Author: lvassembly

The Lower Valley Assembly is a grassroots movement whose goal is to foster a safe, stable and free community. Our mission is to effect positive, local change in our families, communities, and government. Our lawful and benevolent organization seeks to reestablish our foundation in God, reinvigorate our family relationships, restore lawful government based on our founding documents, and encourage preparedness, communication, mentoring, entrepreneurship, and security. Focus: God, family, culture, founding documents, preparedness, communication, mentoring, entrepreneurship, benevolence and security. The purpose of the Lower Valley Assembly (LVA) is to promote the advancement of self-reliance and security within the Lower Yakima Valley in accordance with the laws of nature and the commonly held Judeo-Christian principles by which the United States of America was founded. Fundamental in promoting this stated purpose, the mission of the LVA is the gathering of selected like-minded people to: a) educate ourselves and the community of potential threats to its liberty, peace and tranquility and the principles and techniques of self-reliance and security; b) provide a supportive infrastructure for ourselves and the community; and c) sustain our basic needs and security in the event of prolonged civil distress.

NY Times’ Literary Supplement Publishes “Trump Assassination” Story

From Mac Slavo at SHTFPlan.com comes a story of media hypocrisy. While the media and media talking heads like former CIA head Brennan blame President Trump for inciting violence leading to the recent failed bombing attempts, they ignore the well recorded incitement to violence of Democrat party leaders and the media.

While mainstream media outlets balk at the suggestion that they may have been guilty of ramping up the division and political tensions in the United States, one of those outlets actually published an assassination story about president Donald Trump.

While those in the mainstream media blame Trump’s inflammatory “fake news” rhetoric for half a dozen bombs mailed to prominent Democrats and CNN, the New York Times ran a short story envisioning Trump’s assassination.  The story detailed a failed assassination attempt by a Russian but what happened next was incredibly disturbing.

Frustrated by the failure of the Mueller investigation to turn up the requested dirt on their “enemy”, Trump, the media “resistance” asked a few spy novelists to predict a more “appealing future” for the president in the Times‘ literary supplement., according to RT. The results revealed some shoddy writing work, even putting aside their predictable endings. Spoiler alert: Trump was colluding with the Russians all along…

…This is a highly hypocritical stance for the mainstream media to take.  On the one hand, they demand Trump cool down his rhetoric toward them, but on the other hand, they insist on publishing violent leftist trash meant to incite glee over the president’s assassination.

Trump’s election has hastened a decline in journalistic standards that has seen once-respectable media outlets like the Times jettison fact-checking, accountability, and taste standards in favor of grinding their political axe. Journalists’ concerns about the Trump regime are not unfounded, however – his Justice Department has prosecuted more whistleblowers and leakers than even media darling Barack Obama, who previously held the record. -RT

If you think the media is not inciting violence, just take a quick look at an article by Breitbart titled, 613 Acts of Media-Approved Violence and Harassment Against Trump Supporters...

Democrats claiming that they are not inciting violence with their words are reminiscent of South African President Zuma singing “Kill the Farmers, Kill the Boer” and claiming that it is merely preserving history and is not an incitement to violence.

American Partisan: Lawful Resistance, Part 2

Bryce Sharper at American Partisan continues his Lawful Resistance series with Case Studies in Lawful Resistance, Part II.

…Let’s consider the plight of the modern Afrikaner.  There are roughly 5 million whites in South Africa which has a population of roughly 56 million.  Some are of British descent, some are Afrikaners who are an amalgamation of the ethnic groups above who speak a Dutch dialect known as Afrikaans.  The whites – both British and Afrikaner – are further divided into liberal and conservative, just like in the United States.  The liberals are every bit as decadent as American liberals and appear to have their heads in the sand about the ANC’s intentions as they wallow in the modern-day Sodom they’ve created for themselves .  Consider, for example, Die Antwoord.  Or Dooma.   Due to declining economic conditions, violence, farm murders, and threats of genocide by the black ANC government and their black EFF rivals, roughly 50,000 conservative Christian Afrikaners have organized a civil defense group called the Suidlanders.  Note that they are only 1% of the white population.  They describe themselves as follows:

