Many of us aren’t prepared for disasters, whether major, or a mishap at home. For most, a small first aid kit in the car or stuck away in a closet is about as far as it goes. A USA Today / Gallup Poll indicates that 41% of people don’t have a food stockpile and 27% don’t have an extra supply of medicines.
How prepared are you? Would you be able to cope if calling 911 just wasn’t an option?
Dr. Joe Alton and his wife Amy, aka “Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy”, are helping people prepare for disaster, whenever, wherever and however it happens.
Dr Bones says that much of being prepared would’ve been considered common sense by our grandparents. Today the convenience of our lifestyle has made this knowledge seem ‘unnecessary’. Until disaster strikes.
The Altons newly published “Survival Medicine Handbook” is a simple guide to keeping your family safe and healthy in the event that help isn’t on the way.
They stress that they’re not trying to turn people into doctors, or encourage them to practice medicine without a license. What they are advocating is developing self-reliance while taking advantage of available modern medicine.
Nurse Amy says that the first step in disaster preparation is to be as healthy as possible now. When professional medical help is unavailable, the healthier you are, the better you’ll fare. If you’re prone to health damaging habits such as smoking, stop now. If you have a chronic health problem, requiring surgery or medication, or you need dental care, get it now. If you don’t, it decreases your chances of survival in times when that medical treatment isn’t easily available.
The second step is knowing how to stay healthy during a disaster. Dr Bones reminds us that there were hundred’s of DMAT teams deployed during Hurricane Katrina, but, with over 15,000 medical visits per day, they were quickly overwhelmed. Many were unable to receive timely medical attention. The demand was simply too much for the available resources.
At times like these, you can stack the odds of survival in your favor by knowing how to cope with both acute and chronic medical issues.
What are some basic preparations you should make?
Dr. Bones says you must have the means to sterilize water and have a sustainable food supply. This is a top priority. An easy way to have a fresh, sustainable food supply is to grow sprouts. You only need a small container and they can be cultivated indoors on a countertop.
The next priority is sufficient medical supplies and some knowledge of how to use them.
Nurse Amy suggests:
- personal protection: eye goggles and nose / mouth mask
- gloves
- a variety of antiseptics
- wound coverings: from band aids to a variety of sizes of sterile and non-sterile gauze
- syringes: 60 and 100 cc capacity for irrigation of wounds
- basic medications for colds, pain and stomach ailments including diarrhea, constipation, gas, heartburn and treatments for ear and eye infections, skin rashes and bug bites
- splints for broken bones
- tourniquets and hemostatic agents to help stop bleeding
- dental care equipment
- a stock pile of antibiotics
- a stock pile of your prescription medications
She also suggest a collection of natural remedies such as essential oils and tinctures including lavender, peppermint, tea tree oil, eucalyptus, echinacea and elderberry. Other useful store cupboard items are vinegar (white or apple cider), dry teas such as camomile, spices such as ginger and cayenne and natural laxatives such as senna.
This may seem like quite a list, but, should you be in a disaster situation they’ll prove invaluable. Plus they’re inexpensive and easy to stockpile. If your family will rely on you for their survival, begin preparing today.
The Altons caution not to try to be a ‘lone wolf’. Organize a ‘community’ of family and friends for support and to share responsibility. This increases the odds of survival and makes difficulties easier to handle.
You’ll find a lot more detailed information about how to prepare in “The Survival Medicine Handbook” which is available on their website.
About Dr Bones and Nurse Amy:
Joe Alton, also known as “Dr. Bones the Disaster Doctor”, is a medical doctor and Amy Alton, also known as “Nurse Amy”, is an advanced registered nurse practitioner and a certified nurse midwife. They are medical preparedness experts and authors of #1 Amazon Bestseller “The Survival Medicine Handbook”, a guide for when medical help is not on the way. They also produce a weekly podcast called “Survival Medicine Hour” and have a YouTube channel named “drbonespodcast”. The Altons are contributors to magazines like Backwoods Home, Survival Quarterly, and others.
Their website www.doomandbloom.net has over 400 posts on medical readiness and is one of the top survival sites on the internet.