4 Foot Farm

Survival in remote areas....

minor wounds such as scrapes, cuts, blisters, burns and punctures are the most common injuries of life in the wilderness and they will be the most common following a disaster. Your first course of action is to clean the wound and fast before an infection can develop and spread.
 
Older first-aid courses advise you to clean flesh wounds with river water. We now know however just how dirty and germ-ridden river and lake water can be. To clean wounds you need to use clean, treated drinking water, another reason building up your water stockpile is so important.

To clean a cut or wound in the wilderness, first start by manually removing any dirt or debris from the spot. Then flush out the wound with clean water. If you can boil the water beforehand this will disinfect it. Finally, apply an antiseptic ointment over the wound, and dress with the correct bandages from your first-aid kit.

Surprisingly, head injuries are quite common out in the wilderness. People can take some nasty falls in the great outdoors (think mountain biking, skiing, climbing, etc.), and treating head injuries is trickier than you’d think. A head injury puts a person’s brain health at risk, therefore treatment cannot be taken lightly.

If someone in your party hits their head, the first thing to do is protect their airway, spine and neck to make sure the person can breathe and prevent any further damage to the cervical spine.

Make sure to keep a close watch on anyone who has lost consciousness for a least a few hours. Watch for symptoms such as major headache, vomiting, loss of vision, bruising behind the eyes and bleeding from the ears. These are all signs of a major head injury and will require additional treatment to prevent brain damage.
One topic of wilderness medicine I have always found entertaining is the treatment of snake bites because so many “folk lore” remedies are just plain ridiculous. Think suck-and-spit, whiskey, tourniquets.
Not one of these methods actually work. 

The only true cure for a poisonous snake bite is the appropriate corresponding anti-venom from the pharmacy. Be sure to include several boxes of this in your medical cache, it may be hard to acquire, but if you live in a snake prone part of the country it may be wise.
One of the reasons snake bites are so tricky to treat is there is a different anti-venom medicine for each different species of snake. As part of your self-education for medical preparedness, research common poisonous snakes in your area.

I would say the rattlesnake and the coral snake are probably the most common venomous snakes in the United States, but there are other varieties as well.  

If you or one of your family members suffers a snake bite, immediately retreat out of the snake’s striking distance. This is the length of the snake’s body at least. Don’t lose sight of the snake immediately as you want to try and identify the species for treatment purposes. Look for traits such as a rattle or facial pits that will help you pinpoint the type of snake.
Immediately following a snake attack, splint the bitten body part so motion is limited. Movement promotes the spread of venom, so you’ll want to keep the victim immobile. Be sure you allow room in the splint for swelling as this will happen quickly after a bite. Then follow with the appropriate anti-venom medicine.

The time to prepare for medical emergencies is not when you or a family member falls ill or gets injured. For so many people unfortunately this is exactly what happens, and they are unable to react quickly enough to help.

Make a decision now to be ready to react the next time our or a loved one needs extra care. It pays to prepare.

Always Safe, Always Prepared

Frank Mitchell
Founder

P.S. If you want to make sure your family has a 5 or even 10-year supply of nutritious food, I strongly suggest you watch the following video presentation.

A friend of mine developed an incredible gardening system that takes up almost no room and produces huge amounts of food by comparison using the Vertical Gardening technique.
The 4 Foot Farm is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to get started.
You can get all the details here.