Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
The most important prep of All |
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Posted: February 09 2006 at 12:04am |
Okay, you’ve got your food, water, meds, and maybe even guns stockpiled. It’s a good start, but it’s not going to be enough. There’s one preparation you must make if you expect to survive a pandemic. You have to prepare mentally. IF a pandemic occurs, for most of us, we will be entering uncharted territory. Even if you sequester yourself inside your home, you may have to deal with illness, death, isolation and fear. News reports from the outside, while informative, will likely to serve to heighten you fears. If looting or rioting breaks out in your vicinity, or worst case, you have to deal with an attempted home invasion, your ability to react under stress will be vital. Having started in EMS at the age of 18, I was woefully
unprepared for the daily onslaught of trauma, tragedy, and yes, fear that would
accompany every shift. A dozen or more times a day I would find myself in the
midst of an emergency, where lives, including my own, were on the line. The first few weeks, I wasn’t at all sure I
was cut out for it. Honestly, I almost quit the first week. But I learned a few secrets, from those whom I worked with, that enabled me to handle the stress, the tragedies, and the unexpected. For what it’s worth, I will pass them on to you. First, no matter what, keep your sense of humor. It will see you thru when nothing else will. Although often misunderstood by those outside of the profession, the ability to find irony in any situation, no matter how terrible, is a wonderful defense mechanism. As long as you can do that, things can’t be that bad. The wisecracks in the operating room scenes in M.A.S.H. were very representative of real life. It’s an outlet. Use it. Second, you have to be able to detach yourself from the situation, at least for the moment, if you expect to function. No, that doesn’t mean you don’t care. But if you allow yourself to become emotionally involved, you can’t do the things you need to do. Parents are especially guilty of becoming too emotional when their child is injured, and frequently do the wrong thing. Their first inclination when a child is injured is to scoop them up into their arms to comfort them. It isn’t easy, but to be effective, you have to distance yourself from your emotions. Third, a little bit of fatalism is a good thing. Sometimes you have to accept you’re not going to get out of this world alive. I’ve seen people freeze when they should have acted, and it cost them their lives. There is an old saying in the military; even doing nothing can get you killed. Soldiers can get killed even if they never leave their foxholes. You need to be able to react, even in the face of danger. Fear is normal, as is the desire to preserve your own skin. But don’t let it keep you from acting when you need to. If you freeze, you no longer are able to affect the situation. You are at the mercy of whatever happens. Fourth, don’t obsess over what might happen next. You can prepare, and you can train, but you can’t anticipate every eventuality. Running scenarios thru your head incessantly will drive you nuts. Take things as they come. Your imagination can be your worst enemy. I learned early on that the time spent in-between calls, where you anticipate what the next call may bring, was harder on me than the actual call. Finally, you aren’t Superman. There will always be things you can’t control. Accept that. Do the best you can, but accept that it may not be enough. You should be prepared for losses. Learn from them. Then move on. None of this is to suggest that you can go thru an emergency without being affected by it. That stoic firefighter or medic who pulls a 4-year-old out of the deep end of a pool, and spends an hour trying unsuccessfully to revive him, does so professionally, and seemingly without emotion. They have to. But don’t think for one second that later, after the call is over, they are unaffected. You can’t eliminate fear or emotions from stressful conditions. But you can put them aside; delay them until the situation is over. The ability to do so will mean the difference between being able to act, and freezing up. Perhaps the hardest thing for most people to accept when dealing with illness or injury, particularly of a loved one, is the concept of letting go. That sometimes, there is nothing that can be done. Heroic measures are not always appropriate, and they seldom work. We live in a culture that fears death, and in recent decades we have tended to hide those people on the verge of death away in nursing homes or hospitals. Often it is for their own good, but many times it is just so we don’t have to watch the process. In a pandemic, this will not be possible in a lot of cases. Many people will have to face that reality. Among medics, there is a saying. “Death is just nature’s way of telling you to slow down” This isn’t cruel, or insensitive. It’s simply acceptance. While I pray that none of you have to face any of the mental traumas that may come with a pandemic, I hope that each of you will take some time and think, really think, about your ability to cope with emergencies. That you will prepare yourself mentally for what you may be called upon to do. Your ability to do so, and to respond appropriately in an emergency, can spell the difference between life and death for you, or someone you love. And remember, if I could do it at 18, you can do it now. You just have to believe in yourself.