We are primarily a Bible believing Christian conservative group. We call on our members to personally prepare for an emergency situation like major civil unrest. With the help of thousands of our members we have prepared and identified extraction routes and safe areas where trained and capable members will become self-reliant and proficient to provide assistance and support to the inevitable flow of refugees during crisis. Through experience, especially in Africa, we have learned that we cannot depend on international bodies to assist during a conflict. We intend to, through God’s provision, help ourselves. We also believe in the words of a century old Prophet called Niklaas van Rensburg who clearly warned the Boer of an impending civil conflict. We invite the international community to contact us so that we may work together in preparing to resist a global persecution.

Continue reading at American Partisan by clicking here.

ZeroHedge: Increased Traffic Accidents in States with Legal Marijuana

Washington is among other states with legalized marijuana which are showing a six percent increase in traffic accidents, according to an article at ZeroHedge citing a recent study.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found, in a new study published Thursday, that traffic accidents are up 6% in four states where recreational use of marijuana has been legalized…The IIHS study notes that after retail sales of recreational cannabis began, the frequency of collision insurance claims in Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington rose about 6%, however, this trend was not observed in surrounding states where marijuana is illegal.

Personal Defense World: How and When to Start Teaching Kids to Shoot

Personal Defense World has an article up 5 Experts on How and When You Should Start Teaching Kids to Shoot

To train or not to train? That is the loaded question. In a world with extreme conservative versus liberal views and a media that spins numbers with misleading statistics, you will find some varying passionate answers to this question. When should you start teaching kids to shoot?

Shyanne Roberts, Shyanne Roberts competitive shooter

If you’re looking up statistics, I would urge you to proceed with caution. There is a lot of “spin.” While the numbers may be correct, the way they are presented is typically deceptive to serve propaganda purposes. For example, you will see certain numbers for “children killed by guns” per year. The information you are not getting is that, in these stats, a child is considered anyone under the age of 21. So while your mind is picturing a young child who has accidentally shot his or herself or someone else, the reality is that the majority are older teens and young adults who have intentionally committed a crime. Guns do not kill people. People with ill intent wielding guns do. I believe there is a greater need for fixing our moral compass rather than expand gun control.

There are cases, however, where a child has found a firearm and horrible accidents have occurred. This can be totally thwarted with proper education and training. If you have firearms in your home as well as children, you have a responsibility to educate and train them on gun safety. Taking it a step further, training them to shoot under your guidance is even more beneficial.

To get a better understanding in this area, I asked five firearms experts to weigh in on how and when to begin training young shooters.

Fred Mastison — President of Force Options Tactical Training Solutions

I am a firm believer in teaching kids to shoot. There are many reasons for this, but two main points are safety and self-confidence. If you have firearms in the home, it is important that kids understand them in totality. Not only that they are potentially dangerous, but if they are treated with respect, they can be enjoyable. Kids that learn to shoot safely and correctly gain a level of self-confidence that is tough to find elsewhere…

Click here to read the entire article at PDW.

WRSA: Unprepared People Can Kill You

From a Pat Hines comment over at Western Rifle Shooters Association, describing one man’s Hurricane Michael incident, this short story shows how people who are mentally or physically prepared can be a danger to everyone involved. Edited for language.

“4 of us men (out of a hallway full of people) were desperately trying to tie doors shut in the shelter in the middle of a category 5 hurricane, with a 140-160 mph wind ripping down the breezeway right in front of it in a storm of debris, doing its best to suck those doors open, which would have resulted in people being sucked out.

We need to cut cord, so I produce a Leatherman. Two people gasp, “I didn’t think you were supposed to have THOSE THINGS in a school!”

