Defense Articles

When it comes to the security of our homes and businesses one thing remains true. The protection of life far exceeds the need for preserving your property though both need to be considered when creating a plan in safeguarding both. Certainly, any security plans made for property needs to secure life but not relegate property to an afterthought.

The best suggestion anyone can give when it comes to securing your home or business is to meet with an expert in the field of security and create a plan that works for your unique situation. Homes are different sizes, shapes, and different logistical issues exist from one home to another. The same holds true for businesses. No two are exactly alike. This means that each will have individual security needs and challenges. Keep in mind the same security measures that are in place in your business are not always adequate or practical in securing your home.

Meet with a professional, discuss your specific needs and concerns, and allow him or her to suggest a plan of action that will cover your security needs. No security measures, no matter how great or small, will work properly without a plan that draws them all together. You will need a separate plan for your home and business security and there are some things that may need to be done in order to secure them both that are unexpected though quite practical once explained.

The act of hiring a professional to help you establish a security plan for your home or business will instill faith in the process. He could point out flaws in any current security features, introduce dangers and risks you may not currently be aware of, and help you understand the process much more clearly than if you were to go it alone and make the security decisions for yourself. A professional will also point out that in most instances proper security takes the efforts of more than one action working together.

If you have only a security camera pointing at the doors it can be easily bypassed. Motion detection lights like the intruder alert alone are great in theory but still leave open spaces that a patient prowler could find easily. Have them work together along with monitored surveillance, an alarm sensor on every window and door, as well as panic buttons located throughout your location (in the event that there are family members or workers present) and you have a much better chance to deter potential security breeches.

Do not overlook the importance of fire safety, storm safety, first aid, escape routes, and pathways into the home or office building for emergency personnel. Many people perish around the country each year because emergency service providers cannot find a pathway into the home or business to save those trapped inside quickly enough. Keep these things in mind when establishing your security plan for family or associates.

Another thing that is particularly applicable to a business is giving each employee a unique security code to prevent inside jobs or deliberate harm. Many business security issues are found to be inside jobs or someone you know and trust with your business. Many larger companies have adopted key cards to accomplish this though many smaller companies hand out the code to the alarm without considering the possible implications.

It is a general presumption that basic first aid is nothing but bandages and ice packs. The moment one finds himself in the first aid class, one will begin to see that there ’s more to injuries than cuts and scrapes. If one wants to make the best use of First Aid classes then one should make sure to do the following.

Make it Early

If you can arrive at the basic first aid class early, you could find a chance to meet the instructor and develop a good rapport. This single factor has the advantage to let you raise questions that can actually come up during the class. Supposing the instructor is not available to interact, you can still take a look at the handouts for the class ahead of time to get an idea of what you are about to cover.

Write Notes

As most of the basic first aid information can be new to you, it would be of great help to take down everything you learn in addition to listening to the instructor. Combining these two learning techniques will implant the information very strongly in your mind. It can also help you to be ale to organize the knowledge that you are receiving during the class. Moment you have a doubt you can always go back over your notes about anything and refer to them. The Notes can always aid you in first aid advice.

Keep Asking Questions

The best suggestion for any one learning basic first aid is to take the time to understand what you are learning and why you are learning it. This is very important. If you not sure why you are doing something, then make it a point to ask the instructor. This will aid you in learning faster and also in retaining that information. Instructors want you to ask questions and other students might actually have the very same questions that you would like to ask. Keep ask a number of relevant questions till you are confident that you have got thorough with the material.

Make a Habit to Read and Revise the Notes After Class

Most basic first aid classes will have an instructional manual, so always make sure to read the notes after the class. This will help you continue to learn the information as well as to learn any information that the class might actually missed out. It is preferable to revise this book every few months to make sure you remember everything.

Only 20 percent of Americans feel very prepared for a disaster, according to a recent survey by the American Red Cross. The new First Aid and Emergency Preparedness Starter Kit does the prep work for you. The kit, which stashes under your bed or in your car, contains more than 14 items, including flashlights, a radio, batteries, a blanket, first-aid supplies and a Red Cross instruction booklet to guide you through an emergency.

Group Health STP:

WHAT: 25th Group Health STP — The largest multi-day bicycle ride in the Pacific Northwest

–205.4 mile ride on mostly rural roads in Western Washington and Oregon, beginning at the University of Washington and ending at Portland’s Holladay Park

–The Group Health STP is open to anyone with a set of wheels.

WHO: Nearly 8,000 riders of all ages

–Oldest: 83; nine riders over 75

–Youngest registered: One-year-old; 16 riders under 10

–Riders from 42 states — plus British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario

-32 doctors from Group Health will ride along to provide medical assistance.

