SurvivalMedicineBlog

Self-care preparedness

Not medical advice. This is an archive article for general information when professional care is hard to reach. It is not a diagnosis, treatment, or cure. Read the disclaimer. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.

Preparedness here means knowing what you have on hand and knowing when a problem is past home care. A labeled box everyone in the household can find is more useful than a pile of supplies you have never looked at.

What is worth keeping

• Water, commercial oral rehydration packets, and a way to heat water safely
• Soap, gloves, gauze, tape, bandages, and tweezers
• A thermometer, and a notebook for times, temperatures, and fluids
• Medicines a clinician has already told you to keep, stored out of children's reach, with the labels still readable
• Copies of allergies, prescriptions, and emergency phone numbers
• A first-aid booklet you have actually read

Supplies do not decide whether someone is safe to stay home. Mild symptoms in a person who is alert, drinking, and improving can often wait for a routine visit. Chest pain, trouble breathing, heavy bleeding, a seizure, a person you cannot wake, or a severe allergic reaction cannot.

Do not build a plan around medicines you are not trained to use, and do not treat a stocked cabinet as a substitute for emergency services. If care is delayed by weather or distance, write down what you see, keep the person warm, and go as soon as travel is possible.

The home page lists emergency warning signs. Read this First explains what this site is and is not.