In sheer disbelief, but in the interests of not escalating the situation, I went with my second-best response of “It’s a tool, not a knife, just a set of pliers with an auxiliary blade,” rather than my first instinct of, “Who gives a ****, you ****ing idiot! What are they gonna do, expel me?”

It turns out that my daughter and I were the only ones with knives in the place. Go figure.

Meanwhile, a woman is asking, “But how can the rescue squad get to us if the doors are tied?”

“The rescue isn’t coming until the wind stops and it’s over, lady, and we’ll untie it then.” The “if any of us are still alive to do it, and if not, it won’t matter, will it?” was left unsaid.

Another woman was whining, “You need to leave those doors open; it’s hot and stuffy in here, and we need a breeze.” No, I’m not lying.

She kept complaining about it to anyone who would listen, until she was finally silenced by a rawboned redneck woman who suddenly shouted, “B****, there are little kids in here handling this **** better than you are! If you don’t shut the hell up right now, I’m going to knock the **** out of you!”

End of complaints.

Lessons learned:
1. Be prepared with basic tools (like knives).
2. Something like 90% of people are passive observers in an emergency, only a few will take action without being told directly, and tiny number are so incredibly stupid their mere presence can threaten the survival of the entire group.
3. The best way to deal with that tiny percentage is with the real threat of violence, complete with the full intention of following it up if necessary.” – Gregory Kay

Emphasis added.

American Partisan: Jamal Khashoggi and the Story Not Being Told

NC Scout over at American Partisan has an interesting article up titled Tinker, Tailor, Journalist, Spy: Jamal Khashoggi and the Story Not Being Told, explaining more about Khashoggi’s (spy?) background and how it may have contributed to his recent demise.

Tinker, Tailor, Journalist, Spy: Jamal Khashoggi and the Story Not Being Told

On 2 OCT 2018, Washington Post journalist and middle eastern political activist Jamal Khashoggi went missing after entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Some in the course of the last news cycle has alleged this to be a much deeper incident than it appears on the surface; a vanished journalist, murder, international intrigue, a Saudi administration in conflict with Turkey; both jockeying for power in a region bound for widespread war in the coming years. Over a year post-living in exile after being banned from the Kingdom of al Saud, Khashoggi returned to the assumed security of the nation of his familial ancestry while continuing a career of revolutionary praxis through media in the mideast region. Needing a legal certificate of divorce from the Saudi government, Khashoggi felt safe approaching the embassy- in and out, no harm, no foul.

How wrong he was.

Embassies and consulates are nerve centers for declared spooks of a nation. Formal intelligence officers working in a nation must be declared. Journalists, on the other hand, can get placed into positions of unique access and are often conduits for sensitive information. In any country where intelligence operations are being run (and that’s all of them) a nation’s embassy serves as the hot spot for intelligence and in turn, counterintelligence. With Khashoggi, we find an example of split loyalty divided between revolutionary Marxism and a convenient ally found in the politics of revolutionary Islam. Possibly best examining this juxtaposition is his quote from a WaPo piece in late August:

The United States’ aversion to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is more apparent in the current Trump administration, is the root of a predicament across the entire Arab world. The eradication of the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing less than an abolition of democracy and a guarantee that Arabs will continue living under authoritarian and corrupt regimes. In turn, this will mean the continuation of the causes behind revolution, extremism and refugees — all of which have affected the security of Europe and the rest of the world. Terrorism and the refugee crisis have changed the political mood in the West and brought the extreme right to prominence there.

He goes on:

There can be no political reform and democracy in any Arab country without accepting that political Islam is a part of it. A significant number of citizens in any given Arab country will give their vote to Islamic political parties if some form of democracy is allowed. It seems clear then that the only way to prevent political Islam from playing a role in Arab politics is to abolish democracy, which essentially deprives citizens of their basic right to choose their political representatives.

