“Contagin”….. An interesting movie! I went to see it tonight. It got my mind thinking once again about pandemics. Since the Swine Flu, I have kind of put Pandemic preparedness to the back burner, but I think it is time to revisit it. This movie of course is Hollywood’s version of what could happen “if”…… And you know it wasn’t far off on many of it’s ideas. It showed how things could escalate so quickly and what may happen as society breaks down and the government takes control of our lives, in an attempt to control the outbreak. It is worth the watch, but definitely doesn’t leave one with a happy feeling. I think it is worth the watch because it brings about many questions in one’s mind about “what if?”
I thought I might share a bit about pandemics. I have no doubt that at some point we will have to deal with something very serious. Whether it will be the “Bird Flu”, some other virus, or perhaps something that we haven't even heard of yet, who really knows? But I think we should all be aware and be prepared for whatever it might be.
I want to share just a bit about past pandemics we have had.
1918 – Spanish Influenza – killed approximately 100 million people.
1957 – 1958 – Asian Flu – approximately 2 million deaths
1968 – 1969 and 1970 – 1972 – killed approximately 33,800 people
2009 – Swine Flu – approximately 11,00 deaths
A Pandemic occurs when there is a new virus or disease that there is little or no immunity to, and then is spreads easily from person to person. It is global and effects global populations. It can be mild, moderate, or very severe causing death. Check out this site http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/pandemic/en/ to see how they classify a pandemic and to learn more about what to prepare, and get a checklist.
Pandemics can last up to 2 years with the infection coming in several different waves, that will usually last up to 8 weeks at a time. This is where it is really important for everyone to have a 3 month supply of food and supplies in your home, and be prepared to shelter in place if and when need occurs. Your food should be easy to prepare meals and foods that are familiar to your family. This is not the time to start experimenting with long term food storage. And easy to prepare would be, so that any family member could prepare them if mom and / or dad happen to get sick.
Think of a worst case scenario such as trucks stop running because the truckers are sick, or the warehouses that stock the food for the truckers to carry to the store don't have the employees because they are sick. It wouldn't take long for the public works in your city to shut down if people are sick, and soon garbage would pile up, perhaps the water won't get treated because the only people that know what to do are sick or dead, and the maintenance on the other utilities will not be kept up since many people are too sick to maintain them. It wouldn't take very long for stores to run out of food, and even if they did have food, (which is a big if), they might not have the people to keep it up and running. Looting would be taking place. People tend to go a bit crazy. What if the hospital was overflowing with sick patients, but the nurses and doctors are short staffed because they are sick themselves, or they just plain refuse to work because they don’t want to get sick? Perhaps your city will enforce a quarantine, nobody in and nobody out. Believe me, they likely have plans in place to enforce just such a scenario.
Items and services that we take for granted will become nearly or completely unavailable. There are so many if's, and what if's in this kind of a situation, and the best thing to do, is to ask yourself and your family some of these what if's. Sit down with them and take a hard look at what would really happen, and then make a plan to prepare for that worst case scenario. Preparing for the worst case scenario, is just smart planning, and then no matter what hits, you will be able to deal with it.
Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, 2006 – 2009 said, “Any community (or family) that fails to prepare and expects the federal government to come to the rescue is tragically wrong.”
So really how can we prepare for such a wide spread, crazy event? Here are a few ideas and links to follow.
1. Do your best to stay healthy and fit. This is not always a guarantee of safety, but is a good place to start.
2. Make sure to have a 3 month supply of prescription medications on hand, or any other types of medicines you think you will need. Don't count on running to the drug store to get them, because every other person in your local area will be thinking the same thing and if you aren't the first one there, well you just won't get it. Have pain relievers, cough syrup, cold and flu medicines, etc.
3. Learn how to prevent the spreading of germs. Proper hand washing, coughing, sneezing, social distancing, (avoid large groups, keep your distance – six feet – when you do have to communicate) are all things that you should be practicing right now so that in an emergency, it will just be common sense to do them. You can read more here on washing hands properly. Handwashing Hand sanitizers are so important. Carry them with you all the time. Use them when you are out in public. Carry wipes with you and clean buggy handles, door handles, and things like that before you touch them. Sanitize your hands after touching. Here Coughs and sneezes you can find information about proper sneezing and coughing.
