Things you'll need to take care of sick people

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IMHO here is a short list of commonly overlooked nursing supplies you will need to care for someone who is very ill. I know you're healthy now, but what happens if that big tree you're cutting down in the woods falls down and causes grievous but not altogether fatal injuries, or you get a nasty bug or...or....or.... Anyway, thought a list of items I commonly use daily in my profession (and have not seen listed elsewhere BTW): waterproof pads (your mattress will thank you); urinal, bedpan, a bedside commode (for those too weak to make it to the outhouse), emesis basin (what we discreetly call that into which you hurl-likely NOT the same bowl you'll be wanting for your oatmeal), washcloths (lots of washcloths), lots of rubber/latex gloves (you're not going to touch that washcloth with your hand are you?!!), pillows (with protective cover would be best), laxatives/suppositories (not that eating all those beans are going to stop you up!), also a supply of puddings, broths, easy to digest cereals and soups.

This is my first post. Please forgive transmission errors. (But I used my dictionary, Uncle Deedah) Thanks to all who post here!

-- Victoria (vrcain@aol.com), December 04, 1998

Answers

Hi Victoria!

Seems one can never have too many latex nursing gloves. They comes in handy for keeping one's skin intact and clean. If water is at a premium, one might want to put on the disposable latex gloves to take out the garbage, garden, work on car, etc.

Has anyone addressed what happens when there's no garbage pick-up in the cities?

Right now, in the aftermath of Mitch, disease epidemics are rampant. Nursing supplies will become valuable if Y2K is as bad as some believe.

The waterproof pads for incontinence are sometimes called chux. They are disposable. Another kind is Interapads, which are large and can be washed repeatedly in the washer. Interapads on top are quilted cotton-feeling cloth, but have a moisture-proof barrier inside. Very useful item. Wet wipes are a good thing to stock.

Easy-to-digest is important. People may have upset stomachs anyway because of emotions. Stocking comfort foods is a good idea. If you see a huge sale of Ensure-type liquid nutrition cans, go for it. We had a patient who was being tube-fed. When he passed on, the hospital/home health care system would not take back the scores of cans of formula (Gevity). This stuff tastes like cardboard but it is *designed* to keep a person alive nutritionally. We have boxes of it gathering dust, and because we are not abundantly swathed in money, it is an excellent boon for our Y2K stores.

Another important item to have on hand if there is the possibility of illness is toothettes. These are little sponges on paper sticks. They are used to swab the mouth out frequently of someone who is not eating and drinking normally, and who needs good oral hygiene and care. If a person is ill, s/he is susceptible to thrush, which coats the tongue & digestive tract with a yellow-white fuzzy gook which can, if not treated, eat away the mucous lining. Toothettes help hold that at bay.

Lotions to keep the skin elastic + intact are important, as are lip balms: decreasing germ entry-ways. Washing one's hands is the single best way to control infections. So store lots & lots of tap water in clean plastic bottles everywhere.

Ashton & Leska, hospice caregivers, in Casca

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), December 04, 1998.


You're absolutely right! Thanks for the reminder about toothettes and oral care. It is VERY scary about what is going on in Mitch's aftermath. To my knowledge no one has addressed what happens when there's no garbage pick-up. I suspect smell, disease and fires would be the natural order of events. YIKES!

-- Victoria (vrcain@aol.com), December 04, 1998.

Victoria, I'm really hoping Y2K is not as bad as Mitch or the Kobe earthquake where more than 6,000 people died, many from the FIRES that burnt the city right after the earthquake. I worry about Y2K fires from riots and ppl trying to heat their homes unsafely. And those bonfires to burn garbage! Enough to give a nurse terrible sleep-deprived nights.

If nobody answers our garbage problem imaginings, maybe we can post it as a new thread.

We have several bags of supplies we take to new jobs -- our hospice starter kits. It's amazing how many useful little tools help with caring for the sick. With demographics showing the aging of America, burgeoning grey populations, I really worry about the elderly and how they are going to cope. The government feels that it is a family responsibility. When I have time I'll post more lists of useful supplies on this thread. Thank you, Victoria, for bringing this up!

