American Trauma Society maps out your chances of survival

The American Trauma Society has created an interactive map to give U.S. citizens a sense of how far away they are from top-notch hospitals from any point in the country.

Time Health published an interesting story on the subject with a link to the map. Writer Zachary F. Meisel lists some key danger spots or locations a fair distance from trauma hospitals, including "Maui, Yellowstone National Park, California's Yosemite and Arizona's Grand Canyon."

Also included on his list of places that Americans love to visit but may not have access to quick medical care are "Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket; New York's Lake George and Montauk; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; and Florida's Key West."

Keep your feet away from the fire during those clambakes, kids.

I am heading to Twinsburg, Ohio, next month with my identical twin sister Katie for the world's largest festival of multiples. Naturally I am concerned about the chance of being caught up in some kind of potentially catestropic event.

Organizers estimate up to 2,000 sets of twins, triplets and quadruplets will attend. If there was a stampede or riot, imagine the confusion. (I promise to try to take pictures.)

I would like to be able to say the trauma map eased my fears, but after 20 minutes of waiting for it to load and search, I gave up and turned to Mapquest. It turns out that Twinsburg is roughly 30 minutes away from a major trauma centre in Cleveland.

I would really enjoy seeing a Canadian version of this map. If someone finds one, please let me know. Until then I think this might be a good time to upgrade my first-aid training.

 

 

Ointment could increase chance of survival after a snake bite

One more thing to stick in your backpack. Or perhaps under your sink in your downtown apartment.  

A group of Australian researchers have determined that applying an ointment commonly used to treat angina on the site of a snake bite will slow the speed venom moves through the body.

Study author Dirk van Helden from the University of Newcastle describes the technique as working like a “chemical pressure bandage.”

Before you go slathering your snakebites with cream it should be noted that this is the first round of research and has not been approved by health officials as a recommended treatment.

You can listen to the audio and read a transcript of the interview here.

Can you really put a price on fear? Turns out you can

UPDATE: 2012Hoax.org general position on Vivos.

Let this be a lesson to you. If you ask for more information from a company that sells the public a way to ride out a nuclear event, or massive environmental catostrophe you should be prepared for a slightly defensive response.

I mentioned in my previous post that the videos for the Vivos shelters - basically retrofitted bunkers where rooms are being sold at a high price - were so thick with images crafted to generate fear they seemed like they could be a joke, or brilliant piece of satire.  

Again my favourite part in the sales video starts at (2:07) Column of fire, frightened eye, mother and baby, concerned seniors and depressed family dressed all in denim on the beach.

Further searches on Google to learn more about the company and read more about their latest offering on the market ($10,000 to weather the end of days in their economy bunker) turned up a link to a website (www.2012hoax.org) questioning if/how the bunker system could actually work or would people be comfortable and capable of lasting several months in any of the Vivos facilities. Getting a spot in the more spacious bunkers starts at $25,000 (U.S.).

I sent a note to Vivos asking to comment on the link, did they have photos I could see of the facility and how long they had been in business and what stage the facilities are at in terms of construction.

I also spent some time poking around the media review section of the website and posted a link to a Reuters video showing parts of already built underground bunkers that will be retrofitted to resemble the "luxury" accommodations shown in videos on the Vivos website, according to the company.

Based on the response I received to my questions, I can now report with confidence this company is 100 per cent committed to sticking to the talking points used to sell its products. (Cold chills increasing ten fold)

But I still wanted to post the full response from a woman who identifed herself in an email as Barbi Grossman, Media Director for The Vivos Group.

I sent a note to www.2012Hoax.org where I found the content questioning the facility and asked for clarification and a comment.

They sent a general comment regarding their online position on Vivos, which is about a year old.  

"Our Vivos page would show our general stance, that Vivos perhaps require some investigation into what they're offering, and whether it really is necessary," said someone from the site in an email noting any response to the "moron" comment would have to come from the founder, who is away.

Here is Grossman's full response.

“Emily,

We are well aware of this moron’s website and attempt to defrock virtually everyone and everything that is providing solutions to the Earth changing events and catastrophes that are already around us. Unfortunately, there are many uninformed “hoaxers” professing their lack of knowledge and/or expertise to the naïve. They don’t have a clue about the virility of our hardened shelters, originally built by the government in each respective country to withstand 20 megaton nuclear blasts, their state-of-the-art construction, impervious strength, mechanical and electronic systems, Nuclear, Biological and Chemical filtration, extensive security devices, food, fuel and medical provisions stocked for a fully autonomous survival for the Vivos members that will inhabit each shelter. Frankly, the ‘2012hoax[ed]’ websites misled allegations are not worth responding to.