4. Have on hand masks, gloves, flu medicines, and anything that your family would usually use when someone has the flu. Make sure you have enough of these things on hand to last you for several weeks. For example, if you like jello, or chicken noodle soup, or gingerale, now is the time to stock up on these things. Remember lots of toilet paper, cleaning supplies, paper towels, bleach and things like that. Take into consideration personal hygiene, sanitation, clothes washing, trash, cooking, power, heating, communication, and entertainment. At the following link you can find some planning helps Personal Pandemic Planning Prepare to quarantine yourself in your home, whether you might be sick or might just not want to get sick. You may have to stay in your home for quite some time, until it passes. Here are a couple of links to follow about sheltering in place Shelter in Place and here Shelter in Place
5. Think ahead about your home, and where you would be able to put a sick person to quarantine as much as possible from other members of the family. Easy access to a bathroom, some form of entertainment like a tv in the room, and least possibility of spreading the germs. Things you might want to have in a sick room: thermometers, rubbing alcohol, humidifiers, garbage bags, disinfectant wipes, sanitizers, and anything else that might help the situation. Here is a site that tells a bit about that here isolation and quarantine
There are so many different ways to prepare for something like this. Do some research. Check with your local government websites, most of them will have information for you.
Here is a great rehydration recipe for someone who is sick and in jeopardy of dehydration.
1 tsp salt
8 tsp sugar
5 cups clean drinking water. You can add flavoring such as Kool-Aid to make it taste a bit better. Sitr the mixture well until all dissolved. Give liberally to a sick patient as they can take it, to prevent dehydration.
An idea that I use to prepare for things such as pandemic, would be to place all items you might need that go together into a rubbermaid type bin and label it well. For example I have a bin called my flu bin. It has all my meds, masks, gloves, bed pads, straws for easy drinking, and things like that in it. I have a bin for activities, like coloring books, games, and crafts. Ideas for bins might be, 72 hour emergency bins, lighting bins, heating bins, a sanitation bin, sewing bin, birthing bin, disposable eating, first aid, bedding, communication bin, laundry bin, cold weather clothing, household tools, baby bin, wool blankets, and so on. I will do more posts on the different things you can have in these bins, but for now work on preparing a flu bin and a shelter in place bin.
Your shelter in place bin should include duct tape and sheets of plastic cut to fit over doors, windows, vents, cracks, and so forth of the room that you might need to shelter in place. You won’t likely use the ones over the doors and windows if someone is sick in the room, but you will want to cover the vents in and out of the room so the virus doesn’t spread. You could hang a plastic sheet over the door that would also help the spread of germs as the door is opened and closed when the caregiver comes in. This bin could also be used in case of chemical spills or dangerous goods, where a person or family needed to close themselves into a room for a short period of time. You would then duct tape the plastic over all possible air flow into or out of the room, until it is safe to remove. A radio would be beneficial in this situation so that you could monitor the situation in your area.
Here are a few links to check out which will give you much more information.
www.getpandemicready.org
http://pandemicflu.utah.gov/
http://www.pandemicflu.gov/
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/
Good Home Treatment of Influenza by Grattan Woodson, MD – an excellent resource manual for every home.
Birdflu Manual
I have done a bit of research on some of these different ideas, because even though I know and understand them, my actual hands on experience with some of them is limited. I use my Wonder-box all of the time, and I use my dutch ovens once in awhile. I have buddy burners,
and camp stoves, and all that stuff, but I realized that I need some more practice and experience with some of these others. Therefore, I have listed lots of links with great ideas and I have decided to incorporate some of these projects into our home school this year. Once a week we do a project and my theme this year is to teach my kids survival skills and other useful skills they will need some day, and these alternate cooking forms definitely fall into that category. So.........here we go! 
I use mine often,(I actually have three) but probably should use them more, and as I have been doing some looking into recipes and what not, I am inspired to experiment with them more. I know that we can use them for cooking OR keeping things cold. I have used it to bring home a frozen turkey from my dad's once and then I forgot about it in my jeep for about 30 hours, and when I went to get it, the darn thing was still frozen!!! Pretty cool hey? I use mine every time we have a family dinner and we have to travel because it will keep things hot or cold for several hours. We have taken freezies and popsicles to soccer games on a hot day and they stay nice and frozen. If you put something hot in it, the food will continue to cook, but it never seems to burn or over cook. As I use it more over the next little bit, I will post some of my thoughts and recipes of what I do. 
