First Aid Preparedness Tips From Steven Harris

One of Steven Harris’ websites (http://www.northkoreafallout.org/) offers some helpful quick tips in the first aid preparedness section. These tips are posted here with permission.

First Aid:  What is most important and why?  
Throughout the history of the soldier there is one thing that will disable a soldier or a person in the wild or a survival situation quicker than anything else and that is a skin problem.  Skin is your largest organ and it easily gets cut, gets a rash, blister or irritation and that can prevent you from walking, it can get infected and it can just be downright painful.    First you need items to treat & protect your skin, then you need to be able to stop bleeding and heal that wound, then you need stuff that will treat your digestive system (diarrhea & vomiting), then you need to have items for your respiratory system (breathing).  Items to stop coughing and to protect you from inhaling irritants and particles.  This page also include pain killers because those deal with both your skin and wounds that make you bleed.

 First Aid Items You Need, in Priority 
   Priority #1.  You need items to protect & heal your skin
   Priority #2.  You need items to stop bleeding & heal wounds
   Priority #3.  You need items to treat your digestive system
   Priority #4.  You need items to treat your respiratory system

SKIN: WOUNDS AND BLEEDING

Even though you are more likely to get a blister or a rash that becomes a problem, people put a great deal of first aid emphasis on wounds and bleeding, probably because its so scary.  Seeing blood just triggers something inside of us that says BAD.  Protecting your skin is such a serious subject that I have divided it into different skin areas, general, lips, feet etc…  I try to start with the cheapest and simpler items and then move towards the more complex.   Which is why this starts out with Medical Tape and Female Napkins.  Noting will stop bleeding quicker and easier than those two.  You’ll never use a Band-Aid again. !!

SKIN: CLEANING AND DISINFECTING

Keep your skin clean so you won’t get rashes.  Keep your skin clean so rashes and cuts won’t get infected.  Wash and disinfect your rashes and your cuts and your blisters and other skin problems.  STOP nothing from being a small problem, stop small problems from being a big problem.

SKIN: CUTS, SCRAPES, IRRITATION, RASHES AND CLEANING

Simple and easy treatments for the small problems that happen to your skin before they become bigger problems.  Many times small irritations can be very distracting for adults or a constant annoyance for children.  A little of the right type of ointment can take care of a lot of those problems.

SKIN: LIPS

Your lips are part of your skin, and when they do get chapped and  cracked and sore it makes drinking, talking and eating more difficult.  It hurts.  Protect your lips from getting chapped and help them heal when they do.  These are very small, inexpensive and so very effective.  This is an important part of any medical kit.

SKIN: FEET

Of the skin on your body probably the area that can get hurt the quickest and stop you the fastest is the skin of your feet.   If its painful for you to walk, you are slowed way down or you are not walking and moving.  If you can’t walk you can’t keep ahead of the zombies.  One day in wet boots or shoes can give you tremendous problems.  Always take time to dry your shoes and socks at night, or when ever you can if you are in a wet environment.  Make sure you have a GREAT pair of boots and they are broken in and CHANGE YOUR SOCKS !!  Clean Socks !! are one of the #1 ways of keeping your feet healthy… it is that simple.  Ask ANY soldier.  Go to wikipedia and read about WWI trench foot.

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SKIN: PREVENTION OF DAMAGE AND IRRITATION

If there are two things that can come and get you from the sky its sunshine and mosquitoes and other biting insects.  Sun burn can be come so bad that it actually becomes sun poisoning.

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM: STOMACH – DIARRHEA & WORSE

The first thing that can get you the quickest and the most severe is a skin problem.  The second problem is your digestive system.  If you have constant diarrhea and or are puking your brains out, you are not going to be very good.  A lot of diarrhea can be caused by unsanitary conditions.  Constant diarrhea (dysentery) can be caused by viral infections, bacterial infections, or parasitic infestations.  Dysentery is debilitating and can lead to death from dehydration in less than a day (depending on severity and climate).  Most commonly you’ll get Dysentery from contaminated water.  However simple diarrhea can be caused from stress, nerves, lack of sleep, poor diet, change of diet, change of water source etc… these medicines will treat these simple diarrheas.

RESPIRATORY SYSTEM: BREATHING – COUGHING

Get a cold, get the flu, pneumonia, bronchitis or just inhale too much dust and fine particles and you can get yourself a nasty cough.  Cough too much and it starts to hurt and get worse.  A basic cough suppressant will stop this cycle and allow the lungs to start to heal.  Many times this will also allow the person to get a good night of sleep, and everyone else around them.  Serious infections like flu, pneumonia and bronchitis are going to probably require medical attention and antibiotics for the underlying infection.  But when its 1AM in the morning and you or your child can’t stop coughing this will help keep them stable until you can hopefully get them to assistance the next day.

PAIN RELIEF

Damn that hurts.  We can get something that hurts so easily.   Tooth ache, cut, blister, broken or sprained bones and fingers.  Pain is a signal to the body that something is wrong.  Well once you know something is wrong, stop the pain.  It hurts.  Below are some of the common over the counter pain medications.

EMERGENCY MEDICINE BOOKS

These are some of the best books written on emergency medicine and you.  What skills you need to know and have and train on for when there is a disaster and someone is hurt, and you have to fix them…or.. you are hurt and you have to treat yourself.

MPTY BAGS TO HOLD YOUR MEDICAL SUPPLIES

These bags are EMPTY…they are for YOU to make YOUR medical kit.  I do NOT like pre-made medical kits because the are made for the lowest common denominator.  Plus you really don’t know what is in it.  When you build your own medical kit, then you KNOW what is in it, because you bought all of the item and you bought all of the items that YOU NEED.   Maybe you get skin rashes really easy, and you need 3x the cream in a ‘normal’ medical kit.

BONES, JOINTS & MUSCLES

Bones can get broken, muscles get swollen, pulled, bruised and joints get sore, overworked and need support.  Bones getting broken need to be stabilized, some swollen muscles need to be wrapped and other joints that are sore or have problems work a lot better when you have a brace to support them.

Learn more about Steven’s advanced preparedness and survival training video series and books here: