Masks. Airborne is best. In a SHTF scenario, they are designated as being outside rooms with pink sticker; although they will probably be blue. Droplet masks are easy to come by. Look for green and orange stickers on hospital doors.
Medical supplies are not for when SHTF. I know someone who recently died because a tourniquet was not available.
Keep one with you, train on how to use them.
Biggest SHTF problems are going to be infection, gastrointestinal, and pneumonia type issues. So lots of wound care, lomotil, mucinex, sudephed, antibiotics, ways to keep areas sterile etc.
Kaopectate cause diarrhea is deadly,
Ex-Lax Constipation is almost as bad...
Aspirin great general purpose pain killer
Acetaminophen (Tylenol) great GP Painkiller some persons cannot take aspirin
Ibuprofen really good anti inflammatory...
A good medical kit should be part of your EDC, not just for SHTF.
I carry a "stab/gunshot wound trauma kit" on my person (jacket's pocket) and a larger general purpose first aid kit in my EDC bag.
Get a first aid class, that's the most important, then work for there and get a basic first aid kit.
Once you know more you can work from there and update you kit.
Dont get a paramedic level 3 kit if you already dont know CPR or how to dress a wound and other basic things.
quickclot or chyanne pepper
honey and aloe vera. both for internally and externally on cuts, burns (gunshot wounds)
vitamin c ( very useful, helps heal wounds faster, also, if you accidently take too much, your body takes what it needs and the rest is just pased down the sewer, you cant OD)
curved needles.
and a hammer (or laughing gas. hammers are cheaper)
During my prep for the Y2K... ok I admit it I was reasonably ready, and during my prep. I read numerous times that a often forgotten thing is Dental Care, not just tooth brushes and toothpaste. But emergency dental care. With that said there are several temporary dental filling and crown cement type products, as well as products to fix dentures etc, on the market, some of these items should be in your kit too.
As well as a orajel type product. As everyone knows a tooth ache is big time pain the rear. The pain can cause more problems then just the pain. It it can hinder clear thinking, eating and drinking, and we can easily imagine all the problems that would follow that combo.
I agree that a ounce of prevention is better that a pound of cure. So make sure you stay on top of your prescription meds trying to keep as much on hand as you can.
Also keep up to date on dentist visits and doctors. Because as we know there will not be any announcement to when the S will HTF.. This is just my two cents... I hope I contributed to the thread in a worth while manner
Plain old crochet needles, curved, and in many sizes, are essential in getting a wound properly closed up. Disinfectant before, during, and after is essential. Even a crude suture is better than dying. Clove-oil can be used as a minor pain-reliever during suturing. Clove-oil is also excellent for tooth pain, applied by the glass dropper in the bottle-cap. Minimal use of clove-oil on painful wounds is also effective, and it is a mild disinfectant. When carrying tourniquets, also have a sharpie TO MARK THE TIME AND DATE of application of the tourniquet. It needs to be released from time to time. A good, cheap item to cleans wounds is a bottle of the feminine hygiene products right off the shelf at ☭hi-☭om-Mart. Feminine pads are excellent non-stick wound-dressings, if you don't need those pricey Israeli imports. Vitamin E capsules also make a good non-stick product when squeezed onto the skin, especially burns and abrasions.