There isn't a Doctor in the House
Can you Stop the Bleed
Welcome, my dear readers, as we venture back into the Asylum to discuss survival once again. In the past, we have spoken at length about firearms and food (here, here, here, here, and here). While those topics are important, they are not all there is to survival and this week we are going to talk about medicine, especially first aid kits, and about options for more advanced survival options. Like with food or arms, the first question is what you want to be ready for because that will determine the type or types of kits you assemble, from basic first aid to a trauma kit or even a survival hospital. As always, the first thing you should do is get training. There are classes in all levels of first aid through nursing and beyond available almost everywhere (here and here). If you were in any branch of the military, you have probably already had some level of Red Cross first aid from basic (Band-Aids and boobs) to a combat first aid course (sucking chest wounds and tourniquets). Whatever level you have or had, I recommend more because, just as with firearms training, repetition and new knowledge are the only ways to stay sharp.
Even if you don’t think some major civilization-ending event is possible, so you don’t need anything beyond the basic first aid kit, that just means you haven’t thought about it. I have seen people in the middle of a major city be cut off from emergency services for hours after a major tornado and even if you make it to your shelter and out again, it is very possible your neighbors didn’t. Or, you might have more than a mile to traverse through the jagged wreckage of your community before you are out and can find any aid at all. In this situation, it might be nice to have more than Neosporin and Band-Aids on hand. It might be a situation like the ice storm of October 2020 where not only was power out in many places for two weeks, but it was also very unsafe to travel for more than a week, due to ice and things breaking from ice blocking roads. Your pharmacy is without power, and all your scripts are digital so they can’t be transferred, and the doctor’s office is inundated with people in your same position. At that point, it might be nice to have a bit of your own emergency pharmacy on hand just in case.
I often hear folks talk like anything more than the basic Band-Aid plastic first aid kit sold at Walmart is crazy prepper stuff, but is it really? All the above examples are real world and have occurred since 2010. The truth is, life is strange and unpredictable and you never know what might happen. I personally would prefer to prepare for the end of the world and just have Tuesday than plan for Tuesday and it be the end of the world, and to some extent the real-world examples above are if only temporarily the end of the world rather than Tuesday. Good, now that is out of the way, and we have talked a little about why you might want a first aid kit, let’s get into more details about different types and where you might have them. Almost all first aid kits try to be a little bit of everything, but I find it better to focus each kit on its primary function and either remove the extra or not worry about it.
The first kit is the basic first aid kit. While training is encouraged, proper usage of this kit is mostly common sense. To be well stocked it probably has several pairs of disposable gloves, tweezers, several sizes of Band-Aids, some antibiotic cream, cleaning\disinfecting wipes, burn ointment, and maybe some spray lidocaine for sunburn. Medications would be antacids, Tylenol or ibuprofen, maybe aspirin, anti-diarrhea medicine, and an antihistamine. This is the everyday kit for scraped knees and bug bites\stings. This is where you will also find calamine for poison ivy\oak and other treatments for minor injuries. It will probably need various items restocked several times a year. These kits often come with dressings, bandages, and slings that are not basic first aid and if you are at that point, you need a different kit.
The next kit is the trauma/major bleed kit. It requires additional training. This kit usually contains several pairs of disposable gloves, scissors for removing clothing, several packets of clotting agent, rolls of pressure bandages, several sterile non-stick dressing pads, wound packing, bottles of liquid disinfectant, larger disinfectant wipes, zip sutures, Jerusalem bandages (tension bandages), tourniquets, permanent magic marker, note pad, pen, at least one chest bandage and seal kit, and maybe the much larger 4x4-6x6 style self-adhesive Band Aid pads. This kit doesn’t generally have much medication but can occasionally contain emergency antibiotics. The primary function of this kit is to stop the bleeding so the injured person can live long enough to receive proper medical attention. This is a kit you hope to pack and never use because if you are getting this out something major has happened (power tool accident, someone hit by a car, or some equally serious incident) and you need to stabilize the victim now before even paramedics can arrive. With any luck, this kit won’t need restocking past any needed rotation of components.
Then there is the complete first aid kit. These usually contain all the components of both the basic and trauma\bleed-stop kits and may also contain splinting materials, slings, single-use eye washes, and EpiPens. These tend to be found in commercial, industrial, or military sites (not so much in schools, since shop class is a thing of the past) but can be beneficial around the house as well. Depending on the training of the staff present, they may contain a wide variety of both over-the-counter and prescription meds. These kits can also include an auto-defibrillator.
This brings us to the field surgical kit, and you better have some serious medical creds to be using one of these, if society is still intact. It typically contains everything from a bleed stop/trauma kit as well as scalpels, trichotomy kits, suture kits, anesthetics, IVs, and all kinds of prescription medicines, as well as manual breathing support.
I would encourage all of you to get trained in advanced first aid so that you can properly use everything up to the bleed stop/trauma kit. I also strongly believe that every home should have some variant of the full first aid kit on hand and fully stocked at all times. You should probably also assemble a travel kit that would be a basic kit with one or two of each item as well as a packet of blood stop, tourniquet, marker, compression bandage, an Israeli bandage, and some common over-the-counter meds like aspirin, antacids, motion sickness, and the like, to just keep in the car. You should also assemble kits based on your needs for camping, hunting, hiking, bugging out, or whatever else you think you might need to do. We always hope we get home or to our destination with no need for the kit, but better safe than sorry. I am sure you can see how each of these kits works and their purpose and benefits. The other thing is none of these kits are very personal and while they are great for general injuries in their respective areas, they do not fulfill specific needs individuals may have. They don’t cover an emergency supply of routine medicines that a member of the family takes.
Also, in the case of a major event, be it a hurricane, tornado, major ice storm, or other event where someone might not be able to see a doctor for a few days, it might be better to start a round of antibiotics in advance before the wound discolors and starts to smell. If we are being honest, no matter how well you wash it out, bacteria are a bitch. The old prepper standby for years were animal medications, including fish antibiotics and horse painkillers. Fortunately, now there is a better way. Several companies have started offering emergency medicine kits online. Before this, my prep, like so many others, was animal medicine. However, in 2022 I started looking into these companies and decided based on cost, diversity of contents, and process that I would order our first human medicine emergency kit from a company called JASE Medical. Then, I saw a lot of competition had popped up and I did some more digging in 2023 and again based on the same criteria I chose to order several times from JASE. As you probably know (because I told you last Thursday) I placed yet another order with JACE and was offered an affiliate link and $10 off code. You can use JAM-2210 at checkout for $10 off, and if you want to support me a little and get a supply of emergency medicines my link is (here). The funny part is I was going to recommend them even before I got the link. Again, I would encourage you to get medical training and assemble several custom first aid kits so that you can be ready to give aid or aid yourself and your family, no matter the situation you encounter.
Luke 10:33-34
33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
God Bless you,
-Sam