November 2014 Newsletter

  With all of the coverage of the Ebola Virus in the news, now is a good time to talk about preparing for a serious illness or even a pandemic.  Some people think that the world will never have these again.  Keep in mind how quickly people can travel around the world now.  In most cases people are contagious before they even know they have a serious illness or disease.  It is not panic to prepare for something that very likely will affect your life at some time.  Panic is what happens when those who are not prepared run out to get supplies when it is too late to prepare.  Use common sense and good judgment and build a kit a little at a time.  Most items in your kit can be used for multiple illnesses.   Prepare for illnesses and to be quarantined.  Prepare for if you can’t leave the house for several weeks.  Keep up on your vaccines.  If you think you are seriously ill or contagious, stay home!  This is another reason to have plenty of food in your home.  What would you do if there was a serious illness going around and you could not go shopping or people are told to quarantine themselves?  As we have seen from the patient in Texas, he and his family did not self-quarantine as instructed.  They exposed up to 100 other people.  I asked a Doctor we know to give his input on this and I included his recommendations.

Most of these items can be found very easily and can be used for other things besides a pandemic.  Most families have a very basic first aid kit, but if there ever was a large scale disaster in your area, that little kit alone would not be enough.

Pandemic kit (You could call it Emergency Medical Supplies etc)  I borrowed the basic idea from www.foodstoragemoms.com  They posted this idea on October 4, 2014.  I chose not to assemble mine exactly like theirs.  I chose to keep the medicines that will expire out in the open on a shelf so we can use and rotate them.  Anything that will not expire, I have put in the kit.  Some items such as foods and a can opener I also did not put inside.  I already have those, I can just grab them off the shelf.  Do what works for you.  Of course you can always add to this list.

1large sturdy container such as a plastic storage box.  Make a cool label for the ends. Maybe with a Red Cross

N95 face masks, to wear as a filter to stop the spread of infections and can be used when the air quality is very bad from smog, smoke, dust or chemicals.

Disposable rubber/vinyl gloves, you can never have too many. Latex are available everywhere, but some people are allergic to latex.  Please study and practice the proper way to REMOVE them.

Garbage bags, paper towels, toilet paper, small paper cups

4mil. clear plastic sheeting, a roll of at least 100 ft.  Can use to make an isolation room if necessary.

Chemical ice packs or reusable hot/cold packs

Ace bandages and small splints

Self-adhesive bandages for small wounds, butterfly band aids

Gauze pads and medical tape for larger wounds, tampons and pads will also work for heavy bleeding

Duck Tape (use to secure the cover-alls, for an isolation room etc), many other uses

Bleach, rubbing alcohol, anti-bacterial soap and hand sanitizer all for sanitation

Cough medicines, fever reducers, anti-diarrhea meds, Pepto Bismal, Tylenol, Ibuprophen

First Aid Book, thermometer, scalpel, small medical scissors about $2 pair etc

Several pairs of fabric, disposable, all purpose cover-alls  aka PPE suits

Several pairs of safety googles, for eye protection.  Can be used in non-medical situations also

Large package of dog pee pads (house breaking, training pads.)  Generic brands or ones made for the elderly, called Underpads, are usually less expensive.  These will protect bedding from heavy bleeding or diarrhea.

New cloth baby diapers.  These can be used for cleaning, for bandages, etc.  White can be bleached many times.

Resources for your medical supplies:  The standard pharmacy section of your big-box stores, Look at Big Lots, Dollar Tree (The Patriot Nurse has a Youtube Video on buying medical supplies at Dollar Tree), watch for sales and coupons.  I recently found a great deal on Flexible, self-adhesive bandages/wrap, called CoFlex bandages at the Farm Supply Store!  In the veterinary supply section they had hundreds of rolls in various colors for $2 and under per roll. Emergency supply stores and Amazon also carry most of these items.

Social Distancing:  This is just a new way of saying “Stay away from sick people” and large groups of people.  This is a common sense approach to viruses. It means, when you are very ill, keep your distance from others to prevent the spread of illness.  Also, if there is an especially virulent illness going around, use common sense and stay away from large crowds.  One should also be sure to wash hands very frequently, cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing and use hand sanitizer.  Some people are also very good about washing hands immediately after returning home from any shopping trip.  A quarantine is where you either voluntarily or involuntarily stay at home, or in a hospital, away from everyone but your care giver.  You do not leave your home until everyone is healthy again.  This can take up to several weeks.  If you are quarantined you cannot leave to go to any events, meetings or even grocery shopping. 

Additional Resource for Pandemic Kits:  In August of 2012 I watched an episode of Doomsday Preppers on NatGeo tv.  They featured a woman from Alpine, Utah who’s main focus in Preparedness is Pandemics.  If you feel you want to check out more on this, her information is Donna Nash, Alpine, Utah and she has a website called www.arkready.com   you can use her website to get information or even order a kit from her.

Do you have earthquake insurance?  Do not wait to get it until your area has had some small earthquakes.  You will not be able to get it then. Insurance companies will not allow people to add earthquake insurance for a while after your area has had some good size quakes.  Check with your home-owners insurance company for this information.   Take inventory and photos of your belongings.  Keep this information away from your home.  Keep at work, or with your out- of-area emergency contact.

The Building Blocks of Food Storage

Some families can afford to buy many freeze dried entrees in #10 cans or even large kits that cost at least $1,000.  Most families cannot afford to build their food storage this way.  And I personally feel that buying the ready-made meals that only require rehydration is very limiting.  If all I had stored was freeze dried lasagna or chicken a la king, that is all I will be eating.   I prefer to think of my food storage items as building blocks or Lego pieces.

I have fruits (yellow blocks), vegetables (green blocks), meats (red blocks), grains (blue blocks) and lots of little extras like seasonings, oil, and things for baking (black blocks).  By having all of these little simple blocks I can actually take ALL of these foods (blocks) and make an infinite number of different meals from them.  Picture a child using all of his Legos to build a house, car or airplane as shown above.  The only thing that limits him is his imagination.  The little mixed up bag of Legos did not cost very much but this child can make about anything he wants till he runs out of blocks.   If I were to buy a Harry Potter Lego set, all I could make would be Harry Potter themed things.  And they cost a lot more than the bag of mixed up basic Lego pieces.  I equate these to the ready-made freeze dried meals.

If you can afford it, freeze dried components such as single fruits or veggies or ground beef would be great.  Most of us would only be able to buy a can or two at a time.  Once again, do what works for your family in your budget.