–Group Health medical providers will also staff 16 first-aid booths.

–More than 700 volunteers, as well as law enforcement agencies, support the event.

WHEN: July 17-18, 2004

–Start (north of Husky Stadium — Lot E1): 4:45 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., July 17

–Finish (Holladay Park, Portland): most riders finish around 2 p.m., July 18

ROUTE: University of Washington (north of Husky Stadium) to Holladay Park, Portland: The carefully marked course passes through the Washington communities of Tukwila, Kent, Algona, Pacific, Sumner, Spanaway, Yelm, Tenino, Centralia, Chehalis, Napavine, Winlock, Vader, Castle Rock, and Kelso; and the Oregon communities of Rainier, St. Helens, and Scappoose.

MORE FACTS:

–First event held in 1979 as a U.S. Cycling Federation-sanctioned time trial from Seattle City Hall to Portland City Hall; 187 riders participated and 70 finished

–The eruption of Mount St. Helens led to the event’s cancellation in 1980.

–In 1992, a team of cycling firefighters from Spokane dashed into a burning house along the route near Chehalis and rescued an elderly woman. They went on to complete the ride.

The money will buy food, blankets, first-aid, emergency shelters, sanitation and water purification equipment. More than 600,000 Kosovar Albanians have fled or been forced from their homes by the Serbs. Nearly 140,000 are in massive camps at the Macedonian capital, Skopje, and 350,000 are in Albania.

Over the weekend, 40,000 more flooded in and thousands are living rough in the cold, wet hills in Kosovo. An estimated 15,000 refugees have been airlifted to countries in the West.

“We had another good mail delivery on Monday morning and we’re delighted that the money is still coming in,” said a spokesman for the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), the body co-ordinating the appeal. “Independent readers’ generosity is astounding.”

Are there sexual predators working at equestrian events? Parents and vulnerable children may never know until it’s too late. Why? Because the multi-billion dollar horse industry currently is not required to conduct criminal background checks or licensing for its youth coaches, professionals or workforce. To address this growing national concern for child safety and crime prevention, a new organization, PACES, Professional Accreditation Council of Equine Specialists, has been formed. PACES will require mandatory criminal background screenings, as well as CPR and First-aid training, for all equine certification candidates.

PACES has teamed with a premier nationwide provider of pre-employment screening services to provide background checks to PACES members and their candidates for certification. PACES background screenings will utilize a searchable database of over 230 million records from federal, state, local, and private sources and over 300 million arrest, conviction and disposition records plus 6 billion records from other sources providing the most extensive nationwide sexual offender and criminal database search currently available.

According to PACES executive director, Claudia Starr, “Sexual predators are everywhere. Something must be done about the dangers they present. We want our children protected. PACES believes in the strength of the horse industry to be self-regulating. Applying more stringent standards in our workforce is a positive step for our industry.”

“You wouldn’t buy a horse without a vet check, why would you hire an employee without a background check? PACES is taking a proactive role in risk management and making professional development a priority. Entry level equestrians, skilled professionals, horse-related businesses, and consumers will all benefit from PACES bold new direction,” said Starr.

When I was young and my father provided a car for me to use, he handed me a star wrench (for changing tires) and told me that this was my emergency kit. Now, as the father of two teenage driving daughters, I have provided each with a kit that hopefully will come in handy if needed. In the kit are:

Flashlight with spare batteries

First-aid kit

Mini umbrella

Small tool kit

Tire-pressure gauge

Original car owner’s manual

Battery cables

Small fire extinguisher

Blanket

Plastic poncho

Roadside reflectors

Most of this can be obtained inexpensively at discount stores, and all can be fitted in a small, inexpensive bag and stored in the trunk. The list can be expanded as needed. In my early driving career, I needed each item at one point or another and didn’t have them. — Morris Tarleton, Houston

Dear Heloise: I appreciated your recent advice regarding the shelf life of sandwich meat once a package is opened. As a finicky eater, I’ve often thrown good meat away after two days for fear that it might have gotten a bit edgy in the refrigerator.

It reminded me of a great sandwich tip from my school days. We used to complain that the meat in our sandwiches tasted funny by the time we got around to eating them. (Mom would make them at 6:30 in the morning, then they’d be kept at room temperature in our lunch boxes for about five to six hours before we ate them.)

She solved the problem simply and gave us the freshest sandwiches in the classroom. She kept a loaf of bread in the freezer and would make our sandwiches on frozen slices of bread. The cold bread helped keep everything fresher until it was time to eat, and the sandwiches were always thawed by then. — Jack Burke, Thousand Oaks, Calif.

