Patriot Nurse: What to put in your first aid kit

I have just discovered Patriot Nurse and her YouTube videos.  Here are two on what to include in your first aid kits:

"Medical Kit: A Nurse Gets You Ready, Part 1"
http://www.youtube.com/user/ThePatriotNurse#p/u/33/t3qLk9VXMr0

"Medical Kit: A Nurse Gets You Ready, Part 2"
http://www.youtube.com/user/ThePatriotNurse#p/u/32/bIkze84k-bQ

If you want, you can check out all her other videos.

Some quotes from prophets and apostles #8

"And now I am prepared to say by the authority of Jesus Christ, that not many years shall pass away before the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not a parallel in the history of our nation; pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake will sweep the wicked of this generation from off the face of the land, to open and prepare the way for the return of the lost tribes of Israel from the north country." (Joseph Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2nd. ed. Rev., 1:315-16.)

"How long you will have good crops, and the famine kept off, I do not know; when the fig tree leaves,, know then that summer is nigh at hand." (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 3:391.)

"Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us. ... And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well–and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell. ... Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!" (2 Ne. 28:7, 21, 24)

"The Lord is not going to disappoint either Babylon or Zion, with regard to famine, pestilence, earthquake or storms. . . . Lay up your wheat and other provisions against a day of need, for the day will come when they will be wanted, and no mistake about it. We shall want bread, and the Gentiles will want bread, and if we are wise we shall have something to feed them and ourselves when famine comes.” Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 18:121.

If you really want to be prepared, take CERT training

I attended Citizens Emergency Response Training  for about 17 hours this weekend, and thought it was a great program.  And the best part was that it was completely free.  (Our instructor said that a similar course was $150 and I believe it.)

CERT was started after 9-11, and is affiliated with Homeland Security.  The City of Raleigh was the sponsoring organization of the CERT training I attended.  Every state has CERT, but not every city has it.  So you’ll have to check out your own city to see if they offer these classes.

I was the only female in a class of about 13.  There were two teenage boys in the group, the rest were all men.

On Friday evening we attended three hours about Recent Disasters and Emergencies, Disaster Threats, Disaster Workers, Impact on Infrastructure, Structural and Non structural hazards, Hazard Mitigation, Community Preparedness.

On Saturday, a Physician’s Assistant taught us first aid and we got to practice bandaging and splinting injuries.  We learned about hypothermia, establishing treatment areas, conducting head-to-toe assessments (and setting up a triage), treating burns, wound care, treating fractures, sprains, and strains, splinting, eye injuries.

Then we learned about fire chemistry, reducing fire hazards in the home, firefighting resources, fire suppression safety, hazardous materials, and then got to do a hands-on exercise of putting out fires using a fire extinguisher.  We learned all about terrorism, terrorism targets, weapons, tactics.  Biological, Nuclear, Incendiary, Chemical, and Explosive devices.  Plus we learned about conducting search and rescue operations.

Today, Sunday, I was there all day again.  We learned about how to psychologically help a wounded person, and how to deal with survivor’s trauma.  

Then we had a mock disaster, where past CERT class members came back and volunteered to put on gruesome makeup and lay around so we could bandage them.  (I am looking forward to doing that for the next group.)

It was a mock bombing, a woman came in our building screaming that there had been a bomb, she had blood coming out her nose and ears, and then she fell down.  We all had to organize, get the supplies from the medical trailer and start treating all the 7 victims.  I was designated to be in charge of Administrative, so I actually had to call 911 and report the mock exercise, telling them about all the mock victims and their conditions and ask for the fire truck, police and ambulance to come.  

Then I had to take notes on people’s conditions and who was doing what, so that we had a time line and a report to give to the police when they got there.  (However, they knew it was a drill and didn’t come.)

It was VERY eye-opening to me to see how I would handle a disaster. Now I feel so much more empowered, I think I might be able to handle some things quite a bit better than I could have previously. 

Future CERT training classes:

Feb. 19- Water purification:  Raleigh/Wake CERT

(Here I am putting out a fire.)

Here are the dates when the Basic CERT training course will be offered again in our area:  Apr. 1-3,  June 3-5, and Aug. 5-7, 2011.  The locations have not been announced yet.  Unfortunately, all of these are on Fri-Sat-Sun so you would have to miss church.

How to make alfalfa sprouts

On Thursday, I gave "Alfalfa Sprouting Kits" as prizes at my ward's Relief Society activity.  I used the instructions here:  http://www.backyardnature.net/simple/alf-spr.htm.

The photo above is from that website.

Some quotes from prophets and apostles #7

"The time will come when we will be obliged to depend upon our own resources; for the time is not far distant when the curtain will be dropped between us and the United States. When the time comes, brethren and sisters, you will wish you had commenced sooner to make your own clothing. I tell you, God requires us to go into home manufacture; and, prolong it as much as you like, you have got to do it." Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 5, p. 10, July 5, 1857.

