Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing

Here's the thing. I recognize that I have been full of doom and gloom lately but it's not without reason. Some of the people I care most about in the world are frequent readers of our little slice of cyberspace. Lately the things I have said here are things that have been the most consuming to me and I share them not to bring everyone down (which I am fully aware it has this affect on some people) but to share what little I may know about things that are wrong with the world. I am fully convinced that the largest problem Americans share is their lack of education on real world topics and even more so, their lack of concern.

Don't stop reading here! This is quite practical. Anyone who has been paying any kind of attention to what is happening in the world will quickly note that there are wars and rumors of wars, there are storms and earthquakes in diverse places, famine, pestilence, drought and disease are rampant.

Today I read several blogs and articles about a woman named Dr. Susan Puls. She was a cardiologist and has been in the full employ of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in order to prepare for pandemic crisis situations. She has given a number of lectures, firesides and presentations outlining ways to prepare.

In a nutshell Dr. Puls is saying that the "experts" who study world health issues are all predicting a pandemic. Dr. Puls believes that she expects this to occur within the next 2 years, and "sooner rather than later" and it will likely come in the form of the Avian Flu virus which is apparently one mutation away from being able to pass from human to human (there are incidents where humans have been infected in Asia).

Different organizations are predicting different things, but I have read the expected death toll to be at least in the millions, some are saying over 1 billion. I am sure that this will mostly be in poor countries where food and water supplies are likely to be largely affected and shared. Reportedly the World Health Organization is expecting 40% of the world popuation to be infected with a 50% death rate among those who are infected. (I'm still trying to verify this, their website is pretty huge). This is expected to be a very rapid ordeal with the damage coming in a 3-4 month span of time. During this time there will be quarantines and most public systems will be shut down. You will not be able to leave your house without literally risking your life. The entire point is this: organize yourselves and prepare every needful thing (D&C 109:8)

Dr. Puls says that every household should have a minimum of a 3 month supply of food, water and supplies. For LDS folks out there this is nothing new. For those who are not, it is quite practical to have a food storage that you can rotate. When you fall on hard times, or if/when you are not allowed to leave your home for months. So there are a couple different ways to look at this, you can say that I'm crazy and it will never happen, at least not to you. You can let fear and anxiety overcome you so that you end up doing nothing, OR you can get your house in order. Even if it ends up never happening (and I hope it never does) the worst that will happen is that you will be prepared.

Once again, I hate to be full of crazy bad news, but I love you all. It would make me so happy if nothing were to happen to any of you, and I can only hope that you would warn me. Listed below are a few links to back up what's above and ways to get prepared.



blog article about Dr. Puls

La Crosse Tribune Article

Emergency preparedness information

Center for Disease Control

World Health Organization

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Eric! I'm with you, I would rather be prepared and hope nothing happens than not be prepared and hope nothing happens! It's a win, win - your prepared and have a rotation of food that you are eating all the time, not waste or loss. Darrell Toups is in charge of some area of emergency stuff in some of the Dallas area and had been asked by his higher ups to do research on the pandemic and preparedness for it. One thing he told us about was having masks for the family - I'll have to look that up again and send you the type (Dr.'s mask doesn't filter out the right stuff).
~mom

caroline said...

We have been trying to put our focus on emergency preparedness in our home (thanks mom and dad for the inspired Christmas gifts) and this is just what I needed to read to continue to redirect our attention to doing that! No doom and gloom about it- just being aware of the facts and being prepared is an AWESOME thing! So thank you for posting this :)

ryan and danielle said...

if we are prepared then we will have nothing to fear. so thanks for helping us re-focus on getting prepared! I don't think you are being gloomy or intimidating about the situation, you are just so full of information and I am thankful that you are willing to share it with the world along with your loved ones!!

Kimbo said...

Wow this is pretty crazy. Thanks for sharing and for the heads up. You know I've just recently been prompted to get my food storage together. We've been terrible since we've been in school and moving so much, but I mapped out a plan to get a years worth in about 6 months. It's a good thing I did it sounds like. Keep these posts coming. That's what friends are for :)

Kristi said...

I am so glad that you are aware of so much important information! While these things that are happening are obviously scary, we should not be worried but grateful to have this information so that we can be prepared. I need to get re-focused on getting more food storage and other things so thank you for this post!

blogginscoggins said...

Thanks for sharing! Sometimes I think I'm a little ignorant about the things going on in the world today. We need to be more focused and diligent in getting our food storage situation together - thanks for the nudge : )

Amber

kjirsten said...

Thanks for this . . . we've been feeling an urgency to get ourselves in order, for awhile now. Although, not fun, it's important to be aware of all that's happening -- and going to happen. Thanks for looking out for all of us!
p.s. That's my favorite scripture!(your title)

Brenda Campbell Hansen said...

If you look on http://providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,8041-1-4414-1,00..html
you will find info on pandemic preparation. Also, at the end of that page (I believe it's the last line) there is a video link produced by BYU-ID that details alot of the Avian Bird Flu info, how it's contracted, what happens, etc. I thought it was very helpful. I found your blog as I was looking for info on Dr. Puls to try to verify, too. I've enjoyed reading through your blog!