Emergency Medicine and Homeopathy

Homeopaths are healthcare providers that will be needed in an emergency. Homeopathy can help more than any other modality aside from physical intervention. Yet many homeopaths are not physicians or Emergency Room doctors. In a full-scale emergency, services and social order break down and we are left to fend for ourselves. Are you prepared to take care of yourself, your family, friends, and clients in this event?

What if there were no hospitals to rely on? What if you were left to take care of someone and didn't have the skills to perform minor surgery? What if major surgery were needed to save a life? What would you do?

If I were presented with the responsibility I would do my best to save a life, even if I did not have the training but I knew something must be done. Obviously, I would seek medical care from qualified individuals but if this just were not possible, I would do the best with what I have. At the point when it is obvious that someone will die if intervention is not taken then I have nothing to lose. And possibly a life to save.

Some of us are trained in CPR which is highly recommended. CPR can save lives and does daily. This is basic information to keep someone alive until medical help can arrive. I urge all of you to take a CPR course and get certified.

But when all medical services are unavailable there are still many more ways to help a person. Thankfully there are a few resources that we can use to get prepared and guide us through many medical emergency procedures.

The first and probably the best is Nancy Caroline's Emergency Care in the Streets. This is the textbook for Emergency Medical Technicians and is three volumes of information about medical emergencies. Volumes two and three are especially focused on emergencies that come up most often for first responders. This is information that anyone can learn and apply, especially with proper training. But even if you did not have the proper training but nowhere else to turn the information in this book could save many lives.

Trauma from mechanical injuries, bleeding and shock, soft tissue injuries, burns, head and face injuries, spinal and thoracic injuries, abdominal injuries, and musculoskeletal injuries are all covered. In addition, respiratory, cardiovascular, neurologic, endocrine, allergic, gastrointestinal, renal and urology, toxicology, hematology, environmental, infectious and communicable diseases, behavioral, gynecological, and obstetrical emergencies are covered.

In Volume Three there are special concerns addressed with neonatal, pediatric, and geriatric emergencies. Section 7  is particularly important. It deals with ambulance operations and how to size up a scene, establish command and communicate in many types of emergencies.

This book will answer just about any question you could come up with about how to deal with an emergency. I highly recommend every homeopath have these volumes on their shelf. Even if you never studied this material you would have easy reference if an emergency came your way. But by definition, an emergency requires immediate response so it is beneficial to really study this material and learn the basics. It could save a life.

Another book that I highly recommend is Ditch Medicine by Hugh L. Coffee. This book is about advanced field procedures for emergencies. This is a partial how-to book that a field medic might need to know during wartime. This is real emergency physical medicine. The chapters read like an ER room. Small wound repair, care for the infected wound, decompression and drainage of the chest, IV therapy, emergency airway procedures, anaphylactic shock, pain control, amputations, burns, and nutrition and emotional support.

Much of this book deals with using allopathic drugs and how to administer them. This book may not have homeopathic recommendations but if you combine the information you might have some real success in drastic cases. But in an emergency one should not rule out the possible life-saving properties of modern allopathic medicine. If you are not a doctor you will be limited in how you are able to procure these medicines. The next book I am recommending gives you some ideas.

Do-It-Yourself Medicine by Ragnar Benson is the book to find and use the most effective antibiotics, painkillers, anesthetics, and other drugs without a Doctor's prescription. In an emergency when there is physical trauma often a procedure will be necessary. Tools will be needed like needles for sutures, tubing for irrigation, bandages, forceps, etc. All of these tools are available through veterinary suppliers along with the very same drugs that are used on humans. The quality is exactly the same. You can purchase these drugs without a prescription to take care of your animals. This book explains many different drugs, how to use them, and where to get them. It also goes over a few procedures for wound care and what to do. It is a very informative book.

Armed with these three books if you were the healthy survivor in a catastrophic emergency you might be the one that could save a few lives. Combined with homeopathy and a real desire to help, even if you were not a trained medical doctor, you still may be able to combine common sense and guts to do what seems to be unthinkable.

It was only a very short one hundred years ago and most of the population was living far away from hospitals and medical care was very rudimentary. It took weeks sometimes on horseback to get someone to the hospital or to summons the physician. These people learned to take care of themselves. They were not always successful and mortality was high. But for those that tried, success was possible. In our modern world with technology and drugs combined with homeopathy, we stand a much better chance of saving lives.

I am not suggesting that we start our backwoods clinic and treat medical emergencies that should be referred to a hospital. We live in a very dangerous and changing world though with the possibility of war looming always. It would not take very much for the infrastructure we so take for granted to collapse. If it did there would not be a place to turn to. We would need to take care of ourselves. Being forewarned is being forearmed. Be prepared for the unthinkable and, heaven forbid, if the unthinkable arrived we would have a few better ways to help ourselves and others.

Study your materia medica and the remedies that come up most often. Those for shock, injury, soft tissue damage, infection, bites, stings and burns, broken bones, wounds, apparent death, childbirth, and the list goes on. Unfortunately, homeopathy can not always save the day and physical medicine and procedures may be necessary. Get these three books and you will have great resources at your fingertips. Good luck and don't try to be a hero. Just be responsible and do good work. Be prepared.