"A spirit of speculation and extravagance will take possession of the Saints [in the last days], and the results will be financial bondage. Persecution comes next and all true Latter-day Saints will be tested to the limit." Heber C. Kimball, Deseret News, May 23, 1931.

The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel, through His Servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel?" (Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, November 1980)

"When the economies of nations fail, when famine and other disasters prevent people from buying food in stores, the Saints must be prepared to handle these emergencies." (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 264.)

Feb. group order Emergency Essentials

Emergency Essentials:  http://beprepared.com/search.asp?t=c&c=900&sap=true&ipp=5000

Here is the website for the group orders.  Give a check made out to me by Sunday, Feb. 13.  Do not give it to me in the chapel.  You can also mail it or bring it to my house (Look on Morrisville ward google group email for my name and address).  There is no shipping charge if we make it to the number needed on the group order.

Emergency Essentials has some items on special each month, which are only a special price if enough people order them.  (You, personally, only have to order one, the rest of the group can order some to make up the amount.  You do not have to order all 12.)  The website page is not very clear on this, I receive the paper catalog and it has a better description.  For this month,  these are the specials:

Be aware when you go to that website, for some reason they are not showing you the sale price, they are showing the regular price for those group specials.  I typed these prices straight from the paper catalog so the cheaper prices I listed are the group special prices.  I expect they will see their error soon and correct their website.

Freeze dried strawberry slices, #10 can.  13.00 each (regular $17.95)  At least 12 cans must be purchased to receive discount.  (I will be ordering one of these.)

Hotties hand and body warmers.  60 cents each (regular 95 cents).  At least 80 hand and body warmers must to purchased to receive discount.

(I will be ordering ten of these to put in 72 hour kits.)

Freeze dried pork patty crumbles.  #10 can.  24.00 each.  (regular $34.95)  At least 6 cans must be purchased to receive discount. 

Freeze dried celery pieces. #10 can.  12.00 each.  (regular $18.95).  At least 6 cans must be purchased to receive discount.

Dehydrated Green Bell pepper dices.  #10 can.  9.00 each.  (regular $14.95)  At least 12 cans must be purchased to receive discount.

If you will call 1-800-999-1863, you can sign up to get the paper catalog mailed to your house.  Or sign up on  www.BePrepared.com.  

The really great thing about this company is that if our group meets any group order (for example, if we get the 12 cans necessary for the strawberries), anything else you want to order can go into the order, and the whole thing has free shipping.  So if you want anything from this company, put it into the order even if its not on special this month and the shipping will be free.

Disclaimer:  There are hundreds of great food storage companies on the internet.  I am not saying this one is better than any of the others.  The only reason we are doing this order is because they have a good group order policy, and their prices on the group orders are usually pretty good.

I have had the freeze dried strawberry slices, they are very good. I know nothing about the other products.

Some quotes from prophets and apostles #6

"Should the Lord decide at this time to cleanse the Church - and the need for that cleansing seems to be increasing - a famine in this land of one year's duration could wipe out a large percentage of slothful members including some ward and stake officers.  Yet we cannot say we have not been warned." Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pg. 265.

"'And there shall arise after them seven years of famine ... And God will shortly bring it to pass.' Now brethren, I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But, I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order ... avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage... There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give head. We are carrying a message of self reliance throughout the Church... I urge you brethren to look to the condition of our finances..." Gordon B. Hinkley, October Conference 1998.

"We do not know when the calamities and troubles of the last days will fall upon any of us as individuals or upon bodies of the Saints. ... We can rest assured that if we have done all in our power to prepare for whatever lies ahead, He will then help us with whatever else we need. ... We do not say that all of the Saints will be spared and saved from the coming day of desolation. But we do say there is no promise of safety and no promise of security except for those who love the Lord and who are seeking to do all that he commands." Bruce R. McConkie, Ensign May 1979, p. 93.

"I stand before the Church this day and raise the warning voice. ... It is a voice calling upon the Lord's people to prepare for the troubles and desolations which are about to be poured out upon the world without measure.  For the moment we live in a day of peace and prosperity but it shall not ever be thus.  Great trials lie ahead. All of the sorrows and perils of the past are but a foretaste of what is yet to be. And we must prepare ourselves temporally and spiritually." Bruce R. McConkie, Ensign May 1979, pp. 92-93.

The Top 50 Survival Blogs

If you want to start reading some of the best blogs about Survival, they have recently been ranked and published on this website:

http://www.survivaltop50.com/

Most of these are probably not written by LDS people, and they cover a lot more subjects than just food storage, but if you want to take a look you are welcome to.

I think it would be a completely different list if they were ranking Food Storage sites.  I personally, would put     http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/    and     http://www.providentliving.org/channel/0,11677,1706-1,00.html  at the top of that list.

Some quotes from prophets and apostles #5

"Signs of the Second Coming are all around us and seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity. ... While we are powerless to alter the fact of the Second Coming and unable to know its exact time, we can accelerate our own preparation and try to influence the preparation of those around us.  We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming." Preparation for the Second Coming, Dallin H. Oaks (2004).