…There are efforts here in Washington, encouraged by some Arab states that do not support freedom and democracy, to persuade Congress to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. If they succeed, the designation will weaken the fragile steps toward democracy and political reform that have already been curbed in the Arab world.

The point made by that last paragraph is critical. “Freedom and Democracy” is a common phrase touted by Marxian-inspired revolutionaries. And Islamist revolutionaries are exactly that. Thriving in the swamp of Washington DC, Khashoggi no doubt not only found himself among willing peers but cheerleaders among the Deep State apparatchik, with those ties neither recent nor random. His tale is one of deep alliances with what we now know of as the Deep State, made of the Marxist-inspired and academia-groomed bureaucracies of the Washington elite. The Muslim Brotherhood to which he refers is the revolutionary party of Egypt, spearheading the so-called “Arab Spring” which plunged the stable nation into chaos and directly endangered the control of the Suez Canal, keeping fuel prices affordable, in the hands of Islamists. Mohammed Morsi, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, found a quite inviting home in the White House and among the leftist administration of Barack Hussein Obama. Wasting no time eliminating political rivals and religious minorities, most notably Coptic Christians, the Egyptian Army stepped in to remove the leftist cancer that had been installed as a proxy of the Obama administration…

Click here to read the entire story at American Partisan.

Doom and Bloom: How to Perform a Neuro Exam

Dr. Alton and Nurse Amy from Doom and Bloom have put out a video on how to conduct a neuro exam.

The medic for a survival group needs to be able to stop a wound from bleeding and splint an ankle sprain. For a long-term situation, however, a caregiver needs to know how to perform exams that would identify other medical issues. Here’s Joe Alton MD giving you a demonstration of a simple exam of the nervous system that would tip you off to a number of problems.

Nurse Amy acts as a volunteer for this video. While her exam is normal, future videos will discuss a number of neurological problems that the medic should be able to identify.

The Medic Shack: Typhus in the USA

The Medic Shack has an article up describing a recent increase in Typhus in the USA and how to combat it, titled Typhus in the 21st Century.

Wednesday about 1230 EDT Hurricane Michael hit Florida. The news, and rightly so has been showing the devastation that the storm left.

On the west coast a different storm. No wind no rain no destroyed buildings. Also no news coverage past the little blurbs here and there. Since July to October 10th, in LA Country there have been 57 Typhus cases. That is worrisome. Typhus we normally see in depressed areas of the country and world. LA is not a 3rd world country.

Armon Coleman, 63, looks over his belongings, left, at his homeless encampment along W. 94th Street in the Manchester Square neighborhood on Jan. 4, 2017 in Los Angeles. LAX has bought much of the property from homeowners over the past years and will eventually build a rental car facility at the site. In the meantime, the homeless are sleeping on sidewalks outside the fenced lots that are owned by LAX. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS).

Or is it?

As much as we would LIKE to think LA is 3rd world it is not. It has major issues but once you have seen a war torn or real 3rd world country you will immediately see my point.

Typhus is making a come back.

The CDC has been following the resurgence of it here in the US. During 2003–2013, a total of 1,762 cases were reported to the CDC. The break down of the cases is 27 in 2003 to 222 in 2013. An average of 102 cases were reported yearly during 2003–2007, which is less than half (209) of the average number reported during 2008–2013.

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/4/16-0958_article

There are dozens of reasons why. For right now lets forget the why. And focus on the Protect.

There are 3 main forms of Typhus:

endemic (murine) typhus, scrub typhus, and epidemic (louse-borne) typhus

The one currently infecting California is the endemic (murine) form. It is transmitted by fleas.

The how to protect is actually quite simple. Keep vermin out. Keep things clean. Keep your distance.