In any nuclear, biological, or chemical (NBC) attack, it is clear that the hospitals may be overwhelmed with casualties. In these deliberate accidents, there will be an additional problem of contamination. Military hospitals must be prepared for NBC disasters with a detailed incident plan. Within this plan, decontamination facilities and shower systems are needed primarily to protect the hospital from self-contamination. Physical and collective protection measures of the staff should be taken into account, with evacuation routes under such an attack. Within this conjunction, the required equipment, including protective suits, detection means, drugs, antidotes, and vaccines, should be provided and stored properly. Qualified personnel should be assigned to the NBC first-aid and rescue team organized within the hospital, equipped, and trained according to such a possible task. Medical staff must be aware of the effects of the agents, and must be experienced in decontamination and first-aid to victims exposed to these agents. Therefore, this information must be put into practice by giving attack scenarios and responses to the hospital administration. It can be conclusively pointed out that military hospitals especially should be better prepared than any other civilian health unit to such attacks of weapons of mass destruction.

The threat from unconventional warfare agents, including radiological, chemical, and biological agents, has traditionally been considered a military issue.1″3 However, several recent events have shown that civilians may also be exposed to these agents. Potential sources of exposure for civilian populations include acts of terrorism, direct military attacks, and industrial accidents. The intentional release of nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) so-called weapons of mass destruction (WMD) might lead to thousands of casualties, thereby overwhelming local health and medical resources, particularly military medical facilities.4 Accordingly, setting up medical defense and firstaid systems, especially in military hospitals, should be carried out against a possible NBC attack. Although medical defense elements against each of NBC weapons has some common countermeasures that need to be taken, medical care, triage, treatment, and decontamination are all different from each other.5 There are many shared points among NBC agents in terms of medical care and defense. From this point of view, military hospitals, which may also be one of the main targets of such weapons, must be prepared against NBC disasters with a detailed preparedness plan. The aim of this article was to present the importance of the function of military hospitals against a NBC attack rather than that of civilian medical facilities and to discuss the elementary issues concerning planning, preparedness, and response to a NBC disaster.

Background

The NBC agents carrying the potential for use in a deliberate release are listed in Table I. The impact of the attack depends on a number of factors such as the agent type used, the method of dispersal, and the responsiveness of the health system.6″9 In cases involving the intentional release of chemical-biological agents, and nuclear or radioactivity events, effective management has to include a rapid and coordinated response among states and local and military foundations. From the perspective of disaster planning and preparedness, these should cover the training of medical care providers, the establishment of first-aid and rescue teams, emergency department preparedness, providing a pharmaceutical stockpile containing antibiotics, antidotes, vaccines, and personal protective equipment, setting up medical care and decontamination units, including a shower system, analytical and detection laboratories, linkage with other military health care facilities, and a surveillance system of longterm medical sequelae.10

What is important in the emergency response is to organize and coordinate all of these elements. In the aftermath of a NBC incident, the medical leader has to be an expert communicator to allow for the distribution of information. Based on protocols, this communication should not only be with other military commanders, but also with medical staff, other military personnel, and the public, to provide useful guidance. Cooperation and consultation should be maintained with other medical centers close to the incident site to attract their health care efforts to the task at hand. It must be reminded that the required information be issued to the public through the news media and bulletins. Therefore, effective emergency management in NBC defense would be possible, particularly in military hospitals, if each of the tasks summarized above was performed effectively among the disciplines responsible for functioning against such an attack.

Fundamentals of a Hospital Response against NBC Exposure

It is a fact that most hospitals or medical facilities, even in developed countries, are insufficiently and poorly prepared regarding an effective medical defense to NBC exposure, including decontamination, treatment, and laboratory services.11,12 Thus, in particular, military hospitals should have a plan that includes medical treatment and service units, with specialized staff experienced in the medical care of NBC casualties, other than analytical laboratories and decontamination units. Taking different medical management for intervention in NBC casualties into consideration, different facilities may be required for each group of casualties that show generally different signs and symptoms. Military hospitals have the capability at various levels in terms of medical care, treatment, laboratory support, and mobilized rescue teams. Among them, military medical academies are the places that are better organized and have more capabilities compared with other peripheral hospitals.

Learn about growing and distilling lavender and also its uses in massage, cuisine, soapmaking, crafts, first-aid and other medicinal aspects featuring the Young Living Medical Clinic staff.

On the last day of the event, enjoy the Robin Hood Archery Tournament, Western shootout and Indian Hoop dancing.

Sorry to see that David Phelan regards that nasty little device, the speed camera detector, as one of the Ten Best car gadgets (24 May). I suspect that most non-motorised road users would rather have seen the humble first-aid kit in there instead. As for the assertion that these things reduce accidents - they don’t. Speed cameras reduce crashes. Speed camera detectors let crashes happen somewhere else.

EDEN BLYTH