have to kiss some ‘gubberment’ third class bureaucratic to try and coax some help from them, I don’t want some ‘jack booted’ thug herding me in line and telling me where to stand, sit, eat or sleep. And last but not least I don’t want to be shut up in with a bunch of ‘zombies’ and have to worry about not only trying to get basic necessities but having to fight to keep what I manage to get.

There is a Great article in my Preparedness Manual on building your on Bug Out Bag titled: A Highly-Mobility 72 Hour Kit-by Ward Dorrity. You can download the whole manual at:

http://tomeaker.com/kart/Preparedness1j.pdf NOTE! THIS IS A FREE DOWNLOAD. I DO NOT MAKE ONE CENT OFF MY PREPAREDNESS MANUAL!

For those of you who haven’t started already it’s time to prepare almost past time maybe. You needed to be stocking up on food guns, ammo, basic household supplies like soap, papergoods, cleaning supplies, good sturdy clothes including extra socks, underwear and extra shoes and boots, cash (I myself have been putting up change for the past few years both for the metal content and the fact that using change places to make what purchases you can will move you down the the list of possible marks during shtf), tools, things you buy everyday start buying two and put one up.

As the LDS say “When the emergency is upon us the time for preparedness has past.”

Again I like to recomend FReeper’s ChocoChipCookie Blog The Survival Mom (Please Blog Police let this one slide!) Where you can get lots of useful information like:

http://thesurvivalmom.com/2011/11/20/8-morale-boosters-for-any-worst-case-scenario/

http://thesurvivalmom.com/2010/02/02/survival-priorities-the-rule-of-three/

And More

Also there is Ferfal’s Blog a survivor of Argentina’s first collapse:

http://ferfal.blogspot.com/

And there is Selco’s Blog a Bosnian War survivor at:

http://shtfschool.com/

“There is no greater disaster than to underestimate danger. Underestimation can be fatal.”

[cherry]

we will have different more severe problems here in America....our population is much more diverse, and the tugs of loyalty that we feel for America are missing in others...

we can't have an old fashioned civil war because the partitions are person to person, not state to state...

[Kartographer]

No, but we can have Bosnia.

[Chickensoup]

or Rwanda...sadly

[ChildOfThe60s]

No, but we can have Bosnia.

Which is pretty much what is being encouraged to happen. Daily. By Obama and his surrogates.

Think of all major urban areas constantly overrun with flash mobs.

Any family that doesn't own firearms and ammo is going to be in a heap of trouble. Sadly, I know people with good weapons..........and a box or two of ammo. Might as well own an expensive baseball bat.

[Lazamataz]

I am so screwed.

[Georgia Girl 2]

So true. If you do not want to be standing in line at the local Walmart distribution center waiting for a ration card and a chemical tattoo barcode on the back of your hand then you better prepare now. Down at the Walmart/govt center they will be trading food for guns and ammo.

Put away 6-12 mos of food, water and a way to cook the food.

Get a small rocket stove and you can put it in your fireplace and cook inside.

Do whatever you have to do to get ready so you will not be at the mercy of Obama’s govt.

[VerySadAmerican]

Once the breakdown starts all local cops will put up roadblocks to prevent people from leaving the cities. They won’t have a reason.

[Georgia Girl 2]

I agree. If you don’t get out of the city before the SHTF you are going to be in a world of misery. We have our plan in place. One day we will go to our retreat and just not come back.

[laplata]

Once the breakdown starts all local cops will ......

---

........go home and protect their families.

[SgtHooper]

Laz, you just stock up on da babes! I’ll bring the armor!

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

” I am so screwed.”

That’s not always a bad thing.

[IAmNotAnAnimal]

Just stock up on ammo and water and prepare to hunt. On a side note, got this spam email for a hookup site, clicked on it and it said here are naked pictures of Laz’s love interests...melted my hard drive

[Marcella]

Last night, a thought popped in my head about various wound supplies, particularly stopping an arterial bleed until you can get medical help. Not long ago, an arterial bleed meant death in a very short time. It could not be stopped - blood gushes out every time the heart beats and the magnitude of the strength of that heart beat is powerful and blood pumps out at a rapid rate.

There is now a way to stop that blood, but you still have to get to medical help quickly because that artery has to be sewn back together and neither I nor you can do it as it is delicate surgery. The method to stop the blood flow at least gives a chance to the patient to be saved.

H&H makes the pressure bandage and compressed gauze needed to stop the arterial blood flow. Here are their instructions along with where you can buy it on Amazon - neither is expensive and it can save a life. (I'll make another post about other serious medical supplies to have.)

“One-Handed Hemostat for Arterial Bleeding. H and H is pleased to introduce the new Universal Severe Trauma Dressing, the H Bandage, a full upgrade to their present patented combat dressing Cinch Tight. The H Bandage was developed to offer the user an emergency dressing that would not only serve as an emergency dressing but also as a hemostat for arterial bleeding and hemorrhaging in limbs, deployed one-handed for use under any condition.

Designed with a large H-hook that easily facilitates use as a compression bandage and a tourniquet Clinical tests for arterial bleeding done by the U.S. Navy at USUHS (Bethesda, MD) with H Bandage has indicated that pressure, along with compressed gauze, would dramatically reduce arterial bleeding in limbs.

