Everyday Preparedness

Hi Ferfal,
Just thought you might be interested in this. I don’t have an
everyday carry, even though I know I should. But I do carry a
leatherman folding knife and a cellphone with a built-in flashlight
and radio.
I work in a hospital. Two days ago I needed to get more oxygen to a
patient right away, but I didn’t have the right kind of tubing. So
I was able to use the knife to cut the end off of something I did
have and make it fit til someone could bring me the right stuff.
Then just last night we had some tornados west of where I work. I
thought we were far enough not to be affected, but the hospital was
either hit by lightning or it came down in the courtyard right
outside. It knocked out the power and when the generators came on,
I discovered I was in an office with no emergency lighting.
If I hadn’t had my flashlight I would have had to find my way out
of the office and down a dark hall just to get to someone with a
flashlight. Meanwhile I would have been neglecting my mechanically
ventilated patients.
So just thought you or your readers might be interested to hear
that. No need to wait for the end of the world. You might need
something just in the course of a normal work day.
-Jason

Thanks for your email. There are other comments of readers putting some Gorilla tape to good use recently. The tip was useful to them during different emergencies where a bit of good tape saves the day.
As you well say, you don’t have to wait for the end of the world to put most of the advice here to good use. This is about practical, realistic preparedness that may come in hand any given day or just make life easier. There’s more specific topics such as surviving natural disasters or an economic collapse. Economic crisis preparedness, that’s an ongoing event so they are things you should be doing now.

I like those cellphones that have good LED lights, the Samsung B2710 is a waterproof tough phone with an LED that caught my attention lately.

I’d still carry a small LED light in spite of the cellphone so as to not drain the battery, just using the phone light as backup. The knife, flashlight and lighter are the three cornerstones of your basic tool kit, what you should always have in your pockets and what will most likely be useful during an emergency. You want to add other essentials like your phone of course, wallet, keys, a multitool, or carry the Leatherman Charge or Wave with its pocket clip, which makes a good EDC knife as well.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Take care,

FerFAL
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