Ivermectin: Separating Medical Myth And Reality
Few medications have accumulated as much cultural baggage as ivermectin. To some people, it became shorthand for dangerous COVID misinformation and images of people buying horse paste from feed stores. To others, it became almost the opposite: a cheap, generic human medication supposedly discredited because governments, pharmaceutical companies, and medical institutions had financial or political […]
When Incident Command Collapsed on September 11th
As my career as a first responder progresses, and as I learn to see more of the “bigger picture” of incident command, I have become increasingly interested in the historical context of major incidents. We learn the Incident Command System as an organized method of establishing command, assigning operational responsibilities, controlling span of control, staging […]
Filtering Water When the Tap Stops Working
Water preparedness can become an enormous subject very quickly. We can talk about how much water a household should store, how long stored water remains usable, where to find water in an emergency, rainwater collection, wells, desalination, purification chemicals, boiling, and a dozen other related topics. This article isn’t intended to cover all of that. […]
To RSI or Not To RSI? An Aging Question
For those of us who have worked in emergency medical care settings for several years, perhaps even longer, we have all seen some version of the scenario. A physician, paramedic, or rapid response team encounters a sick patient and before long someone says that we need to intubate in order to “protect the airway.” Sometimes […]
Convenience Has Made Us Fragile
Growing up in Central California, I had a firm appreciation for where my food came from. Early school field trips to local farms actually gave me a strong desire to someday become a farmer, even though I didn’t have any direct family members involved in farming aside from my father, who worked as a laborer […]
Preparedness Is A Mindset
There is a version of preparedness that is very easy to sell. It comes in a backpack, usually with a flashlight, a water filter, a knife, emergency food, a hand-crank radio, and enough miscellaneous equipment to give you some reassurance when you put it in the closet. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of […]