A Rational Approach to Acquiring Medical Supplies

(I wrote the following article early last week, before news of the novel coronavirus from China exploded onto the scene.   It's been eye-opening to read accounts of individuals rushing to the store to make one last run or to buy some N-95 masks.  And being distressed to find that the stores and Amazon are sold out.  Or being upset that some places jacked up the prices.
I thought about writing an article about the current hysteria, but what is there to say that hasn't been said?  Articles on gloves, masks, proper handwashing, hand sanitizers, eating healthy food, storing food so that disruptions in delivery aren't an issue, etc., have already been written.  Maybe this is the event that precipitates a collapse.  Maybe not.  Preparedness is a way of life.  And when it is a way of life, one day looks just like the next.  There's no need for panic shopping and risking exposure to pathogenic microbes or people.  As God has told us, "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.")

Whenever I hear or read comments from individuals, particularly those who claim to be preparing for an uncertain future, that people shouldn't acquire medications and supplies that they don't know how to use, I just want to scream.  Do these people not have brains?  Do they not have eyes?  Have they never watched the news or read a newspaper?  Have they ever heard of Venezuela, conflicts in the Middle East, Hurricane Maria?  China?  

Venezuela reclaimed third-world status some time ago.  Their people are dying of severe malnutrition and trivial diseases treated with good food and antibiotics in neighboring countries.  They still have physicians.  They lack supplies.  Terrorists abound in the Middle East; festivities can escalate at any moment.  Hurricane Maria wiped out Puerto Rico's plants responsible for producing the bags and critical intravenous fluids used in hospitals all over the country.  China, a behemoth with whom we keep playing trade-war chicken, manufactures all of our antibiotics.  Every last one.  Can you say stupid?

TEOTWAWKI is not TV.  You don't transform from armchair prepper to credentialed physician by turning a page of the script.   Storing medical supplies and equipment doesn't make you a doctor any more than having milk and an udder makes you a cow.  But I can guaran-darn-tee you that there are millions of people in Venezuela today who wish they'd had the foresight to stockpile some essential medicines and supplies.  For them, finding a doctor right now is far easier than finding a little penicillin or cipro. 

Developing knowledge and skills to use medical supplies properly takes time, whether it's first-aid courses or medical school.  And constant review.  In the meantime, the window for acquiring supplies narrows or closes entirely.  We've got to get stuff while we can.  The antibiotic window is gradually narrowing as far as legally obtaining them in US.  Of course, letting China take over world production of all antibiotics was foolish in the extreme, and war with China (whether trade war or hot war) will effectively cut off those supplies entirely.

Having considered life in Venezuela, the situation with China, and our own rush into becoming the newest socialist paradise on the planet, let's do a quick review of the big killers in third-world countries, because that's where we're headed.

• Diarrhea, particularly in the malnourished, dehydrated, elderly, and infants.  Stockpile anti-diarrheals, oral rehydration solutions, and enema bags (which can be used to rehydrate a person, if necessary).
• Malaria.  It was endemic in the South in the US until the 1960s.  If you're in the South, do you have anti-malarials?  For the rest of the US, can you repel kamikaze mosquitoes and prevent or treat the diseases they're dying to kill you with?  
• Pneumonia.  While traumatic injuries and gunshots play a cliche part of the plot in all doomsday fiction, the need for antibiotics is not overdone, as is often claimed.  No one in most families has had gunshot wounds.  Some may have experienced a broken bone or two.  Sprains and stitches are common.  But we've all had several courses of antibiotics in our lives.  When China shuts us off, a lot of gooses will be cooked.  Burnt to a crisp, even.
• Typhoid is another big killer.  Antibiotics will help, but better still is to know how to purify water.
• Perinatal infections kill a significant number of mothers and babies within a week of birth.  Clean water, antibiotics, and maternal education reduce the mortality rate.  

So after you ponder on the diseases that kill in third world countries and the direction we're headed today, determine which medical conditions are realistically treated outside a hospital.  Know how to manage your own medical conditions and those that run in your family.  Prepare for those first.  Gather those supplies.

Unfortunately, most of the time people need medical care there is pain involved.  Just as unfortunately, strong pain relievers tend to be narcotics, highly illegal to obtain or possess without a prescription.  If you ever get some prescribed after a procedure (increasingly less likely in the US), save as many as you can.  Lidocaine in the form of powder for long term storage or tattoo numbing cream, and over-the-counter pain relievers may be the best you can do.

Ten percent of emergency room visits are due to dental issues.  Do you have mouth guards, oral numbing gels, and filling replacement cement?

Many deaths will occur due to communicable diseases that we currently vaccinate for, and which doctors thought were almost eliminated from our country.  If you don't vaccinate, you better know how to identify these communicable diseases and manage them.  

This list could go on forever, but that's not the point.  The point is that you can prepare the supplies that will be needed.  It will be easier to find a doctor than to locate essential supplies and medications in a collapsed society.  Don't let anyone dissuade you from obtaining these supplies.  Your family is depending on you.

Links to related posts:
Lidocaine
Typhoid
Pneumonia
Acquiring Antibiotics
US Drug Dependence on China
Venezuela in Crisis   

For further reading:
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death
https://borgenproject.org/causes-of-death-in-developing-countries/
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/top-ten-leading-causes-of-death-in-the-world.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/why-are-you-crying-mami-in-venezuela-the-search-for-water-is-a-daily-struggle/2019/04/04/39972ce4-5547-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/10/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-iv-bag-shortage-hospitals
https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-works-help-relieve-iv-fluid-shortages-wake-hurricane-maria
https://www.ddponline.org/2019/11/01/drug-dependence/#more-701 (China manufactures all our antibiotics) 

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