Ashton & Leska in Cascadia, whose posts usually get eaten by the cybergnomes, and who wonder how other posters escape those teeth?

xxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), December 04, 1998.


Add the following:

A filled scrip from a compliant doc for some COMPAZINE. Several bottles of PEDIALYTE (tastes terrible but is truly normal tonic, which basically means it's just what you need if you're using the basins and the chamber pot at the same time!) Rubbing Alcohol Witch Hazel a good aloe based (if not alergic) hand and body lotion a moisture barrier lotion (ask a nurse or your dentist what they use)

Chuck

-- Chuck a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), December 05, 1998.


Victoria and Leska, there are a couple of older threads that touch on garbage and city living:

http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000Cro

http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0006Uw

I was looking for one (couldn't find it) in which the author, in the medical field, looked at his mother's house -- directly behind a large apartment building -- and imagined the problems that could arise from lack of sanitation. As I recall this included both the garbage issue and the human waste issue. Maybe someone else can help with this one.

-- rocky (rknolls@hotmail.com), December 05, 1998.



Maybe I overlooked these in your posts, but how about disposable masks? Couldn't hurt, right?

I'm grateful for the additions to my list, guys! Thanks!

Oh, don't forget the K-Y jelly. I mean for suppositories. And other uses. For that matter, let's not forget glycerin suppositories. For constipated babies, etc. If you're rationing water, constipation could be dreadful, and anal fissures would NOT be FUNNY!

-- Arewyn (nordic@northnet.net), December 05, 1998.


Really good thread, people. Not pleasant to have to think about but some really good info here (speaking as an ex-EMT who has cared for terminally ill relatives also). I'd add a set of crutches and a walker to the list of medical equipment given so far. Also set aside some salt and baking soda for making up your own rehydrating fluids with water for when the Pedialyte runs out/expires. This is hard to overemphasize in importance since IVs won't be possible for most all of us in bad times.

Think about delivering 'not first aid, but ONLY aid'- there may be no medical alternative to what you can do at home or what a neighbor can provide. While there's time, take a first aid course or the basic EMT course, or be sure someone in your family or group has these basic skills _and_ some hands on experience. Don't count on geting this out of a book 'as it happens.' Others on this list have stressed the utility of various herbs- that's a good subject for study also. A few relatively simple resources and good basic knowledge can go a long way for you and those you care about.

nemo...

-- nemo... (nemo@deepsix.com), December 05, 1998.


Sorry about the run-on. lets try again A filled scrip from a compliant doc for some COMPAZINE. Several bottles of PEDIALYTE (tastes terrible but is truly normal tonic, which basically means it's just what you need if you're using the basins and the chamber pot at the same time!) Rubbing Alcohol, Witch Hazel, a good aloe based (if not alergic) hand and body lotion, a moisture barrier lotion (ask a nurse or your dentist what they use)

Chuck

the commas should help

Also the WHO formula for rehydration fluid is:

1 qt water

1 - 3-fingered pinch salt

2 - 5-fingered pinch ( handful) of sugar

sweeter than H and not enough salt to cause cramps but it saves countless lives in really depressed places

Chuck

-- Chuck a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), December 05, 1998.


And another thing.....(gotta stop that as I don't have the teeth for it)

The course you probably want is called Emergency respnse by the Red Cross, and lasts 16 weeks times 4 hours per week, or some variation. If you can, you then want to find the WEMT (Wilderness Emergency Medical Tech) course if available as they go into a lot more stuff without the automatic reliance on higher trained personnel on the way.

chuck

And of course Apologies to Mary Lou........OOOPS if your area wasn't served by REVCO Drug Stores you have no idea of the joke, OH WELL

-- Chuck a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), December 05, 1998.


OOPS ERROR ERROR Doctor Smith ERROR ERROR----

Just reread the formula. that should be 1 - 5-fingered pinch of sugar. YOW 2 would have you so sweet.........(You would probably increase urinary output and defeat the whole idea!!)

