Gestalt # 109 – Healthcare

   by -monotreme1000
   Aug 6, 2022

Healthcare is one of the two domains I worry about the most in a collapse scenario. the other being security. This is because serious health issues require access to specialists and expensive machinery that may not be available. Nonetheless, there are some things we can do know to improve our odds of survival.

Personal

Learn Human Biology

A basic knowledge of how the human body works will repay you many times over no matter what happens. Even if all medical care remains available, you will be a better patient if you know something about how your body works. There are many excellent textbooks that you can read. Here is one that you can have for free:

https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/576

This textbook can be read online or the pdf can be downloaded. The latter is probably the best choice given that we may lose the internet at some point. The Open Textbook Library provides access to a number of other free books. Medically oriented books of varying quality are located here:

https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/medicine

Get a First Aid Kit and Learn How to Use It

There are many first aid kits you can buy. Here is a link to the American Red Cross First Aid Supplies webpage:

https://www.redcross.org/store/first-aid-supplies

You may be able to purchase similar supplies for less money at other locations, but this will give you some idea of what is available. You can find a variety of books and DVDs here:

https://www.redcross.org/store/books-and-dvds

You can find out where to get specific types of training here;

https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class

Both online and in person training is available depending on your location.

Get a physical and do what your doctor tells you to do.

We have a window of opportunity to get medical treatment now. This may be much more difficult to access in the Fall and Winter. So, get a physical and any recommended screening and vaccines. If you need a procedure done, get it now, while you can. Fill all your prescriptions.

Get Fit

I won’t say much about this because I think most people know that they should eat healthy food and get exercise.

Community

You should know where all medical facilities are in your immediate neighborhood. In a crisis, you may not be able to go to your favorite hospital if it is not close by. If you have developed some skills as a result of training by the American Red Cross, you may be able to volunteer to help in some capacity in an emergency. Assess your local public health authorities. Unfortunately, we have found that some in public health are untrustworthy. They will sometimes spread misinformation through ignorance sometimes, perhaps even malice. So, decide now whether your local public health authority is trustworthy.

National

We have learned that our national public health authorities are definitely untrustworthy. They are not going to improve in a crisis. There is no indication that the Biden Administration will correct its errors. It will simply add more bureaucrats to the mix. No one will take responsibility for the overall national response to the current two pandemics. Especially not the President.

 That said, the coronavirus vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer have been lifesavers, literally. It will be worth getting boosters and any updated vaccines that better match circulating strains of coronavirus that may be available this Fall. Coronavirus tests are worth acquiring. We will have to wait and see if monkeypox tests become available. Personally, I will take whatever monkeypox vaccine is available to me, even the harsh one with serious side effects. Monkeypox is already breaking out of the demographic it is notorious for infecting. I expect this process to continue and for more and more members of the general public to be infected. I think many hospitals will be seriously challenged by having to deal with both coronavirus and monkeypox patients this Fall and Winter. This may make access to any type of healthcare difficult.

International

The WHO has been pretty much worthless for both coronavirus and monkeypox pandemics. They “warn” the public long after it is obvious that pandemics have already started. The Director of the WHO has run interference for the Dictator of China.

He calls for rich nations to stop hoarding monkeypox vaccine and to give their stockpiles to poor countries. Really? American citizens are in Hunger Games-like competitions for scarce vaccine and we are going to send some vaccine which we developed and paid for to other countries?

 This is not a serious suggestion. Monkeypox is going to spread through poor countries without vaccine or treatment and their citizens are going to suffer, as usual. The only real solution is for poor countries to clean up their corruption and reallocate money away from the luxury homes and cars of their leaders towards education, science and healthcare.

War is already here in Europe. It is coming to Asia. Biological weapons may be used (or perhaps already have been). Isolation and self-care may be the only options for many of us.