Proof of Vivos shelters may be found at each of these pages, and more throughout our website:

http://www.terravivos.com/secure/indiana.htm Completion scheduled for late August 2011

http://www.terravivos.com/secure/nebraska.htm Completion scheduled for Fall 2011

Or, perhaps you would prefer to take the word of CNBC, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, MSNBC, BBC, CBC, N24, NPR, NTV, Al Jazeera, RTL, SBS, Nippon TV, Reuters, and hundreds of other international media that have personally toured and inspected the Vivos shelters. http://www.terravivos.com/secure/news.htm

Unfortunately, ‘2012hoax[ed]’ will never see, know for certain, nor be offered a spot in Vivos. They and their ill-informed followers will be the ones banging on the door the loudest to get in.

 So, which side of the door would you like your readers to be on?

 Best regards,

 Barbi”

(The following note to readers has nothing to do with the views of the Toronto Star and everything to do with the opinion of Yours Truly.)

Dear readers, I must admit that aside from my family (Thanks for reading Granny, love you!) I know very little about your daily lives or plans to weather impending disaster.

But I hope and pray you, anyone you love or even like will not be within a thousand miles of those shelters or the badly frightened people who will no doubt end up fighting over deyhdrated muffins behinds the doors. (Who do you think gets to enforce order in those types of situations?)

Being prepared for the worst and encouraging people to think about their options can be a positive and educational process. How you prepare is all about personal choice, whether that means digging your own bunker, taking medical courses, owning a gun (with the proper permits of course) buying 200 cans of pork and beans or surrounding your home with a highly trained swarm of bees. It is up to you. 

Using terrorist attacks, disease, the Mayan prediction that the world will end in 2012, super volcanos and a video that implies a person's children wil suffer a painful death to sell yet-to-be-retrofitted shelters is simply an example of a business preying on the weak.

I don't think Vivos is a joke, at least not the funny kind, just another company making a buck off an increasingly fearful and vulnerable segment of society.

Again Vivos (Harold Camping, Glenn Beck) thanks for caring.

Still taking my chances with that column of fire.

 

 

 

 

Doomsday bunkers for everyone!

CNN Money is reporting on a new offering from a U.S. company called Vivos that is known for luxury underground shelters. The company, in an effort to broaden their market to include petrified citizens operating on a budget, is offering spots in bunkers for less than $10,000 (U.S.).

I would suggest going to the Vivos website to get a better idea of what they are marketing. A warning to readers. If you are not already seriously concerned about the future of the species, the video they use to sell their products (scare the pants off anyone even mildly susceptible to suggestion) will seal the deal.

This site is so chock full of fear I have trouble believing it is the real deal. If it is a prank it is amazing. But (I fear) this may actually be a real company. You can watch a Reuters clip with footage of what could be part of the network here.

Personal favourite sequence in the opening video. (2:07) Column of fire, frightened eye, mother and baby, concerned seniors and depressed family dressed all in denim on the beach.

If you don't want to buy into the discount shelter you can reserve a space in their network of larger luxury underground shelters in case of an extinction-style event. After viewing the videos on threat scenarios you may want to pay the $25,000 (U.S.) starting price to reserve your space.

Hopefully that family in the matching blue jean outfits (get it? they are blue because the world is ending) ends up in a different underground network.

Thanks for caring Vivos. I'll take my chances with the column of fire.

 

Woman survives thanks to life jacket and banana

More stories are being published about the woman who survived for a week alone on an island after her skiff capsized off the coast of B.C.

Turns out she was wearing a life-jacket, according to this story by the Montreal Gazette. The man with her was not. Sadly, that meant she watched him drown.

Throughout the week she lived off a banana, granola bar and water from a stream.

In May I wrote about Rita Chretien a 57-year-old woman who spent seven weeks alone in her car in the woods living off a bite of granola a day, fish oil caplets and hard candy. At the time a nutritionist broke down how her body responded to extreme starvation. The two women are close in age so I think the information is relevant for this story as well.

Skiers plunge 1000 feet and live!

ABC News is reporting on the story of skiers Kim Hall, 26, and Jewel Lund, 24, who dropped 1,000 feet into an icy ravine in Utah.  Lund has a hurt knee. Hall has two broken wrists and a severe concussion, but was wearing a helmet which is the only reason she is alive.

They are both skilled wilderness skiers, their story must be read to be believed.

Les Stroud: The pros and cons of being in a city during an emergency

Photo by LAURA BOMBIER

One of the reasons I have become so preoccupied with self-reliance is my lack of faith in the abilities of most of the people around me, or more specifically how people would behave during a massive emergency.

