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5. Medical/Health
Updated March 27,2007
UPDATE March 17, 2006:
In "Preparing For a Pandemic,"
Darlene Washington, the director of disease prevention education at
the American Red Cross said "...we encourage families to have supplies
on hand like flashlights and batteries, matches. Hand-cranked or
battery-operated radios...
We
have grown soft and accustomed to cleanliness, proper hygiene,
and the lack of disease as some sort of "right." Our
modern world is safe due to the well-oiled machinery of sanitation:
clean water, regular refuse collection and proper disposal, automated
sewerage treatment facilities, and relatively well functioning
medical facilities. In the breakdown of any civilized society,
diseases now common to third world countries spring up is if by
magic.
Remember
your history lessons of how all immigration used to be strictly
controlled, and all immigrants were quarantined for a period of
time before being allowed into the country? That was to control
the spread of infectious diseases! Our own government will not
define (close) our borders and control illegal immigration. Our
"country" now has open borders, with thousands of foreigners sneaking
in daily from third world countries -- and many are carriers of
typhus and cholera, among other diseases. Perhaps we are not really
a "country" at all now, as by definition a "country" must define
its borders and its citizens -- those who belong and those who
do not. For decades the Vatican refused to recognize Israel as
a country simply because Israel would not define its borders.
Throughout history, great societies have always risen -- and fallen.
We are witnessing the end of our Pax Romana, or should I say Pax
Americana. Goodbye civilization.
Hello anarchy and all the chaos it brings.
During
troubled times you cannot depend upon others to be there and take
care of you and your family. You must be prepared to do it yourself.
And prepare we must, as our infrastructure is incredibly fragile
and targeted by terrorists.
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H5N1 Coming -
So, What Do We Do?
Public health officials have created the
chilling scenario of hospitals and other health facilities
being overwhelmed by the number of patients seeking
treatment and other health services; health professionals
being reduced in number because they, after being exposed to
the virus, are themselves down with the sickness; anti-viral
agents and antibiotics being exhausted; basic services like
power, water, transportation, and communication severely
strained by absenteeism; drugstores, grocery stores,
restaurants, and public markets closed and padlocked to
prevent looting by a desperate population.
Most people would have to fend for
themselves. If a member of the family got infected, he will
have to be taken care of and treated by the others at home.
Should families now stock up on anti-viral agents and
medicines, and foodstuff like rice, canned goods, drinking
water, and even face masks and rubber gloves? Who would
determine when and what dosage of medicine should be given
the sick person, or who would administer intravenous
antibiotics since health practitioners may be fully occupied
at health centers or are themselves incapacitated by the
flu?
BIRD FLU,
LIBERTY, AND QUARANTINE
America is handling Bird Flu much as medieval
Europe handled Black Plague. In the great bubonic plague
year of 1348 some cities lost 40% of their populations to
the horrendous contagion. Medieval quarantines, sanitary
cordons, and health passports were necessary to keep sick
people in their homes or cities where they lived, suffered,
and died, and well people kept out of the quarantined areas
and away from the infected. Brute force was required.
In
his October 4 Rose Garden news conference, President Bush
announced that in case of the potential disaster of a Bird
Flu epidemic, he favored the military rather than local and
state responders because, as he stated, quarantines would be
necessary.
A quarantine today, just as in the Middle
Ages, is an official legal restraint on people entering and
people leaving a particular place. A house can be
quarantined and everyone inside prohibited from leaving and
no one permitted to get in. A block can be cordoned off and
similarly quarantined. A section of a city, an entire city,
or a geographic region can be quarantined. The idea is to
keep the disease raging where it is and not spreading to the
rest of the population outside the site of quarantine.
Quarantine through the centuries has lead to
murders of those who impose and maintain the quarantines.
Naturally everyone inside the quarantine wants to escape.
Those cordoned out of the place of contagion do not want to
get near it, or accept products from it, unless their family
or their valuables are inside. That is powerful incentive to
risk entrance to the forbidden place.
In case of a Bird Flu epidemic, President Bush intends to
preempt state and local officials, assure a declaration of
martial law, and force people to be imprisoned in their
quarantines with the armed force of the American military.
Contemplate what that means to you and to this nation.
Bird Flu: Personal Preparedness Must Include These 4
Critical Areas
There are four essential areas that you must address
to prepare for the bird-flu pandemic: 1) "social distancing"; 2)
commodities--including food, 3) personal protective equipment (PPE), and
4) financial preparation. [Click the link above for an excellent article
by Bradford Frank, M.D. I have been preaching
preparedness for decades, and this web site is devoted to
information on how to prepare. Dr. Frank gives you the
reasons why you should prepare.
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Being
prepared means having some basic medical equipment and first aid
supplies, available easily and inexpensively through Internet
sources and even local retail stores. Taking a CPR course, even
an emergency medical technician course, is only prudent. Good
medical literature is available for advanced first aid, but much
is far too simplified...."Get the patient to a doctor, fast."
That advice is virtually worthless, as there may be no doctor, and
no "getting" anyplace! Fortunately, there are medical books
available for sailors and other adventurers which contain very
clear and detailed information for help when no physician is
available. I’ve had a copy of "Advanced First Aid Afloat" by Dr.