All the cases in LA county are in areas where homeless gather and live. Now before someone berates me for “picking” on the homeless. I am not. Just stating fact. Fact. Most city dwelling homeless do not have the resources to maintain sanitation. Where as the few homeless that abandon the cities have better sanitation. Fact. Vermin. Namely Rats and Mice live in close proximity to homeless camps. Why? Food. The homeless do not usually have access to the items to protect food. Homeless that live out side the cities have learned to use what is at hand to store and protect food. Fact. Homeless “dumpster dive” For both food and for items needed to survive. So do rats and mice.

During the middle ages, The Black Death decimated Europe. The cities of Europe were cities of the dead. The country side however suffered far less. But what about Texas? A friend on Facebook asked me that. She thought that Texas was sparely populated. Well the most cases this year are in Hildago Country Tx. The population is about 850,000. In my earlier statement It may be construed that I was attacking the homeless. In Texas, Typhus does NOT discriminate. As many from affluent neighborhoods as from poor get typhus. Once again How is that possible? Similar reasons as the homeless. Living in crowded conditions. Allowing vermin to “coexist” instead of eradicating them. (The “No kill traps are a prime example). Typhus does not care. Rich Poor Black White Yellow Green. It. Does. Not. Care.

The easiest defense of typhus is sanitation. Keep things clean. Keep vermin out. Dispose of waste quickly and properly.

Read the entire article by clicking here.

Related:

ZeroHedge: LA Competes For California’s Most Disgusting City As “Typhus Zone” Underscores Skid Row Squalor

Forward Observer: October Update on the Second American Civil War

The intel folks at Forward Observer have written a follow up piece on a possible second American civil war.

One of the central themes in contemporary insurgent movements is the relationship between armed combatant groups and their ostensibly peaceful political party cohorts.

The Irish Republican Army and Sinn Fein in Ireland. Hezbollah, the Shi’ite militant group, and Hezbollah, the Shi’ite political party, in Lebanon. The YPG militant group and the Democratic Union Party in Kurdistan/Syria. Jaysh al-Mahdi and the Sadrist Party in Iraq. The Badr Brigade and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

There are numerous other examples of political parties having militant wings, in addition to examples of militant organizations establishing themselves as political parties during a conflict.

Historically, insurgent campaigns are more likely to lead to political resolutions than martial victories, so militant organizations must have political representation. On the other hand, violence carried out by a militant wing provides leverage for the political party and an incentive for governments to solve political issues peacefully.

Neither side necessarily has direct influence or control over the other, but they often act to accomplish mutually beneficial goals. A militant wing can offer muscle to a political party, and the political party can provide judicial protections to the militant wing.

So what I want to draw some attention to today is the association of Leftist militant organizations and various factions of the Democratic Party, as one potential way forward in the current domestic conflict. Specifically, I want to point out that while these militant groups don’t necessarily seek or depend on permission to commit violence, some Democratic Party voices offer that permission none the less. And the relationship between Leftist militant groups and the Democratic Party is often tenuous. While many (maybe most) militant Leftists have a disdain for the Democratic Party for not being radical enough, that doesn’t prevent actions that could be mutually beneficial for both sides.

Whether we’re talking about 1970s radical and former attorney general Eric Holder (“Michelle [Obama] says, ‘When they go low, we go high.’ [Applause.] No. No. When they go low, we kick ’em.”), Hillary Clinton saying that maintaining civility with Republicans is futile, California Democrat Maxine Waters encouraging her constituents to harass Republicans and Trump cabinet members, a campaign staffer for a Democratic politician saying that President Trump should be executed (an action for which he later denied his support), or other examples of green lighting incivility in the political and culture war, there’s ample evidence that major voices of the Democratic Party are dog whistling that violence is permissible, while officially denying support for political violence against opponents. There are many, many other examples beyond Holder, Clinton, and Waters. (See my last post for additional information.)

