Why Prep to be Prepared? Part One

Part One

A letter from Dr. Joseph Alton M.D

Medical Preparedness: An Open Letter to Preppers and their Families and Friends

I'm no stranger to this forward kind of thinking, my parents have ALWAYS kept a one year food storage supply since I can remember.  There was never a name for what they did until recently, they were simply concerned about being able to take care of their family in hard times.   I invite you to read this letter from a medical doctor concerned for our welfare should things get rough.

Thank you to Backdoor Survival for your in depth work!

The Letter.

After gathering food and building a shelter, many people in the preparedness community consider personal and home defense to be the next priority in the event of a societal collapse.  Certainly, defending oneself is important, but have you thought about defending your health?

In a situation where power might be down and normal methods of filtering water and cleaning food don’t exist, your health is as much under attack as the survivors in the latest zombie apocalypse movie.  Infectious diseases will be rampant in a situation where it will be a challenge to maintain sanitary conditions.  Simple chores, such as chopping wood, commonly lead to cuts that could get infected. These minor issues, so easily treated by modern medical science, can easily become life-threatening if left untreated in a collapse scenario.

Don’t you owe it to yourself and your family to devote some time and effort to obtain medical knowledge and supplies?  The difficulties involved in a grid-down situation will surely put you at risk for sickness or injury. It’s important to seek education so that you can treat infectious disease and the other ailments that we’ll see.  There will likely be a lot more diarrheal disease than gunfights at the OK corral.  History teaches us that, in the Civil War, there were a lot more deaths from dysentery than there were from bullets.  Some say “Beans, Bullets and Band-Aids”, but I say “Beans and Band-Aids, then Bullets”.  I suppose, as a physician, that’s not too surprising.

If you make the commitment to learn how to treat medical issues and to store medical supplies, you’re taking a genuine first step towards assuring your family’s survival in dark times.  The medical supplies will always be there if the unforeseen happens, and the knowledge you gain will be there for the rest of your life.  Many medical supplies have long shelf lives; Their longevity will one of the factors that will give you confidence when moving forward.

It’s important to know some illnesses will be difficult to treat if modern medical facilities aren’t available.  It will be hard to do much about those clogged coronary arteries; there won’t be many cardiac bypasses performed.  However, by eating healthily and getting good nutrition, you will give yourself the best chance to minimize some major medical issues.  In a collapse situation, an ounce of prevention is worth, not a pound, but a ton of cure.  Start off healthy and you’ll have the best chance to stay healthy.

When I say to obtain medical knowledge, I am also encouraging you to learn about natural remedies and alternative therapies that may have some benefit for your particular medical problem.  Essential oils, herbal remedies, and other time-honored methods of healing should not be overlooked as you put together your medical supplies.  I cannot vouch for the effectiveness of every claim that one thing or another will cure what ails you; suffice it to say,  that our family has an extensive medicinal garden and that it might be a good idea for your family to have one, also.  Many herbs that have medicinal properties grow like weeds, so a green thumb is not required to grow them.  Many of them do not even require full sun to thrive.  Even the White House garden has a collection of these beneficial plants.

I’m not asking you to do anything that your great-grandparents didn’t do as part of their strategy to succeed in life.  In a collapse situation we’ll be thrown back, in a way, to that era.  We should learn some lessons from the methods they used to stay healthy.  Those homespun skills will give you a head start to being an effective medic for your family.

The non-prepper members of my family wonder why I spend all my time trying to prepare people medically for a collapse situation.  They tell me that I can’t turn everyone into doctors, so why I should try?   Am I trying to turn you all into doctors?  No, there’s too much to learn in one lifetime; even as a physician, I often come across things I’m not sure about.  That’s what medical books are for, so make sure that you put together a library. You can refer to them when you need to, just as I do. 

I AM trying to turn you into something, however: I’m trying to make you a better medical asset to your family and/or survival community than you were before.  If you can learn how to treat common illnesses and injuries in times of trouble, I will have succeeded in my mission.

Dr. Joseph Alton MD

Please think about this letter and counsel, I believe there's much here to merit some serious thought.  More to come in the next post...