Peter F. Eastman, MD, for over 20 years, and value it highly. It
was available from Cornell Maritime Press, Centreville,
Maryland, ISBN # 0-87033-169-8. My copy was $6.00, but I'm sure
the cost is considerably more now. Nevertheless, I bought a
bound copy of Survival and Austere Medicine (below), even though I
have the .pdf version on my computer.
This entire EndTimesReport.com web
site, including the Survival and Austere Medicine book
below, is now available on CD for when the Internet fails or the
power grid goes down. in Adobe Acrobat, for $14.95 plus postage.
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Several
new books are available that are highly recommended by Brian
H.: "Where There Is
No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook," by David Werner, Carol Thuman
and Jane Maxwell, and "Where There is No Dentist," both
available from Amazon; and "Health through God's Pharmacy,"
by Maria Treben, published in Austria by Ennsthaler Verlag,
and available at many health food stores.
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"I highly
recommend 'Medicine for Mountaineering' by James
Wilkerson, M.D. Remote mountain climbing is the basis for
their preparedness approach. 5th edition now out.
Published by The Mountaineers; 1011 SW Klickitat Way,
Seattle, WA. 98134....206-284-6310...paperback...used to
sell for about $12.00, but may be higher by now." Harry
Bradley
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Being prepared also means having some medicines on hand, and the
knowledge of how they are used. People in need can always resort
to
home remedies
which have been used for years with decent results: knowledge
and supplies are both desirable. There is a method of
disinfecting exposed
surfaces that you can do at home.
Part of being prepared for medical emergencies is simply thinking
ahead. For
example, in really hard times people will be out
cutting firewood, perhaps even
building log structures. They are
going to get cut or at the very least get splinters in various
parts of their anatomy. One trick which has been used is
regular super glue. A dab of super glue on a splinter will dry to
the splinter, and then tweezers can pull it out. But what
about a thin slice on a leg or arm? I'm not talking about a
deep cut, but rather a shallow slice that leave a large flap of
skin that is slow to heal. These happen often and can be
debilitating, even life threatening if the person has to walk to
an evacuation area, or just be able to continue working.
First, the wound can be thoroughly cleansed by flushing with
oxygen peroxide. Once the bleeding has stopped, the wound
can be lightly packed with Nolvasan
Antiseptic Ointment. Then the edges of the cut are
carefully cleaned and flap of skin super glued in place. The
entire area must then be wrapped with an Ace bandage and must be
checked for abscesses periodically, but the person can at least be
mobile again instead of being a liability on a whole family group.
Another example of thinking ahead and being prepared is for eye
injuries. Eyes are very delicate! In very
difficult times, people will be doing hard work, sometimes under
expedient conditions. Debris can get into eyes, and eyes can
be burned. The treatment required is mentioned in the
articles linked below, but bears repeating. Do not rub
injured eyes! Eyes should be flushed with copious quantities
clear water or a saline solution to flush out any debris or
chemicals that can cause burns. "Flushing" means more than a
slow dribble of water! A squirt from an eye dropper is
barely adequate. Actually, turkey basters work very well, as
they hold a lot more water but do not produce too much water
pressure. Metal slivers from striking metal tools or welding
can become stuck in an eye and not be flushed out with water.
A small, powerful magnet, such as a pencil type stud finder, can
be very carefully moved 1/2" over the eye while holding the
eyelids up, and ferrous metal particles will spring up to the
magnet. But the eye will still be injured, and eye injuries
are extremely painful, so treatment is needed. Prilocaine,
or Neomycin eye drops, will help the eye heal very quickly, and
also lessen the pain considerably, but those antibiotics are
prescription items and must be on hand. Farm animals are
always scratching their eyes, and ranchers often treat those eye
injuries using "NFZ Puffer," a veterinary medicine 0.2%
Nitrofurazome. Some ranchers use it on human eye injuries as
well (heeding the advise on the label that some people are
hypersensitive to this medication) when a physician is not
available and losing an eye could well result from no antibiotic
treatment at all. If there is an irritant reaction, flushing
the eyes with copious quantities of water will quickly dilute the
Nitrofurazome, as it is water soluble.
Then, of course, the eye should be covered with a patch so there
will be no incentive to move the eye and continue any irritation.
The treatments mentioned above are repeated daily until the eye is
healed.
I
sometimes have the feeling that honest, tax paying, God fearing
citizens have their heads in the sand when it comes to emergency
medical preparedness, like they just don’t "get it."
Heck, even the radical left gives medical
advice
for protesters, but the common person is left out
in the cold.
The new
H5N1 avian virus spreading around the
world now, in June, 2005 March, could well prove to be a roaring
pandemic by the winter of 2005, killing millions of people
worldwide. There is reportedly a news blackout on this avian flu
in the US media, but reliable reports are that 121 of the 200
people in China who contracted this flu have died - it is
extremely lethal! Large areas of China are quarantined in a
vain attempt to keep this avian flue from spreading. Being a
new strain of flu, no one has immunity. The Bush
administration has issued an Executive Order for the
quarantine of civilians when the H5N1 avian
flu reaches the United States.
Get
prepared! It could save your life in the not too distant future. You
will be on your own.
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