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Excellent insight to the emtional side....prepare for the worst and hope for the best..
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Corn
Valued Member Joined: December 13 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1219 |
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Don't forget preperation H. The Vodka is ready Flu Medic. Cheers! |
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Speculation is the only tool we have with a threat that can circle the globe in 30 days. Test results&news is slow.Factor in human conditions,politics, money&bingo!The truth!Facts come after the fact.
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"You have to prepare mentally."
Good advice! ------------- You should also prepare for news that H5 has been detected in Greece, February 9/06. Expect new cases elsewhere in Europe. It's apparent that the virus is endemic and has spread farther than has been acknowledged. They might rethink the winter Olympics. A common strategy to avoid dealing with an uncomfortable situation is, claim ignorance, which explains why the WHO has been rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, and failed to inform the passengers about the extent of damage below the water line. I've just order another hundred N95's, while I can. Keep in mind, any extra masks would be valueable battering commodities. Only two factories in North America, both running at 100% with no surge capacity. Keep in mind 80% of all medical supplies/meds are from made off-shore. Edited by Rick |
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meewee
Valued Member Joined: December 13 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 595 |
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I couldn't have said it better myself Fla! Bravo Meewee |
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God Bless us all!
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I liked you post Fla_Medic. I know this was always said in jest but a Ranger saying was "shoot somebody even if it's your own people." I know it sounds bad but it is all about making a command decision, a course of action. Not every course you move out on is the right direction, but it is easier to change course once you get moving than it is if you are sitting still. The point being made was/is do something even if it is not right, usually becomes apparent very quickly, then adjust. Just to be clear - Special Ops folks are well trained and friendly fire has always been frowned upon. One more thing if anyone decides to go through SEAL/Force Recon/Ranger or Special Forces school and at some point you find someone screaming in your face what are you going to do now, don't flip out your Army issued compass and speak into it saying, "Kirk to Enterprise, beam me up Scottie." |
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Flamedic, I believe you are correct. I'd add, just for this event, getting a small frs radio, batts and solar charger. It is good to talk with strangers over a walkie talkie it keeps the mind active and it is a good life line.. -K |
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elbows
V.I.P. Member Joined: February 06 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 339 |
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Great post Fla_medic
Unfortunately looking at how every possible news item talked about on these forums is talked about, I do not think many people have found the right balance yet. On the one side there are people who dont want to think about the pandemic at all, but on the other side there seems to be too much fear and hyping of every story (even about unrelated illnesses) from those who have decided to take the pandemic seriously. The sense of humour thing is spot on. Its one of the most important psychological defenses that the human mind has. Undertakers have a pretty well developed dark humour, thats for sure! When bird flu was discovered in a Parrot in quarantine in the UK, the British sense of humour kicked in on a national scale. The legendary 'dead parrot sketch' by Monty Python made it easy for people to joke about the parrot, but they werent trying to downplay its significance. Cultural differences fascinate me. When the July 7th terrorist atatcks happened on the London underground, it was possible to see some quite big differences between how the average person in the UK reacted to such attacks, compared to how America reacts (though obviously the scale of the atrocities were different). The fear of looting seems to be far more prevalent in the USA too. Edited by elbows |
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E' aint dead, e's pining for the fjords!
I can only hope, that when things are at their absolute worst, when there seems to be no hope left, I can can come up with a wiseass remark. It has saved my sanity more times than I can count. |
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