As I mentioned earlier, the local K-Mart is going outta business. They’ve been progressively marking things down more and more. I’ve been keeping an eye on the ‘health and beauty’ section since that’s where the first aid supplies hang out. Today everything there was marked to 30% off lowest price…AND..for today only there was an additional 10% off on the final price. That translates out to ..uhmm….carry the one….an effective 37% discount. Well, heck, that’s more than one third off. Wouldn’t you capitalize on that as well?
I’m kind of a snob, so what I was after was name-brand stuff. Mostly Johnson & Johnson bandages, gauze, pads, etc, etc. Those were top of the list. The stuff that remains there, while still attractive to my needs, is low priority stuff so I’m content to set back and wait for the final 50% off or whatever they wind up doing. If it’s still there, great…if not, I won’t care.
As I commented to the wife, as the discounts got more and more intense (20% became 25% became 30%, etc.) the crowd definitely became a little more…interesting. We’re in what could arguably be considered a slow economic collapse and people are jazzed about saving 35% on a SpiderMan t-shirt. Screw that…priorities, man….be less thrilled about that and more thrilled about finding essentials and other useful items that’ll help keep you in one piece as the uncertain future unfolds.
So, much like the animal kingdom, as one beast falls the scavengers come in and take what they can from it’s corpse. That’s the food chain, and not everyone enters at the top.
Today’s purchases will get tucked away in the uber-awesome Hardigg medchest where they will quietly sit…safe, secure, and unaware of the passage of time…until that day when they’re needed.
Now if I could just find a smokin’ deal on an EU3000………..
of various medications. One thing I try to keep in all my FAK is a small quantity of 
is awesome. Not the sort of thing you use for someone you’ve pulled out of a burning APC, but if you’ve burned your hand on a hot canteen cup, gun barrel, or exhaust pipe this stuff is great. Given the choice between burns or cuts, I find burns to be far more debilitating. I’ve had some nasty burns where if I took my hand out of a washcloth full of ice cubes the throbbing would keep me from sleeping. So, yeah, a burn gel with an analgesic element to it is nice.
for $3.02 each. Why, thats a huge savings over just about everywhere else. The information shows the price is $3.02 + $4.99 to ship. No problem, I think, and dump 20 into the shopping cart. I head to the checkout and the total? $60.80 + $99.80 to ship.
– This is one that tops everyone’s list. It’s written for the Peace Corps type who finds himself in a Third World country trying to provide medical aid. The most valuable part of the book, in my opinion, is the appendix at the back listing medications and their uses, brand/generic names, and recommended dosages. This is the sort of info you need when you’re scrounging through burned out pharmacies, wrecked ambulances and abandoned nursing homes looking for medications to keep you or someone you love going. You can usually find a .pdf of this book for free online, but it’s always good to have a printed copy handy. Number one title on pretty much everyone’s list of medical reading.
– This book has been around a while. An excellent source of information. Many first aid manuals basically treat every situation with “…seek professional medical help immediately.” Well, yeah, that’s great when the power is on, the roads aren’t jammed with cars, and tracers aren’t crisscrossing the night like fireflies. This book addresses the notion that it might take a while before you can get to the emergency room. What makes this book so useful, in my opinion, is that the author recommends and lists out the contents of various ‘modules’ that make up a kit. For example, there’s a topical bandaging module (20 different items), Non-prescription oral medication module (ten items), etc, etc. If you like to have someone else make up a list for you of where to start when it comes to packing a kit, this is a good one. Even if you have your own ideas, the lists are an excellent starting point. A very useful book.
– An excellent companion to, and possibly slightly better than, the previous text. This is a densely packed trove of information. Being more of an ‘outdoor adventure’ scenario-based book there’s plenty of stuff on the perils you run into camping (poison ivy, poison oak, bad mushrooms, altitude sickness, blisters, etc) but sometimes part of the apocalypse is going to , in fact, be like a long, drawn-out camping trip.
– Unfortunately, when it isn’t like a camping trip, the apocalypse is going to look a lot like a cross between Mad Max and North Korea…plenty of violence with plenty of shortages of essentials. I’m a big fan of closing a wound with something that doesn’t involve needlecraft on my skin, but sometimes Dermabond and butterfly bandages just aren’t going to do it. This book gives you the basics on taking that surplus surgical kit you picked up at the gun show and actually using it. It’ll be a grim day when you need the info contained in this book, and the next one I list, but better to have it than not. 
– When you need the information in this book, you’re in a situation where it’s going to take a lot more than bandaids and aspirin to pull you through. This is another book that is not for the squeamish, but even if you are a bit sensitive to things like traumatic amputation and flaps of muscle and skin waving in the breeze you should force yourself to read through it anyway so you at least have some ideas of whats going on. It’s not pretty, but if nothing else it’ll make you think twice before doing something stupid that could get you maimed or injured.
– An excellent reference that covers just about everything that could go wrong in normal times. By that, I mean it doesn’t really cover things like gunshot wounds, radiation poisoning, or anthrax exposure. But for figuring out what that clicking noise in your wrist is, or what that thing growing between your toes is, this book is tops. Also an excellent, excellent text for familiarizing yourself with medical terms, body part nomenclature, nutrition and a few other things. It’s kinda like a Chilton manual for the human body.
(you can sometimes get these free as doctor’s offices update them and discard the old ones. Another source for this book? Law firms that deal with malpractice.) If you’re doing the wrecked-ambulance-looted-pharmacy thing this book is going to go a long way towards making sure that those pills you grabbed are the right ones.
