Friend Of The Blog(tm), Aesop, over at Raconteur Report has a couple posts up that I think are worth going over there and reading. Everyone had their own ideas about what is and is not worth having in terms of medical/firstaid in a crisis (whatever your crisis may look like), but I would give his suggestions and recommendations some weight. He also has a followup post on med texts. Good stuff, kids.
Notes From The Bunker
People consistently ignore (I can’t say underestimate) the sheer VOLUME of medical supplies they potentially will need. Treating a bad laceration? Ad-hoc surgery to remove foreign objects (bullets. say)? IV fluid support? Plan in cubic meter lots…tens of them.
Medical supplies that fit in a pelican case, or a nylon bag? They might be sufficient to get to a hospital in normal times. When there is no hospital? Tearing up sheets to make bandages works poorly when the sheets are polyester or microfiber – they don’t absorb.
And while everyone gets all sexy over trauma, more lives will be saved with hygiene than anything else. How to purify water in mass quantities? What to do when the toilets and drains stop running? What to do with garbage and trash to prevent vermin and pestilence?
I remember reading somewhere that plumbers have saved more lives than doctors.
Prevention being the best medicine and all…hygiene is paramount. Just washing your freaking hands regularly and thoroughly probably prevents more disease than anything else. I remember reading somewhere that the Soviet troops in Afghanistan would open their cigarette packs from the bottom, so that the end of the cigarette that they grabbed was not the end that went into their mouth. Thats the sort of attention to detail that escapes a lot of people.
Agreed.
In the present, automatic doors and sinks likely do more to prevent disease spread than most doctors.
Many years ago when I had formal food service training, they said to put flatware in the baskets so that when you pulled it out you didn’t handle the eating end.
I’d love to see double handled faucets, with one set or portion designated for dirty hands and the other for clean hands. I’m told prep areas for operating rooms often have food operated sinks for the same reason.
Clean running water makes a HUGE difference in survival rates. Beware of any SHTG situation where the plan says you won’t have access to it.
When I had medical students and residents to train, I’d casually remind them when they got big headed that garbage collectors save more lives than physicians do. And the most important people in the hospital are the housecleaning staff – imagine what the place would look like without them.
Thanks for the notice, CZ.
This was in the context of “I need a kit in case someone catches an ND at a Cowboy shoot, or me/wife/daughter does something really stupid”.
For actual prolonged SHTF problems, I’d recommend taking this kit, and multiplying it X 30, just for openers. Wounds need dressings changed daily for 10-14 days, just for starters. Major wounds for twice that.
And adding Field Hygiene and Sanitation to the reference list.
https://www.amazon.com/Field-Manual-21-10-Hygiene-Sanitation/dp/142092835X/ref=sr_1_1
Because digging latrines and purifying water hasn’t changed much in 100 years.
Here’s the current version of that manual: Free for download (sorry Amazon).
https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/web/tc4_02x3.pdf
And here is a 2000 edition
https://irp.fas.org/doddir/milmed/sanitation.pdf
And a 1970 edition:
https://areaocho.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Field-Hygiene.pdf
Enjoy