-- Chuck a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), December 05, 1998.



"Where There is no Doctor", ISBN number unknown (my copy is over 10 years old) also has a lot of good common sense advice on basic medical care.

-- Karen Cook (browsercat@hotmail.com), December 06, 1998.

Victoria, anticipating needs of sick people is very important, but personally I think that stocking up on bedpans, latex gloves and emesis basin is a waste of time and money one could use better on extra water and food. If one already has a sick person at home, then one probably already has all those items. All those items you've mentioned can easily be substituted for things already in the home if/when needed; use a bucket or waste basket as emesis basin, plastic bags under sheets for waterproof matress pads, a dust pan as bedpan for #2, a glass jar for urinal, sanitary napkins for urine for women, and latex gloves won't protect the wearer if he/she doesn't understand the basic aseptic techniques concept. Stocking up on latex gloves is too expensive and takes needed storage space for the small benefit it would give. Washing your hands thorougly with soap is more effective and less costly, unless water is in very short supply in your perticular situation. In that case, removing the gloves properly is as important as putting them on lest you contaminate your hands.

Medical items needed are things like steril bandages, Pedialyte is very good (good going Chuck) especially for young kids and old people who dehydrate very easily. Think of what's in your first aid kit, then stock up on that. (There was a good thread on that in the archives.)

Stock up on Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil). It's a good all around pain releiver and all purpose first aid; fever reducer, menstrual cramp reliever, arthritis pain reliever, headaches and muscle aches. It comes in coated tablets or caplets and is less irritating than aspirin and doesn't thin the blood as aspirin does. Use your judgement. Young kids shouldn't take Ibuprofen, use Tylenol in whatever form they can swallow. Ibuprofen comes in liquid form too, for elderly patient who have difficulty swallowing.

Triple antibiotic ointment. Anti-diarheals. First aid poison medications(Epecap syrup?) Epson salts. Etc etc.

Talk to your doctor for prescription drugs, explain you're worried about medecine supply disruptions in 2000 and would like to stockpile on them. Insulin is a perticular problem as it doesn't store for long and must be kept refrigerated. I don't know what can be done about that. Stock up at last minute and buy a solar/propane refrigerator?

Learn CPR or re-learn it now, which everyone should have Y2k or not.

My nursing $.02

-- chris (catsy@pond.com), December 06, 1998.


I think stocking up, for the longer haul, on non-hybridized herb seeds and lots of herbal healing books would be a good idea. At some point we may need to grow our own medicines.

Also look into a small distillation unit for creating aromatherapy essential oils, and invest in some aromatherapy books. Lavender is absolutely amazing for burns!! So much else of value there also. Learn more about either pruchasing or creating therepeudic (-1 sp) quality essential oils.

Remember the idea of still rooms in "olden" times? Might be appropriate to re-create them again.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 06, 1998.


This is information that we all hope we never need, but if we do, not having it could well be very bad news. It was originally posted to another board by a Naval Aviator who posted as "Major Disaster". This seemed like the most appropriate thread for it. . .

*************************************

Date: January 19, 1998 01:34 PM Author: Major Disaster Subject: Shelter Biology/Sociology 101

As a FEMA certified Disaster Manager (don't let that spook you--it's a govt mail order course I took while in the C.A.P.), I'm obligated to pass on some of the following observations.

(1) Regarding Shelter Management (interpreted here as several families saving resources by all living in single, emergency equipped home during first winter of Y2K breakdown), thought must be given to intimacy requirements of married couples. In some shelters, there can be virtually no privacy--not even bed time (all sleeping round a single wood stove, etc.).

Best advice is to set aside a remote "reading room" which every single adult or married couple has sole access to for 90 min-2 hours per day. It should be understood that this room is not to be approached by others, as all need time away from each other's elbows for reflection, private prayer, reading, settling family matters privtely (for husband and wife), "Etc." No other big explanations are needed, as married couples will figure out real quick what else the fold out couch can be used for.

