Monday, December 1, 2008

The Pandemic

It has come to my attention, while visiting with some of my friends and family that not everyone is aware of the pandemic that is a growing concern. I have been reading on the church website all of the information they have placed there to help us PREPARE for a pandemic. I have been to classes and watched videos of people who are VERY preparedness minded and each of them have stated that “it is not a matter of if, but when the pandemic occurs.” One of them has even stated that the center for disease control expected the outbreak a year ago.

Many people seem to think that all of this is a sarcastic presumption. “How can anyone predict when an outbreak is going to occur?” I felt like this was a legitimate question and so I began to search for WHY this big push for pandemic preparedness. The best information I came across that explains it in terms that the lay man can understand is a video I watched from BYU-Idaho. I urge all of you to click on the link and watch it. We are watched it for FHE last night. My children have heard us talking about the pandemic and have seen us preparing for it, but I think this helped them more fully understand what a pandemic is and why it is important to follow the suggestions of preparation that are on the church website.

Here are the links:
Click here for the video from BYU-Idaho You will have to scroll down to where
it says pandemic video, click here.
Click here for the information on the LDS Church web site. There are two links here, read
the information on both.

Now that we know what the pandemic is and that the threat is real. Judging from history and, not to mention, prophecies of the last days, what are you going to do to prepare for this so that you shall not fear?

What have I done? Well first off I printed all of the information off of the church website that is applicable to my family. There is MUCH good information on the site. Then I read all of the information. Then I reread it to my husband. Then after praying about it and pondering about it we made a list of things we needed to do for our family to be prepared. On that list was N95 masks, waterproof coveralls and aprons, vinegar and hydrogen peroxide (this will be explained later), spray bottles, safety glasses, Anti-Plague (also explained further on), and plastic gloves. On that list is a note to teach our children about the pandemic and, as the church suggests on their site, about how to deal with the pandemic incase the adults are incapacitated with the disease. I also plan on placing the information that tells us how to clothe and unclothe and sanitize in our preparedness binder. (I will do a future post further explaining our preparedness binder at a later date.)

Now just a reminder, all of this is just to deal with the pandemic IF we happen to catch the pandemic. In a few minutes I will discuss all the things we plan to do and prepare for to keep it from entering our home.

First I’m going to explain why we have distilled vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. In the church information it tells us that we need Clorox to sanitize everything. If you know me you know that I am always concerned about what it best for our health. In watching a video on preparedness from a lady by the name of Rebecca Lee, I learned that by mixing a solution of 50% vinegar and water and placing it in a spray bottle and in another spray bottle mixing 50% hydrogen peroxide and water and by using one and then the other you will having a sanitizing agent that works as well, if not better, than Clorox but without all the possible health hazards that go along with it. Thus, the adding of those two items instead of Clorox to our pandemic preparedness list.

Anti-Plague, what is that, you say? Well, if any of you know me well you also know that I am very into natural healing and I have a very strong testimony of it because I have seen it work on MANY occasions and with many different sicknesses and injuries. One of the men I admire very much in natural healing is Dr. John R. Christopher. If any of you are interested in learning more about this inspired man I suggest his biography by his son David Christopher called, An Herbal Legacy of Courage, or visit http://www.herballegacy.com/. Dr. Christopher was teaching a class somewhere in Arizona, I forget where, when he was asked a question about whether there was an herb that they could take that would help them withstand the plagues prophesied about in the last days. After praying about this question he received inspiration for this formula which he called Anti-Plague and is now referred to as Super Garlic Immune. We use it often in our family. Whenever some one starts coming down with a cold or a sore throat we give it to them at the first sign of sickness. We have been purchasing it already made online from a company called Life Balm. It is about $32 for a pint. It is kind of expensive but you don’t need much. A little goes a long way. You can also make it yourself. I plan on doing a future post all about Anti-Plague so watch for that to come!

Now to address our plan to hopefully prevent our family from getting the flu. I love the idea that the church calls “Social Distancing” and that the BYU video calls “SIRQ”, Self Imposed Reverse Quarantine. So we will defiantly implement that when the pandemic becomes a concern. But in order to do this we have to plan ahead. We need to make sure we have things that are essential to our being able to STAY AT HOME. Things like food, cleaning supplies, medical or herbal supplements you may need to sustain your health, and any personal hygiene items you may need. This requires planning ahead, making a list, and acquiring these items as quickly as we financially can.

If you are interested, here are the links to the sites where I chose to order my masks, coveralls and aprons, and plastic gloves from. I ordered my masks in a large quantity to save more money. I plan to use some for gifts and keep the rest for my family. The coveralls and aprons I know nothing about. I haven’t received them in the mail as of yet. But they were affordable and waterproof. I chose not to order disposable ones because of the expense but you may consider decide to go that route instead, it is certainly an option. I should be receiving them shortly so if you would like my opinion before you order them just email me and let me know. I will email you my opinion of them.

Now before I close I want to stress that all of this is so personal to our family. We prayed that Heavenly Father would guide us in preparing our family, not yours. As a side note to this I did find information on the church site that they suggested we do that I did not find applicable to my little family and we will not be applying it in our home. So please, please, find out what Heavenly Father would have you do. He is the only one that knows what your family needs.

2 comments:

Brittany said...

Thanks for the info. I will be looking into it today. I also like the idea of a prepardeness binder. Thanks again!!

Anonymous said...

Amy--this is wonderful!! I will pass this on to my people too. Such good information. This is really what I've been looking for--practical advice on what to do when. Thank you thank you. You are bookmarked!!