"We are living in the prophesied time, 'when peace shall be taken from the earth,' (D&C 1:35) when 'all thing shall be in commotion,' and 'men's hearts shall fail them' (D&C 88:91) These signs of the Second Coming are all around us and seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity.'" Dallin H. Oaks, Conference, April 2004.

"For a desolating scourge shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth, and shall continue to be poured out from time to time." D&C 5:19.

Cooking Pinto Beans

http://selfreliantsisters.blogspot.com/2008/11/mexican-pinto-beans-tortillas.html

Here are two pretty good videos on how to cook Mexican pinto beans from dry beans you have in food storage.  We are all so accustomed to buying cooked beans in a can, that many of us don't know how to use the dry beans.

Some quotes from prophets and apostles #4

"The greatest events that have been spoken of by all the Holy Prophets will come along so naturally as the consequences of certain causes, that unless our eyes are enlightened by the Spirit of God, and the spirit of revelation rests upon us, we will fail to see that these are the events predicted by the Holy Prophets." George Q. Cannon, Nov. 2, 1879, JD 21:266-67.

"God has held you in reserve to make your appearance in the final days before the Second Coming of the Lord. He has saved for the final inning some of his strongest children who will help bear off the Kingdom triumphantly.  And that is where you come in, for you are the generation that must be prepared to meet your God."   Ezra Taft Benson

"We want you to be ready with our personal storehouse filled with at least a year's supply.  You don't argue why it cannot be done, you just plan to organize and get it done." Spencer W. Kimball, Aug. 1976.

(The following is all by L. Tom Perry)

"Now you ask where do I get the money for these things. I agree I need them, but I'm having a hard time making ends meet. 

Here is how you do it: Use one or more of the following suggestions: 

Food Storage Christmas: Use 25-50% of money for food storage, 

New Clothes: Don't buy instead make it last a few more months, use that money for food storage,

Vacation/ Holiday: no vacation or holiday until food storage is complete,

Recreation: Cut by 50% use money for food storage, find fun, free things to make lasting memories, 

Snowmobiles/campers/boats: sell or trade to get a year's supply, 

Change Diet: eat cheaper foods and use extra money for food storage.  

"The Lord will make it possible, if we make a firm commitment, for every LDS family to have a year's supply of food reserves ... All we have to do is to decide, commit to do it, and then keep the commitment.  Miracles will take place: the way will be opened and we will have our storage areas filled.
"I believe it is time, and perhaps with some urgency, to review the counsel we have received dealing with our personal and family preparedness. ... With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness. We are not in a situation that requires panic buying but the instability in the world today makes it imperative that we heed this  counsel and prepare for the future." L. Tom Perry, Nov. 1995.

February 2011 ward Provident Living challenge

Do one of these by the March evening Relief Society meeting and get a prize!

1. Learn to use powdered milk by using it instead of fresh milk in five different foods. If you don’t have any powdered milk, Amy will give you 5 Tablespoons. (This offer good for my ward only.)

I am not asking you to drink it.  I am asking you to use it in your cooking and baking.  You can’t even tell the difference!

Here are some foods where you need to add milk:  cooked hot cereals, tomato soup, Hamburger Helper, instant mashed potatoes, Nesquick, macaroni and cheese, fettucini, stroganoff, homemade biscuits or breads,  pumpkin pie, etc.  

For the hot cereal and the tomato soup, you should mix the powdered milk with water to make milk and then stir it into the food.  

For most of the other foods, you can add the milk powder with the dry ingredients and the water with the wet ingredients.

You need 16 pounds of powdered milk per person per year.

There are two types of powdered milk, Non-instant and Instant.

Non-Instant: This type of milk is harder to find in the grocery store because it is more difficult to reconstitute and consequently sells at a slower rate, thus it is not stocked. Non instant powdered milk can be found on internet sites and at the canneries sponsored by the LDS church.  It is less expensive than instant.

 Non-instant powdered milk is more dense than instant, and thus it requires less product to create the same amount of milk as the instant variety.

Instant: Instant powdered milk has been further processed to aid in reconstituting with less effort, making it more fluffy. 

Instant powdered milk is available in nearly all grocery store. The two disadvantages of instant are the higher initial cost and the added cost because more powder needs to be used in order to make the finished product.

1. 2.  With your immediate family and extended family, determine an out-of-area contact person for everyone to call in case of a widespread disaster.  (For instance, everyone call Aunt Jane.  Then she will be the source for everyone to find out if someone is safe.)  The Red Cross says that in a disaster it is sometimes easier to make out-of-area phone calls rather than local calls. 

To make sure everyone has the phone number, you may want to print up family phone number lists and give one to each person.  (I chose to print them off myself and hand them to my married kids, I was worried if I emailed them, they would never print them off.)  During a disaster, power could be off, and then a list on the computer is useless.  I wanted it PRINTED and in their house.


One more thing:  If the disaster is in Aunt Jane's area, have a plan B.  Use someone else as the contact person.