Personal Prepping

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Now we concentrate  on what to do in, and how to plan for, the long term via Prudent Prepping.

Personal Prepping:
Getting and Keeping Yourself Ready

After starting your lists, adding to your pantry, and starting the conversion from short-term to longer shelf life products, a question that needs to be asked is Am I personally ready for an emergency?

1. Do I or my family have any easily fixed health issues? 
2. Are there chronic medical needs requiring prescriptions? 
3. Who in my group might be in need of extra care : Mothers with infants and young children? People with handicaps or medical disabilities? Elderly members? 
4. Who is the person (or persons) responsible for keeping track of this information? 

From the start of this Prudent Prepping series, I have been working to build my personal stores and make a disaster survival plan for 1-3 people. To do this, I have to be present and physically able to handle these jobs. With this in mind, I scheduled both a physical and a dental checkup, since my job ends this month and I had to use the money in a Health Savings Account before I lost it.

Here's how those questions apply to me.

1.  Do I or my family have any easily fixed health issues?

High Points

Blood pressure is 105/65, Cholesterol is 180 (what am I supposed to do, lose 40 lbs?) but the ratios are good. My bad shoulder, ankle and thumb are not any worse, and my weight is in the bottom 50% for my height. The dental visit went well, but see below.

Low Points

I have a small cavity to fix and a crown that should be replaced soon. The cavity is the first priority to me, and since I dislike going to the dentist in the first place, I'm not waiting for this to become a big and expensive problem. My crown is showing signs of wear, but is not failing at this time. This is going on my 'Fix it soon when the money is there' list.

My weight. I don't have a medical issue with my weight, just a personal one. I don't even mind how much I weigh, I do have a problem with where I weigh it! Finances rule out a gym membership, so personal exercises and watching my diet are my plan.

2. Are there chronic medical needs requiring prescriptions?

High Points
Neither my immediate family nor I have any problems requiring prescription medicine, beyond very low dose blood thinners.

Low Points
My parents are in their 80's and could soon need more care.

3. Who in my group might be in need of extra care?

High Points

There are no members of my immediate family with young children, but there are young children (less than 5 years old) in my extended family.

Low Points

See #2, low points.

4. Who is the person responsible for keeping track of this information?

All Points

I am primarily responsible for myself, by myself. Each of us needs to get ourselves squared away before focusing on the others in our group. This was made clear to me in a sermon I heard many years ago.

When you are sitting in an airplane waiting to take off, the Flight Attendants go through a song-and-dance routine talking about exits, seat belts, seat cushions and oxygen masks. If you have flown, the whole speech is boring after hearing it run through six times (unless you have flown Southwest Airlines, but I digress). The very first thing mentioned when and if the oxygen masks deploy is, PUT YOUR OWN MASK ON BEFORE HELPING OTHERS! If you can't perform due to lack of oxygen, how can you then hope to help others? The same situation occurs when lack of personal preparation prevents us from leading.

Think about these questions. 

Where do you need to focus first?

Recent Purchases

• 45 roll count (previously 36) toilet tissue, $16.87 from Sam's Club 
• 1 quart olive oil, in a metal can, $10.99 from Trader Joe's 

As always, if you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

 

NOTE: All items tested were purchased be me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.