Survival Healthcare

Healthcare in a Survival Situation or Situation X is possibly one of the overlooked priorities. Sure, we have all heard of First-Aid Kits and probably most of us have them. But, Healthcare is more than that.

Healthcare includes:-

Nutrition
Hygiene (Personal and Area)
Sanitation
Fitness for Purpose
Medical Emergencies
Caring for the Ill
Vaccinations

I am just going to cover Vaccinations at the moment. Remember, most of the nasty viruses and diseases are waterborne or are due to bad hygiene or sanitation. No matter what the Situation X is, there is a good chance that water supplies could be infected.

You may have to deal with rabid animals or members of your party who have been injured (body fluids).

Getting vaccinated is something that can be easily done from you local General Practitioner or Occupational Health Centre or Travel Vaccination Centre. Some of these may ask why you need the vaccinations. The best way is to lie a little and say that you are going on Vacation/Holiday to some far off third world country for 3 months - do your homework first.

Some vaccinations that may be required:-

Typhoid
Hepatitis A
Diphtheria
Tuberculosis
Hepatitis B
Rabies
Meningococcal meningitis
Yellow fever
Japanese B encephalitis
Tick-borne encephalitis

Most of the 'normal' vaccinations like for measles, chicken pox, polio etc should not be a problem in most western countries and so should be a matter of course.

Just remember to keep a list of the date of vaccination and how long it lasts for for each member of your family and keep it up to date.

Vaccination should be just like any other survival preparation, but its one that may easily be overlooked yet easily over come.

I feel like your 'wotan stalker'...lol.


But you raise a good point there. Tetnus would also figure high on my list as its a common but deadly bacteria and the results of an infection are horrific if left untreated.

Having said that, every vaccination against diseases that are common should I agree be kept up to date.

However.... If SITX turns to SITlong term... we are going to rapidly go back to mortality rates that would make us drop our jaws in disbelief in this modern age.

Hygiene such as boiled water, hand washing and such like will become as about as sophisticated as wild health care gets.

Agreed.. Anyone can pack a ton of bandages but when it comes to those invisible critters..

I kinda resigned myself to the "If you get it you're history" state of mind.Survival of the fittest attitude.

What worries me most is the dental side of things.
Having had a huge range of mishaps over the years I still maintain an exposed nerve and abcess(required root canal) was THE most painful to date.

The idea of performing an extraction on a molar with a knife point is kinda off-putting..
and that's coming from some-one who has removed stones from around my left eye socket after a motorbike crash.(boiled/sterilised scalpel blade)and self-stitched wounds on left middle finger and right knee.(Both roller blading crashes )

I agree with you about dental care. That is going to be one huge problem.

I too know what an abcess feels like ...... personally i would rather have a fractured tib and fib than an abcess.

Even though ''it is only an abcess'' it could be very dibilitating and disableing.

Now here is one very good example of why it is commonsense to 'survive healthily'.

uk.news.yahoo.com...

The dental thing scares me the most.

I've had an abcess which made me actually consider suicide, the pain was...soul crushing. Thankfully I was the UK at the time so was able to get it looked at before I went literally insane.

Because I lived in the US for many years I have a bit of experience with self dentistry. I didn't have dental insurance, didn't qualify the state welfare plan so I was basically on my own.

The best thing in my opinion, you can do is to keep your teeth healthy NOW.

I've printed out the list of vaccinations and will start to work on getting them as an aid to short term survival in sitx.

Am looking forward to reading more, Wotan.

reply to post by Merigold


Actually, I'm pretty sure that you're guaranteed emergency dental procedures under EMTALA in the US. You just have to go to a hospital and not the dentist.

Originally posted by vor78
reply to post by Merigold

 

Actually, I'm pretty sure that you're guaranteed emergency dental procedures under EMTALA in the US. You just have to go to a hospital and not the dentist.

That's pretty musch the same system here in the UK. Most hospitals have an Emergency Dental Clinic running, even on weekends.

Originally posted by Merigold
The dental thing scares me the most.

I've had an abcess which made me actually consider suicide, the pain was...soul crushing. Thankfully I was the UK at the time so was able to get it looked at before I went literally insane.

I know exactly what you went through with your abcess. It was the first and last time in my life that I actually smoked cannabis - for pain releif purposes and I am an anti-drugs person, other than precribed ones of course. I would have paid £1,000 for a dentist to have come to my house that night to remove that tooth. Its something I wont forget in a hurry.

Incidently, the canabis cigarettes' pain relieving effect only lasted about 1.5 hours for me so not really recommended. You really need some strong prescription medications.