Beyond mainstream Democrats, there’s the growing “Democratic Socialist” faction whose ideologies are steeped in the revolutionary histories of Marxist and Leninist movements. Considering that many Leftist militant groups are supportive of “Democratic socialism”, a political movement that gains mainstream legitimacy — what we’re starting to see now — should be alarming. And then there’s also a growing communist movement in the United States, as revolutionary vanguard communist groups form across the country. There’s a very overt effort to label mainstream conservative voices as “fascist” and “Nazi”, in a successful effort to rationalize violence…

Click here to read the entire article at Forward Observer.

TACDA: Survival Landscaping

The American Civil Defense Association has an article up on Survival Landscaping — how to use permaculture to provide food in the event of a long term disaster.

…According to Marjory Wildcraft of www.thegrownetwork.com, it is just too land intensive to realistically support a family on the hunter-gatherer system. She states: “Let’s start first off with the almost magical dream of the pure hunter/gatherer. I often hear this one from those concerned about a collapse of civilization. Just how much land does it take to support you without destroying all the wildlife and plant populations? How much area do you need in order to live sustainably as a hunter/gatherer? Since there are so few actual hunter/gathers left alive on the planet, and the few places where they do still exist tend to be jungles which look nothing like anything in North America, we will turn to anthropological data. The quick and easy answer is that traditional peoples used on average, about 10 square miles per person. Ten square miles is 6,400 acres – that is for one person.”

So what’s the answer? It just might include creating your very own self-sustaining food supply. Call it survival landscaping, permaculture, sustainable agriculture or whatever you like. The goal is to work with nature to create a truly sustainable system. A garden paradise that requires little or no human intervention once established. Due to the “natural looking” nature of this type of landscape most individuals would never suspect the amount of life-saving food growing in the tangle. Thus protecting your food supplies in plain sight.

The objective is to create an environment which requires very little human intervention once it is established.

The ideal permaculture design produces food year after year without weeding, pruning, tilling, fertilizing or using pesticides and herbicides. The system is perfectly balanced for the local climate. It is possible to accomplish permaculture landscape on a half-acre city lot as well as in a more spacious country environment. Permaculture takes many years to establish and become resilient to changing conditions.

Selection of plants is critical to take best advantage of local climate conditions, ensure natural balance and to extend the harvest throughout the entire growing season. There are a growing number of great reference books to guide you through the process. Many of the authors recommend a more “natural or wild looking” landscape which is perfect for a remote bug out location, but may not be welcomed in a gated community…

Click here to read the entire article at TACDA.org.

Related Resources:

The Prepared Homestead – Provides permaculture training, assessment and design.

Strategic Landscape Design – Provides land planning and permaculture consulting.

Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill – Oct. 18, 2018

Many areas of the globe are prone to earthquakes. You could be anywhere when an earthquake strikes: at home, at work, at school or even on vacation. Are you prepared to survive and to recover quickly? October 18, 2018 is the date to practice.

Great ShakeOut earthquake drills are an opportunity to practice how to be safer during earthquakes: “Drop, Cover and Hold On.” ShakeOut also has been organized to encourage you, your community, your school, or your organization to update emergency plans and supplies, and to secure your space in order to prevent damage and injuries.

Why is it important to do a Drop, Cover, and Hold On drill? To react quickly you must practice often. You may only have seconds to protect yourself in an earthquake, before strong shaking knocks you down–or drops something on you. Practicing helps you be ready to respond.

    • If you are inside a building, move no more than a few steps, then Drop, Cover and Hold On:
      • DROP to the ground (before the earthquake drops you!),
      • Take COVER by getting under a sturdy desk or table, and
      • HOLD ON to it until the shaking stops.

      Stay indoors till the shaking stops and you are sure it is safe to exit. In most buildings you are safer if you stay where you are until the shaking stops.

    • If you are outdoors when the shaking starts, you should find a clear spot away from buildings, trees, streetlights, and power lines, then Drop, Cover and Hold On. Stay there until the shaking stops.
  • If you are driving, pull over to a clear location, stop and stay there with your seatbelt fastened until the shaking stops. Once the shaking stops, proceed with caution and avoid bridges or ramps that might have been damaged.