Not that I have the finances to buy land outside the city, but I am curious about whether during a crisis or disaster - based on my assumptions people would panic and hoard food in cities - if I would be better off totally alone.

To find out, I turned to Les Stroud, host of the hit television series Survivorman and author of Survive! The book is basically a list of tips to get you out of extremely hairy situations.

Below are two questions I put to Stroud via email on surviving in the city.

Q: What are the advantages or disadvantages of being with a crowd - or in a major city - during an emergency?

 A: “The primary disadvantages of a crowd are that supplies become scarce and often quite quickly,” said Stroud. “Panic can be contagious and there is a greater chance that there will be sick or injured to deal with,” he said.

“However the advantages outweigh the situation: emergency help is likely close at hand, rescue organizations are more likely to concentrate on crowded areas, natural leaders will likely be present, more people are available to search out supplies and find reliable supply lines, long distance communication is much more accessible (and) hands are available to deal with the sick or injured.”

Q: Do you believe that people in urban centres are mentally prepared (or have the supplies) to handle a severe natural disaster or sudden shut down of basic services?

A: “Absolutely not.

“We are caught up in the day-to-day reliable living we have known for years,” said Stroud. “The water turns on with a twist, the heat comes on when we set the temperature, the garbage magically disappears at the curb, there is a store on every corner with supplies that never seem to run out. We are lulled into a sense of comfort and reliable survival, so why waste the closet space on a home survival kit?

“That said, I believe the panic and the problems would be relatively short-lived because eventually when facing a severe natural disaster people will begin to use their innate will to live and will become ingenious and leaders will emerge.

"People will get fed up with not having what they are missing, or they will begin to cope with the fact that they are doing without, because, in the end, all we really need is the most simple form of water food and shelter.

After that everything else is a bonus and deep down we know that. It just might take a big disaster to remind us that we are more resilient than we thought.”

So cities are not so bad and there may be hope for mankind. But still, I'm stockpiling enough food and water to last me and my loved ones for 72 hours. (Stroud believes having supplies and water or ways to purify water is also key)

Next step, stocking up on board games to kill time until the dust settles.

How to grow vegetables in your apartment

Last week my twin sister Katie taught me how to build a sub-irrigated planting container out of recycled materials, so I can grow lettuce in my apartment. The full story can be read here.

I posted the full instructions below (watch the video, I promise it will help) but wanted to include a short list of some of Katie’s go-to websites and places where she learned some of the skills she uses to farm in the city.

www.yougrowgirl.com : Created by Gayla Trail in February 2000 for “people who want to grow but whose garden space is less than ideal,” according to information on the website.

http://rooftopgardens.ca/en: The Rooftop Garden Project, sponsored by Alternative’s magazine in Montreal.

 She also suggests entering sub-irrigated planter on YouTube. Here are a few links to start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el1tn0FpiVE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO8gfaSw-Do

My apartment has fairly terrible light. So our next project will be building a grow light. We plan to post that video in two weeks.

Happy planting!

 

THE PROJECT: Kids can do this says Katie, but, of course, let the adults handle the box cutter and the drill.

What we used

1. 16 litre Canola oil bucket with lid. The lid will become your false bottom or reservoir top.
2. 1 litre yogurt container (we did not use the lid). The yogurt container will act as a support to keep the false bottom or lid off the actual bottom of the bucket.
3. 20-inch PVC pipe with end cut on a 45-degree angle. Once the container is assembled this pipe will be used to fill the reservoir with water.
4. 2 10 litre bags of potting soil that contain compost
5. Box cutter
6. Drill and ¼ inch bit
7. Towels to mop up the spills

 

1. If your bucket has previously contained soil, sanitize it to ensure pathogens from previous planting cycles aren’t passed on to this season. We put ours through an industrial dishwasher but you can use a home dishwasher, or wash with hot water and soap and then rinse with a one-part bleach to nine-parts water solution and let air dry. If there wasn’t any soil, hot water and soap with an air dry will do. 

2. Pop the Canola oil spout out of the lid to create a circular opening for the pipe to run through.  If the lid does not have a spout proceed to step three.

3. Use box cutter to trim edges off lid of Canola oil bucket so it fits snuggly inside the bucket. 

4. If the lid did not have a spout, you’ll need to cut a hole in the lid for the pipe to run into the reservoir.  Trace the pipe diameter at the rim of the bucket lid and cut out tracing with box cutter.