To develop the H Bandage, they increased the strength of the elastic wrap by 40%, making it the strongest available. H and H also replaced the steel hook with a plastic molded H hook. The ABD pad was maintained at 8”x10”, the largest pad of any compression dressing. When applied, the H Bandage, combined with H and H Compressed Gauze, places heavy pressure over and into the wounded area. Initial clinical test results have proved that the H Bandage will act as a hemostat for arterial bleeding in limbs, a critical component in the dressing’s functionality.

The result is that H and H is able to offer the corpsman, medic, first responder, and the individual an all-in-one emergency and combat bandage for all traumas. The H Bandage is vacuum packaged and single-wrapped for easy storage and deployment. It weighs 0.3 lbs. and is 1.5”x3”x6” in size.”

The sterile H bandage on Amazon ($7.99):

http://www.amazon.com/H-Associates-Bandage/dp/B003UNTZ7S/ref=pd_sbs_hpc_1

Here is H compressed sterile gauze ($1.49):

http://www.amazon.com/PriMed-Gauze-Pack/dp/B003WRXQI6/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1362695418&sr=1-1&keywords=compressed+gauze

[Marcella]

Care for wounds other than an arterial bleed:

Celox stops bleeding almost instantly (but not an arterial bleed). I have friends in the Texas hill country and they live on a high hill far away from a doctor. He takes blood thinner and a cut will bleed and bleed. Celox will stop that quickly and they bought some to have on their high hill in case he was cut. The sight of blood freaks some people out and especially children. You can stop the blood with Celox. The package I got from Amazon has ten packets in it. It was $29.69. That might sound expensive for ten packets but each packet can save a life.

Betadine Swab Aid Antiseptic Pads:

Every hospital uses betadine to kill bacteria. Disinfect before you close or bandage a wound. On Amazon, it is 10% Povidone, 100/bx – $14.99, Free shipping if over $25. I looked at bottles of Betadine, then found these pads. These are much better to have. Each pad is in a sterile package, so there is no waste. If you are on a camping trip, a bottle is too much trouble, but individual pads are great – just pitch some in your backpack or whatever. Scrub the area one minute with a pad. Then you are ready to take whatever next step is required to close the wound, from a band aid to sutures. You have 100 pads. Spread them around where you might need them – house, car, backpacks, anywhere. It is possible, after time, these pads could lose some of their Betadine liquid. Best thing is to have the pads and a bottle. The pads are here:

http://www.amazon.com/Betadine-Swab-Antiseptic-Pads-Povidone/dp/B002C30RLA/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1D70WWXB7EG23&coliid=I2ZO39OBWLFOEA

Kerlix gauze:

I used nothing but genuine Kerlix gauze as an EMT and that’s what I have now. It makes a good pressure bandage as it stretches so one can bind the wound tightly to help stop bleeding. Make sure you don’t cut off blood circulation by binding a wound too tightly. You don’t need tape to secure the wound if you don’t have any handy. Kerlix sticks to itself. That’s why we used it at car wrecks/other accidents to quickly bind wounds and get the patient on the ambulance to the hospital –we didn’t have to deal with tape. I used it to bind a broken shoulder blade (Scapula fracture) to stop movement. Used it for head wounds, to make a sling for an arm, to bind eyes closed when one eye was bitten by a dog, and used it to bind a board with a nail in it to the foot the nail went through.

Three packages of original Kerlix gauze/bandage is $10.70 on Amazon. One can buy one package for less money but be sure it is Kerlix and not “Kerlix Type”. “Kerlix Type” is made in China and there are many on Amazon and I would not buy that thinking it is sterile even though it says it’s sterile and the quality would be the pits in my opinion. I only trust real Kerlix to act like it should.

http://www.amazon.com/Original-Kerlix-Sterile-Bandage-Rolls/dp/B00C0JRCI2/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1366310461&sr=8-15&keywords=kerlix+gauze+roll+sterile

Steri-Strips:

These are cheap on Amazon. They hold a wound together better than butterfly strips. I haven’t found them in drug stores, only butterfly ones. If a wound is gaping, laid open, the skin needs to be pulled together. Clean the wound, apply an antibiotic cream or ointment, pull the skin together and apply steri-strips all along the wound to hold the skin together. If you can get to a doctor, this wound will likely require stitches. If there is no doctor, at least the skin is together.

Skin Stapler:

If a wound must be closed and there is no doctor: There are multiple surgical skin staplers and staple removers on Amazon. Put in “surgical skin stapler” in their search and they will come up. Each one is in a sterile package and the stapler must be thrown away after one use as it will not be sterile if used again. One stapler is about $7.95. You may also buy a kit of multiple staplers plus a staple remover included. There are also single staple removers. You may use the remover over and over but clean it with alcohol before using again. Determine which stapler and remover is right for you.

I will not stitch a wound together if I can avoid it. It hurts like hell and takes time. I will use a stapler. It will hurt but it’s over quickly.

[Marcella]

“I am so screwed.”

In a big time emergency, go to humblegunner’s house.

[piroque]

I am so screwed.

You wish,,,;)

[Iron Munro]

Marcella, Thanks for sharing your medical knowledge, experience and info on medical preps in the above posts.

This is exactly the kind of information I find most helpful.
You did a great job of explaining it all in terms a layman can understand - what is available, what it does and why we need it.

Medical preps is a big concern with me and mine as none of us has any professional experience or training. We have a collection of recommended reference books but specific information like that you provided fills the gaps.

Your efforts are appreciated.