Preparedness minded individuals spend a great deal of time stockpiling food, water filtration systems, survival gear and other tools. Most have some sort of first aid kit or medical kit in their supplies and survival bug out bags. What is often overlooked, however, is serious medical emergencies.

When the SHTF there will likely be no doctors around to provide trauma care and surgery. Which means if you want to save the life of a loved one, friend or neighbor  you’re going to have to do it yourself. If you’ve got the proper equipment you’ll stand a much better chance of saving a life (and perhaps it will be your own life that is saved).

In SHTF Survival: First Response Packs for Medical Emergencies, Tess Pennington of Ready Nutrition outlines some essential tools for your medical preparedness supplies, including books, supply lists and where you can acquire them:

When there is a  medical emergency, time is of the essence. Typically, medical rescue workers who respond to accidents work swiftly by having their supplies organized and at times, pre-assembled (wound care, trauma packs) to treat patients more efficiently.  Having these items pre-packaged cuts down on response time, and gives the responders more of an advantage in properly caring for the wounded. That efficiency can easily be replicated for your medical supplies or added to your SHTF sick room.

Medical first response packs can be made ahead of time using most of the medical products that you have on hand. In fact, these first response packs are not limited to medical emergencies, they can also be used for dental emergencies as well. To prepare for a SHTF scenario, it would be beneficial to take into account the most likely medical situations you may come in contact with and plan accordingly.

Pennington provides detailed supply lists for a number of scenarios including:

• Response packs for superficial wounds
• Response packs for hikers
• Response Kits for wounds that require sutures
• Suture Removal Kits
• Response packs for advanced wound care: bleeding wounds, gunshot wounds, stab wounds
• Response packs for advanced wound treatment: open or bleeding wounds fractures, falls
• Response packs for 72-Hour Kits: Intended for the treatment of open or bleeding wounds caused by gunshots, knife cuts or punctures

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