The Most Important Prep of All

Okay, you’ve got your food, water, meds, and maybe even guns stockpiled. It’s a good start, but it’s not going to be enough. There’s one preparation you must make if you expect to survive a pandemic.

You have to prepare mentally.

IF a pandemic occurs, for most of us, we will be entering uncharted territory. Even if you sequester yourself inside your home, you may have to deal with illness, death, isolation and fear. News reports from the outside, while informative, will likely to serve to heighten you fears. If looting or rioting breaks out in your vicinity, or worst case, you have to deal with an attempted home invasion, your ability to react under stress will be vital.

Having started in EMS at the age of 18, I was woefully unprepared for the daily onslaught of trauma, tragedy, and yes, fear that would accompany every shift. A dozen or more times a day I would find myself in the midst of an emergency, where lives, including my own, were on the line. The first few weeks, I wasn’t at all sure I was cut out for it.

But I learned a few secrets, from those whom I worked with, that enabled me to handle the stress, the tragedies, and the unexpected. For what it’s worth, I will pass them on to you.

First, no matter what, keep your sense of humor. It will see you thru when nothing else will. Although often misunderstood by those outside of the profession, the ability to find irony in any situation, no matter how terrible, is a wonderful defense mechanism. As long as you can do that, things can’t be that bad. The wisecracks in the operating room scenes in M.A.S.H. were very representative of real life. It’s an outlet. Use it.

Second, you have to be able to detach yourself from the situation, at least for the moment, if you expect to function. No, that doesn’t mean you don’t care. But if you allow yourself to become emotionally involved, you can’t do the things you need to do. Parents are especially guilty of becoming too emotional when their child is injured, and frequently do the wrong thing. Their first inclination when a child is injured is to scoop them up into their arms to comfort them. It isn’t easy, but to be effective, you have to distance yourself from your emotions.

Third, a little bit of fatalism is a good thing. Sometimes you have to accept you’re not going to get out of this world alive. I’ve seen people freeze when they should have acted, and it cost them their lives. There is an old saying in the military; even doing nothing can get you killed. Soldiers can get killed even if they never leave their foxholes. You need to be able to react, even in the face of danger.

Fear is normal, as is the desire to preserve your own skin. But don’t let it keep you from acting when you need to. If you freeze, you no longer are able to affect the situation. You are at the mercy of whatever happens.

Fourth, don’t obsess over what might happen next. You can prepare, and you can train, but you can’t anticipate every eventuality. Running scenarios thru your head incessantly will drive you nuts. Take things as they come. Your imagination can be your worst enemy. I learned early on that the time spent in-between calls, where you anticipate what the next call may bring, was harder on me than the actual call.

Finally, you aren’t Superman. There will always be things you can’t control. Accept that. Do the best you can, but accept that it may not be enough. You should be prepared for losses. Learn from them. Then move on.

None of this is to suggest that you can go thru an emergency without being affected by it. That stoic firefighter or medic who pulls a 4-year-old out of the deep end of a pool, and spends an hour trying unsuccessfully to revive him, does so professionally, and seemingly without emotion. They have to. But don’t think for one second that later, after the call is over, they are unaffected.

You can’t eliminate fear or emotions from stressful conditions. But you can put them aside; delay them until the situation is over. The ability to do so will mean the difference between being able to act, and freezing up.

Perhaps the hardest thing for most people to accept when dealing with illness or injury, particularly of a loved one, is the concept of letting go. That sometimes, there is nothing that can be done. Heroic measures are not always appropriate, and they seldom work.

We live in a culture that fears death, and in recent decades we have tended to hide those people on the verge of death away in nursing homes or hospitals. Often it is for their own good, but many times it is just so we don’t have to watch the process. In a pandemic, this will not be possible in a lot of cases. Many people will have to face that reality.

Among medics, there is a saying. “Death is just nature’s way of telling you to slow down”

This isn’t cruel, or insensitive. It’s simply acceptance.

While I pray that none of you have to face any of the mental traumas that may come with a pandemic, I hope that each of you will take some time and think, really think, about your ability to cope with emergencies. That you will prepare yourself mentally for what you may be called upon to do. Your ability to do so, and to respond appropriately in an emergency, can spell the difference between life and death for you, or someone you love.

And remember. If I could do it at 18, you can do it now. You just have to believe in yourself.