Ground shaking during an earthquake is seldom the cause of injury. Most earthquake-related injuries and deaths are caused by collapsing walls and roofs, flying glass and falling objects. It is extremely important for a person to move as little as possible to reach the place of safety he or she has identified because most injuries occur when people try to move more than a short distance during the shaking.

Look around you now, before an earthquake. Identify safe places such as under a sturdy piece of furniture or against an interior wall in your home, office or school so that when the shaking starts you can respond quickly. An immediate response to move to the safe place can save lives. And that safe place should be within a few steps to avoid injury from flying debris.

Forward Observer: 2019 Is Shaping Up to Be an Ugly, Brutal Year

From the intel guys at Forward Observer:

civil unrest

…The central hallmark of low intensity conflict is action below conventional war but above peaceful competition. We’ve had some pretty low lows in politics, but this period does seem to have escalated above peaceful competition between Republicans and Democrats. Fundamentally, there’s nothing inherently wrong with winning elections to stop an opposing party’s agenda. But when politics becomes subject to rule bending and breaking — the erosion of political norms often referred to as “guardrails” in civil society — we’re no longer seeing peaceful political competition. We can go as far back as gerrymandering, IRS targeting of conservative groups, and the show stopping of Merrick Garland as three prominent examples. And if that’s truly the case — that we’ve devolved into sustained open political warfare — then the country may well be stuck in a low intensity conflict at continual risk of organized political violence.

Looking forward to the next 12 months, I fear the convergence of two major trends: incivility in politics that breeds political violence and a recession that puts 10-25% of Americans out of work. It’s entirely possible that we arrive at this juncture of American history in 2020. Since the Democrats plan to make 2019 disruptive, there’s no reason to believe that 2020 would be any calmer. As ugly as the past two years have been, there are reasons to believe that 2019 and 2020 will be worse.

Click here to read the entire article at Forward Observer.

American Partisan: Medical Care When the Lights Go Out

An American Partisan staff member who is a surgeon has written Who’s On Call: Medical Care When the Lights Go Out about the basics

…We tend to think of collapse scenarios as abrupt, but through history they have often occurred in slow motion. One could argue that our health care system is already in a state of partial, ongoing collapse, especially since 2009. Anyone currently working in that sector knows it, as from a boots-on-the-ground, practical standpoint the PPACA may have actually reduced effective access to care and utilization and has engendered a rather unique set of patient and provider survival skills for the prevailing medical landscape that share commonality with the grid down world. The most important of those are mental, emotional and psychological. Long wait times, restricted access to providers, high deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, third-party bureaucracy, system consolidation (i.e Aetna + CVS) and increasing use of non-physician providers (not a denigration of them, so please no hate mail, I love my NP) are all potential barriers to care that have parallels in the austere environment. Developing skills for self-care and outright avoidance of the system are increasingly necessary, as things are inexorably getting worse, and it’s not just domestic. The Gray Lady just outlined slo-mo collapse of health care in China.

Primacy of basic, mundane grid-down issues such as water purification, sanitation and disinfection cannot be understated. They are the three most important areas to address; dismiss them at your peril. Grid-down medicine, like all things military and surgical, is mostly boring and even mind-numbing. It’s not all sexy trauma stuff. Most of that will leave you dead. While the products of human violence will most certainly be faced, failure to provide clean water, properly address latrinage, and keep wounds clean will kill many more than bullets and bombs. Monsoon rains after the Haiti earthquake led to a cholera outbreak (traced to Nepalese relief workers) that killed thousands. Dysentery is a big inflictor of suffering and death after disasters. Modern trauma care is very complex, needful of extensive resources and still can not prevent all death. In a grid-down world, my specialty will likely be reduced to Civil War-era skillsets: draining pus and amputation…

Click here to read the entire article at American Partisan.