Help In Preparing For Emergency/Austere Medical Situations - A Shout Out To A Fellow YouTuber

Folks who read my last post know I got my EMT-Basic certification about a year ago. But I didn't stop there.

In my constant effort to be more prepared for whatever comes, and to be of help to my family, friends, neighbors and colleagues, I took some additional seminars dealing with emergency medicine in an "austere" setting. What do I mean by "austere"? My EMT training was primarily geared toward helping the patient stay alive, and preventing further injury, until they could get to the hospital. This is all well and good, and works in most situations. But what about a massive grid down situation? Or another hurricane Katrina, where massive flooding prevents rescue workers from getting to you in a timely manner? Those situations can be termed "austere", because doctors, nurses and hospital care may NOT be readily available - for some time, if at all. A fellow YouTuber comes to the rescue for these scenarios.

There is a Registered Nurse (RN) who maintains a YouTube channel called "The Patriot Nurse". If you go back and search through her videos, you will find she has posted lots of valuable medical information - as well as some at times brutally frank, politically oriented ones. I'm NOT here to debate politics or to comment one way or the other on the merit of the political stances expressed in some of her YouTube and Patreon videos - THAT is for another blog. I will NOT address or render comments on politics or take sides here in this forum. BUT the FREE MEDICAL information she provides in some of her videos is outstanding and is of concern and potentially helpful to all of us - regardless of one's religious or political persuasion. Additionally, she offers a series of paid seminars called "Medical Prep 101, Medical Prep 201, and Medical Prep 301.

My adult step daughter and I took all three of the medical prep classes several months after I got my EMT-Basic patch. So I had some background with which to evaluate the course content. In short, I think the classes are EXCELLENT - especially for laypersons, or even people with a "nurse's aide" level of training. There was another EMT there besides myself; we both thought it was a good review as well as offering certain valuable info that we DON'T normally get through EMT training and continuing education. To follow is a very brief synopsis of what you get during the classes:

Medical Prep 101 and 201 - covers all major aspects of first aid, diseases one is likely to encounter now or during a disaster, and also offers frank discussion of how quickly medical care deteriorates when infrastructure is damaged or destroyed. She comes from a background of having been a nurse in 3rd world countries where the facilities and technology we take for granted are at times severely lacking. Video presentations and a course notebook she provides augment the lecture and hands-on exercises. A question and answer period after each "chapter" or section gives ample opportunity for students to get their questions answered, as well as for class discussion that can be quite informative.

Medical Prep 301 - briefly recaps some material covered in Medical Prep 101 and 201, then offers excellent coverage dealing with new and re-emerging old diseases which bear watching now, and which can quickly become problematic during a disaster. She presented good information about the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria, ebola, plague, tic-borne diseases and other potential threats - diseases that can in themselves trigger a major disaster. Exctensive coverage is given to nutritional and holistic approaches to maintaining health as well as helping the body's own defenses and systems fight back and heal from a disease or injury. Issues such as maintaining adequate sanitation when water and sewer utilities are damaged/destroyed are discussed at length and are a topic EVERYONE should know and be equipped to deal with.

Other topics include feminine hygiene, childbirth, preventing (and recognizing) STDs.

Much of the information she presented dovetailed nicely with my prior EMT training. After all, emergency medicine is emergency medicine. However, FOR ME, the true value I found in it was the viewpoint or "angle" the material was presented from. As stated earlier, all of my prior training was STRICTLY geared toward pre-hospital care during "normal" times in "normal" circumstances. Her presentation is more akin to what is given in Hesperian.org's book titled "Where There Is No Doctor". But UNLIKE reading Hesperian's book - which I DO recommend - The Patriot Nurse offers the hands-on experiences, the classroom interaction and question-answer opportunities one does NOT get from reading a book.

And As I mentioned earlier, these classes are a superb primer for those with little medical knowledge, yet contain enough solid information to arm even those folks to contribute meaningfully to helping during a disaster or grid down scenario. The information that my step daughter has gotten from Patriot Nurse's Medical Prep seminars has also helped empower her in terms of knowing what to do in a medical emergency.

And what is wonderful about knowledge is it is one thing that cannot be taken away from you. FWIW.

Must-Have Emergency Medical Information

Many of us have taken one or more first aid classes either through our workplace, military service, being in a state CERT program, or as a nurse's aide. As a CERT team volunteer, and a part-time nurse's aide, I have been through a couple formal first aid training programs. All of these traditional first aid programs have one fatal flaw: They assume paramedics or other trained medical help is soon forthcoming - and thus focus merely on keeping someone alive and "together" for at most a few hours until that help arrives. But what if that help isn't coming anytime soon, of at all? What then?

This situation is addressed by a Registered Nurse, who goes by an online identity of "The Patriot Nurse". The Patriot Nurse has a youtube channel as well as a regular website http://www.thepatriotnurse.com. This lady has travelled all over the world and has worked in very primitive conditions where hospitals and other modern, high-tech medical support like we are used to in America simply don't exist. THAT is the kind of experience you need from your instructor to prepare for a scenario such as described in "One Second After" or any other widespread disaster where medical help may be a long time coming, if at all. (Please see my book review at http://inkarlslab.blogspot.com/2013/12/book-review-one-second-after.html)

The Patriot Nurse offers 1 and 2 day educational seminars which attempt to address this type of situation. The class schedule is available on her website; just follow the link above. Meanwhile, be sure to watch some of her OLDER videos in youtube that show common sense preparations ANYONE can make - even on a limited budget. Unfortunately, her newer videos tend to wax on way too much about politics and do not provide the hard core information the older ones do. While that makes for interesting discussion material with family, friends or neighbors, it's TOTALLY irrelevent to the task at hand, which is to become more prepared for any sort of civil crisis scenario.

That said, she has much of value to offer any concerned citizen.

DISCLAIMER:

I am NOT in any way affiliated with "The Patriot Nurse", financially or otherwise. I do NOT get any sort of compensation, "spiff" or kickbacks from advertizing her website or products. I'm doing this to make people aware of the shortcomings of traditional first aid and even many so-called "wilderness medicine" classes and to point out an alternative that I have become aware of. As a CERT team volunteer and a nurse's aide, I am painfully aware of this particular gap in my training, and as soon as I have the money and time I plan on availaing myself of this potentially life-saving knowledge.