There Are Some Things You Will Need Help With When the SHTF
You are probably familiar with the phrase “It is not what you know, but who you know”. Today if you cannot treat yourself medically, for example, you know who to call, or where to go for help such as to the emergency room. You can call your doctor for an appointment, or simply stop by a clinic.
Do you know your primary care doctor personally however, or do you know any doctor at all enough to call on a personal level. Do you know a medical professional that you could call upon in an emergency when the power grid has failed and chaos reigns?
In the business world, knowing the right people can get you promotions or a better job or make a sales contact to move product. In a survival situation however, knowing the right people can save your life or the life of a family member.
Knowledge Tree
An objective for you and others, if you are in a group, is to establish a knowledge tree. You as an individual may not have much luck getting the undivided attention of a doctor, or other professional during a crisis. If you are part of a group on the other hand, and have developed a knowledge tree, and recruited professionals to become a part of it, then you stand a better chance of getting the help you need.
The knowledge tree is nothing more than a list of professional that can be called upon for help during a crisis. People on the list will have certain skills and knowledge that will be invaluable during a disaster. The community of course, as a whole would need help, but having the right connections means help can be directed more quickly, to where it is needed most.
Those that simply want to be left alone and/or go it alone during a crisis will have a very difficult time making contact with those that can help. If you have a “bunker mentality”, and suddenly develop appendicitis, you will die without medical care. What happens when one of your family members gets a high fever, or breaks a leg or arm, you will need help, and you need to know where to find that help.
Networking now and finding out who is available can save your life during a crisis. Obviously, you cannot just call someone up but knowing a doctor, or police officer lives in your neighborhood is a good start. You need to know who your neighbors are, what their professions are and decide if they can be called upon during an emergency. You may even need engineers and chemists during an extended crisis, and they may be living right next door.
You certainly can use nurses, carpenters, mechanics, cooks and people that can help fill sandbags or put plywood up on windows. You cannot have too much help during a crisis.
Make a point of knowing who lives near you, and what skills they have, and of course, you can trade your skills for theirs during a catastrophe.
Things You May Need Help With
1.) Medical Care
Medical care is not always on people’s minds, especially if they are young and healthy. However, accidents happen, and the chance of injury jumps dramatically during a crisis, so while you are not worried about chronic illness so much right now, you do need to worry about injuries during a crisis. Diseases will be widespread during a disaster, as well, and medications will be in short supply, you will need help and possibly emergency medical care, so where will you go during a crisis, if you do not know any medical professionals.
2.) Security
You may be able to secure your home against looters and opportunist looking to smash and grab, but what about securing a small community. Regardless of what you may think now, once the SHTF and the calamity is extended for weeks or months you will be seeking out others, and eventually small communities or groups will form.
Security will be important, and simply having a few firearms is not going to be enough. You will need planning and strategies, duty rosters, and criteria for dealing with hostilities will need to be established. This will require trained individuals who can in turn train others. Law enforcement and military personnel and certain other professionals would generally be able to establish security protocol for a community.
3.) Farming
You will need people that know how to raise crops and care for livestock, and you will need them, because they have the land to feed a community. Unless you have acres of land, skill, materials and equipment, you will likely have a hard time raising enough food for you and your family let alone for anyone else. Farmers know how to do things in a big way. They put in plants by the thousands and not by the dozens, so you will need their expertise if the crisis is an extended one.
4.) Animal Care
Farms animals and domestic pets will need help during a crisis, and having a healthy herd may mean the difference between surviving and not during an extended crisis. Veterinarians can also be called upon to help with humans aliments as well. Many of the medications that animal doctor’s use can in some emergencies could be considered for use by humans.
5.) Engineering and Construction
Tools may have to be built, and shelters and towns fortified against attack. You will need people that can make things and build structures. Dams, community buildings and other structures will have to be repaired or built at some point if the crisis is an extended one. Community rebuilding will be an important part of recovering from the disaster.
The above mentioned is by no means a comprehensive list, there are literally hundreds of task that need to be accomplished, and you may or may not have the skills to accomplish them but someone else may.
The list is meant to get you to think about the things you will need that you may not be able to provide by yourself. Going it alone may seem the best route at first, but at some point you will have to come out of seclusion to seek help for something, so whom will you call upon.