[1]A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a complete wound care class led by Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy at a preparedness expo in Houston, TX. Many of you may be familiar with this charismatic couple or have at the very least listened to their radio show or read their informative posts at DoomandBloom.net [2]. Secretly, I have been wanting to take their class for years and luckily had an opportunity and took it. This class was one of the most informative courses I have taken and I wanted to share my experience with all of you.
Have ever wondered who would provide medical care if the you-know-what hit the fan? Well, the answer is you. We all have a responsibility to learn how to medically care for our loved ones in an emergency situation. During extended disasters, there is a chance that there are no doctors or hospitals to take our wounded to. Therefore, we will be left on our own to care for family. Infection from wounds is one of the leading reasons people can die [3] during a long-term disaster and emergency medical care is an essential skill we should all have a basic understanding of. That said, reading about medical emergencies and applying the medical care are two different ends of the spectrum.
Complete Wound Care Class
Taking a wound care class would be beneficial to those of you who are preparing for short and long-term disasters. Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy travel the country to teach the laymen practical medical tips and techniques to ensure that if we are in an shtf medical situation, the medical care we do provide will be beneficial to the patient.
These two are a great team and come at teaching medical preparedness from the perspective of a surgeon’s and a nurse practitioner’s. In the three hour course, the attendants are taught:
- How to assess a wound
- Apply antiseptic to a wound site
- How to effectively insert the sutures and tie a proper instrument knot
- How to space the sutures for proper wound closure
- Learn how and when to use staples and, most importantly, learn when not to close a wound.
- Wound care is also discussed in detail.
- What to look for when a wound is infected.
Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy also go over fish antibiotics [4] and how they can be used for shtf medical care.
You Have Everything You Need
[5]When you take the class, Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy have ensured that you have everything you need. They provide the class with 1 pig’s foot, 3 instrument suture kit, nitrile gloves, two 2-0 nylon sutures, and betadine wipes. As well, you receive a special laminated instruction sheet to take home and an additional upgraded instrument as a gift for attendance.
Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy recommend these tools and supplies for good survival medicine at home. Adding these to medical pre-assembled response packs [6] for a SHTF event will make for a more efficient response time:
- Sterile nitrile gloves
- Sterile saline
- Sterile gauze
- Betadine or antiseptic
- Sterile syringe for wound irrigation
- Hemostat, probes, forceps, surgical scissors, suture lip scissors
- Non-adherent sterile pads
- Gauze bandage rolls
- 00 or 000 suture needles
- 0 nylon or silk sutures and absorbing sutures
- Pentode drain
- Expert head lamp
- Working tray or small table
[7]The sutures I performed under their tutelage. Not bad for my first time.
I highly recommend this class and plan on taking more in the future. If you are looking for more information, check out their class information here [2]. Further, for more supplemental information on medical care, DoomandBloom.net [2] is chock full of medical preparedness articles that help to further emphasize the teachings from the class. Some of my favorite articles are:
The Open Wound [8]
Choosing the Right Suture Material [9]
How To Staple Skin With Dr. Bones Video [10]
I am very thankful to Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy for giving up their free time to come out and teach us all this skillset. All in all, this is one of the best classes I have taken. Their down-to-earth teaching style is informative and the information presented was well-organized.
[1]Dr.Bones and Nurse Amy are providing the general public a great service by showing us essential techniques and sharing their knowledge on good medical care practices.
Also, their bestselling book, The Survival Medicine Handbook [11] is in its second edition and goes into further detail on SHTF medical emergencies and how to care for them. The manual provides step-by-step instructions on how to identify and treat over 100 different medical issues.
The second edition also covers alternative remedies for almost every possible medical condition in situations where modern healthcare is inaccessible. This is one of the best medical preparedness manuals out there.
Put this in your survival library and take their classes!