Swine Flu

• Some of you were probably waiting to see if and when I would say something about the swine flu. I hate to disappoint, so here you go. First, I would suggest that you visit the utahpreppers.com site for some good info on preparing for the possibility of a pandemic. You can also go to the providentliving.org site to find info. on preparing and handling pandemic issues.
  

When my V.T's visited me today, (give them some slack, I was recuperating from surgery last week, and the week before was spring break) I was asked what my thoughts are about the swine flu. I, of course, told them not to panic, we never want to panic, though many times we'd like to. Just use the panic energy to move us into action. I was also asked to give my 5 most important things would be to do right now. It was hard, but if I remember right, girls correct me if I'm wrong, but I told them these would be my suggestions and in this order:
1. water-we can live a long time with water, but not long without it. Remember, minimum of 1 gal. per day enough for 2 weeks, and this is just for drinking. Since there will most likely be a lot of people staying home because either they are sick or family members are sick, there may not be electricity to pump our water, so be prepared.
2.Food-making sure we have easily preparable (is that a word, apparently not but I like it) to get us through the most stressful time, which in my opinion is the first week or so, but please make sure you have at least your 3 month supply.
3.sanitation supplies-there are several things in this category. For over all germ cleaning, you bleach is good to kill the flu germs. Also, for when you need to care for the sick, face masks and gloves are good. It might be a good idea too, to get some hand sanitizer, for extra measures. These are just some basics, I could go on a bit longer, but don't want to over whelm you. Also, if you don't like to use bleach, there are other things you could use, like tea tree or lemon oils to kill germs.
4.light, cooking and heat-you will need to see at night, cook food and keep your family warm because if no one is working, there possibly won't be any electricity.
5.symptom control-to help make those in your family who do unfortunately come down with the flu, you will want some items to help them feel better. Items to help with chest congestion, coughing, vomit control, etc. May I suggest that instead of using a vomit bowl, keep paper bags (grocery sized for those who are small and would have a hard time getting to a smaller bag, start asking for paper instead of plastic where possible), put a paper bag inside a plastic bag. When someone vomits, they do it in the paper bag, you roll up the paper bag inside the plastic and take it out side. I don't know about you, but I don't like cleaning up after vomit.
Those are my top 5 tips for pandemic prepping. These are really basic and can for sure be added to, but if you have these things, you'll be better off than most, and will hopefully fair pretty well.
Think about the fact that if you're ready for a pandemic, you're going to be ready for just about any situation. It would be great if you would leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comment box. Let's do this together.
Michelle