5. Trace the top of the yogurt container onto the center of the trimmed bucket lid, being careful to not overlap with the pipe hole.     It is important that the hole you cut in the center of the bucket lid is slightly smaller than the diameter of the top of the yogurt container.  This allows the bucket lid to rest firmly on the container, creating a secure top for the water reservoir.

6. Poke a ring of ¼ inch holes, one inch apart, one inch above the base of the yogurt container.  Repeat this process at two, three, and four inches above the base.

7. Place the hole-punched yogurt container in the bottom of the empty canola bucket and rest the Canola oil bucket lid on top, creating the false bottom. It should look like an upside down hat.

8. Once both parts are inside mark the height of the false bottom or lid on the outside of the bucket, then remove lid and yogurt container.  Steady bucket on its side and drill a hole one inch below the traced line to act as an overflow hole for rainwater or human watering error.  Drill a second hole at the same height on the opposite side of the bucket as a back-up overflow.   

9. FINAL ASSEMBLY.  Place yogurt container, open side up in the bottom of the bucker and rest cut Canola oil bucket lid on top.  Insert pipe in the smaller hole in the Canola oil bucket, with the cut or slanted end of the pipe inside the bucket. NOTE: It is very important to make sure the slanted side of the pipe is inside the bucket. If you place the flat end inside water cannot be poured down into the reservoir.

10. Fill the yogurt container with moistened soil and firmly compress the soil with your hand.  Steady the pipe with one hand so its straight up and down and fill the rest of the bucket with firmly tamped down soil. Now is a good time to get the old towel beneath the bucket to catch any extra water or soil.

11. Moisten the rest of the soil until a teaspoon of water runs out of a squeezed handful. This may take several litres. It is best to use a watering can, but any pitcher will do. Wait at least five minutes between each litre to allow the water to soak in.

12. Fill the reservoir by pouring water down pipe until water flows out overflow holes you drilled in the bottom.

13. Spread seeds and tuck in according to their specific needs for germination or transplant tiny plants into buckets based on their adult spacing needs.

14. Clean up water mess. 

Eggs, bread, butter, milk and a Geiger counter?

A few rather skittish Oklahoma residents are adding a new item to their shopping lists.

This story popped up on the website of an Oklahoma television station.

Fears about radiation from damaged nuclear power plants in Japan seem to have boosted public interest in buying Geiger counters, the hand-held devices that can be used to measure radiation levels.

Rita Loeffler, who works at Brigadoon Military Surplus in Del City told reporters at the station the store has received multiple calls asking about the devices.

 “Years ago we had a couple of the surplus Geiger counters. They weren't very effective and they weren't very realistic in what they would measure," said Loeffler.

"For the most part, most people don't even know what they're looking at when they read them,” she said.

She offered a more practical list of supplies for people worried about surviving a disaster in Oklahoma.

"I would say for the money you're gonna spend for a Geiger counter, you're probably better off, with the kind of disasters we see in Oklahoma, to have a good shovel and a good blanket and a flashlight in your car.”

Earthquakes, survival and not making a profit off people in trouble

It has been more than a week since a 6.3 magnitude quake rocked the city of Christchurch, New Zealand,resulting in the death of more than 148 people in the city of 350,000.

Large parts of the city’s infrastructure were also destroyed. While power has been restored to 85 per cent of homes, at least 55,000 do not have access to clean water, according to a running blog of updates on stuff.co.nz.

Steve Heap, operations manager at Bunnings Warehouse in Riccarton, told stuff.co.nz that his store was pulling in “a lot of dollars” on items like generators “flying out the door, mate.”

Stores across the city and surrounding area are doing a brisk trade on any items that people need in survival type situations. Several are discounting products to help out residents.

At Bunnings up to (US)$40,00 of stock was destroyed but even as supplies dwindle the prices are not going up. They are also selling items in bulk at cost to people trying to help residents.

“The obvious are the water containers, the gas cookers, gas bottles, gas refills out the front, wheel barrow, shovels,” said Heap.

“Solar showers we're selling as water containers now, because we're out of containers. We've sold watering cans as water storage containers _ it's just trying to think outside the square for the punters.

“It's all really survival mode stuff ... we've pulled things to the front like water purifiers, packaging, batteries, buckets.

“It's all those sort of things you can think of that people need is what we've been selling.”

Not that you would expect someone in a mid-sized city to try to profit from a disaster, but it is always satisfying to reading stories about how people step up or resist the urge to take advantage of people during times of need.

This might be a good time for me to put in a shameless plug for an organization I have enormous respect for in Canada called Global Medic. The organization flies around the world in times of disaster providing medical support and clean water. Donations can be year round on their website.