(2) Watch out for the "Cave Factor." Like it or not, this is a reality that every man I've ever privately polled has admitted to me: "If a female guest stays at my home (like, even to visit the wife), I have sexual urges for her." Yea, yea, I know that's horrible and all, but it is reality.

It might have something to do with primitive biological programming or something (thus the "cave" monkiker), but it is there. Recommendation: men, stay away from the females in the shelter, whether other wives, friend's daughter, etc. The Air Force Survival Manual warns downed aviators, "While treating all females with respect, try to deal only with the men of a village. Do not fraternize with native females. Those who violate this rule end up with a spear in the belly or a knife in the back."

Females, you can help out here. Wear loose fitting clothes, appear nondescript, etc. Don't scoff, what is workable in modern society can prove disastrous under emergency/field conditions. Allow me to give a real life example here.

While undergoing 3 days of J.E.S.T. training in the jungles of the Philippines, on first day I had the unfortunate experience of being placed behind 2 fresh-out-of-college Navy nurses who were climbing the trail in front of me. Matters were made worse by the male flight suits they were wearing that were not cut for wider hips. Aside from the moving scenery ahead of me, people sweat profusely in the jungle too--and sweat includes phermones. I was in total agony and losing concentration on trail safety--finally volunteered for point just to get away from/in front of them, but was mindless for the rest of the day and had an awful night tossing and turning (as if sleeping on a bamboo "cot" wrapped in a wet poncho and being ate up by clouds of misquitoes wasn't bad enough).

On day two (too hot for full flight suits, everyone unzips them to the waist and ties them there with flight suit arms--everyone in sweat-soaked t-shirts) we had temper flareups, flirtatious stupidity, favoritism, etc., in the ranks so we all had one of those "sensitivity sessions" the liberals like so much. We leveled with the women (who had no idea that such primalness could get so far out of control so quickly) and made appropriate changes that prevented further problems (including spare shirts tied over their hips, and sweat towels tucked in at the neck and draping down the front of their wet t-shirts instead of thrown over the shoulder as the men did. Beware of the "Cave Factor."

(3) Casualties. While not directly related to the above, still is vitally important to shelter/group biology/health. (a) Remove sick as far as possible from others, for reasons of contagion and psychology.

(b) Sickroom ideally should be ventilated separately from primary shelter, or at least near fireplace to allow germ'd atmosphere to be immedietly drawn up flu rather than allowed to waft about rest of shelter.

(c) Shelter cleanliness imperative. Occupants must conduct "head to toe" self washcloth baths daily.

(d) Wash clothes/bedding regularly. If full laundry impossible, air-out in sun, or hold soiled clothing over fire for a few seconds to kill as many germs as possible.

(e) In case of death. Non relatives must constantly attend body for 48 hours or so until the corpse starts to "turn" (rigormortis, plus show first signs of bloating). This practice was ALWAYS done by our parent's generation prior to modern funeral arrangements. Such is necessary to be able to assure grieving family that casualty is indeed dead, and to remove all fears of "coming back to life" after burial--a commonly shared horror in such circumstances.

(f) Preparation for burial. Task must be carried out with extraordinary sensitivity. People ascribe much more introspective respect to corpse than to living; as this is "last time" to demonstrate love and respect for individual, therefor, no room for error. Prior to rigormortis/freezing, dress in funeral clothes (you cannot undress/dress a stiffened corpse), tie jaw shut and ensure eyes remain closed by placing coins outside lids to hold them shut. Arrange/temporarily restrain limbs comfortably.

(g) Burial, If no coffin or body bag, wrap in comfortable blanket. Dig grave at least 4' deep to prevent animal pillage and odors later. Line bottom of grave with grasses and evergreen boughs. Approriate remarks/religious ceremony. If no casket, forget about rope lowering--wrapped body is best emplaced in by several men standing IN GRAVE (must be wide enough for them move aside) who gently lower body by hand to bed of grasses, and then ascend from the pit (after placing any momentos family wishes to bury--such as favorite toy of child). Dirt is then quickly filled in, heaped up 18" or so to account for settling, and grave is marked.



-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), December 07, 1998.


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