Category Archives: Emergency Preparedness

Broadcast Station Protection Program, 1984

Shown here is some key station in the Emergency Broadcast System, after it was equipped to stay on the air after a nuclear attack. The diagram appears in a 1984 FEMA publication, Broadcast Station Protection Program, which outlined the program. Much of the hardening would be paid for by the government, such as construction of fallout shelters for station personnel, emergency generators, and remote pickup equipment to link the station back to the EOC.

The cost of stocking the station with food and supplies for the staff was the responsibility of the station owner and licensee. Facilities were designed to be adequate, although austere.

POTA/WWFF/U.S. Islands: Rock Island State Park, WI

Over the Fourth of July weekend, my son and I decided to make a spur-of-the-moment camping trip to Rock Island State Park, Wisconsin, which is at the northern tip of Door County and at the entrance of Green Bay. It’s a state park accessible only by boat. Unless you have your own boat, you take a car ferry from the mainland to Washington Island, drive across that Island, park your car, and then take a passenger ferry to Rock Island. No reservations are required for either ferry, and they add as many boats as necessary to accommodate the traffic. We bought a round trip on both ferries at the dock, and the cost was about $90 for one car and two passengers.

The campground is about a quarter mile from the boat landing, and the park provides carts, shown here, to move your stuff. My son did the hauling, and we quickly had our campsite, which was right on the shore of Lake Michigan, set up.

Like most state park campgrounds, sites fill up fast, especially on a holiday weekend. But when I checked two days before arrival, there were sites available for both Friday and Saturday night. They were different sites, meaning we would have to move after the first night. But fortunately, the occupants of one of the sites had left early, and after checking with the campground host and warden, we were allowed to have the same site both nights.

QRP Labs image.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a camping trip without bringing a radio, and I brought along the QRP Labs QCX Mini, shown here. This is a handheld CW transceiver for one band (in my case, 40 meters). For the power supply, I brought along my fish finder battery, which I also used to charge my cell phone. (We did have good cell phone service from most of the island, including the campground, through Boost Mobile. My son, on the other hand, who has service through Tello, had no signal, so your mileage might vary.)

I made a total of 33 radio contacts over the course of a couple of hours, covering the eastern half of North America, from Quebec to Georgia. If I had stayed up later, I would have been able to work the western United States. But 40 meters covers long distances best at night, and I shut down around local sunset, meaning the West Coast didn’t have a chance to work me. Ideally, I would have been on 20 meters as well for some daytime contacts, but I wanted to keep the station size and weight to a minimum. The complete log is shown below.

I used my usual antenna, namely, a dipole supported by my trusty golf ball retriever leaning against the picnic table, with the two 33-foot wires extending out from the table. The wires were actually just draped over tree branches. You don’t need an elaborate antenna to get out well. Despite the various reasons that it shouldn’t work (too low, touching trees, etc.), it got out very well.

You will notice that many of the contacts are with 1×1 call signs who, along with WM3PEN, were taking part in the 13 Colonies special event. If you are doing a park activation during a similar event or contest, that’s always a good opportunity to put some contacts in the log.

Our campsite

Other notable contacts included WB8IZM, who was operating from another park, Potagannissing Flooding Wildlife Management Area near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and KB0HXL, who was operating from his car in Indiana.

I’ve always enjoyed operating from remote locations with portable equipment, an activity which has gotten easier over the years with the advent of radios such as the QCX. It’s also become a very popular activity. Starting in 2016, the National Parks On The Air (NPOTA) activity was extremely popular, and after it ended, many American hams continued, thanks to the WWFF (World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio) activity that had started to enjoy popularity in Europe. Shortly thereafter, a separate program, Parks On The Air (POTA) has become extremely popular. In addition, since I was on an Island, I was able to participate in the U.S. Islands Award Program. I was able to hand out contacts for all three programs. I didn’t make the required 44 contacts to make it an official activation for WWFF, but I was able to meet the minimums for both POTA and US Islands. If I had been able to get on 20 meters, I’m sure I would have made many more contacts, but as it was, I was able to give credit for a fairly rare park.

And even though we had cell phone coverage (except for a brief outage on Sunday morning), it’s reassuring to know that, in case of emergency, we have a reliable method of communications with the outside world.

Rock Island was originally developed as the vacation getaway of inventor Chester Thordarson, founder of the transformer company that bears his name. He built the iconic boathouse shown here, which serves as the terminal for the passenger ferry. The campground is located about a quarter mile away, with a more distant backpacking campground somewhat further away. We also hiked to Pottawatomie Light , Wisconsin’s oldest lighthouse, dating to 1836. The lighthouse is about 1.5 miles from the campground.

With carts available, setting up camp on foot was relatively easy. Unlike backpacking, where you have to consider every ounce, the carts made the trip fairly easy. It would have worked a bit better to bring a wagon from home, since we could have just packed it once before getting on the ferry. Also, the provided carts were somewhat heavy, and a wagon probably would have been a bit easier to move. Large wheels are important, because the paths on Rock Island are, well, rocky. I was initially thinking of just packing things in a roll-on suitcase, but this would have been a bad choice, since the wheels would have just been too small. We used an inexpensive tent and air mattress. The ground is covered with roots and rocks, so some kind of pad is a must.

Flush toilets are available near the boathouse, and the campground has vault toilets. Drinking water is available near the boathouse. We realized on the way that we hadn’t brought a water container, so we just bought a one-gallon jug of water and filled it as needed. Firewood is available on the island for $7 (cash only), We used that for most of our cooking, although I did some of it on the emergency stove I previously reviewed. I discovered that four fuel tablets were about enough to boil enough water for oatmeal and coffee. We had only a very small cooler, so for the first night, we cooked some brats on the fire, but on the second day, we ate packaged food such as ramen noodles, to which you just add hot water. Another convenient meal choice was a prepared meal such as Hormel Compleats. These avoid any cleanup, since you can just put the sealed meal in a pot of hot water. Packets of meat such as the pulled pork we previously reviewed are also easy to cook this way.

There is a very small camp store on Rock Island, but other than a few bags of chips and a few Clif bars, they don’t sell food or camping supplies. It’s mostly souvenirs and apparel. So you do need to plan ahead. But as long as you do your minimal planning, Rock Island provides an opportunity to easily do some camping completely off the grid.

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I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up: 1973 Antecedent

Over a decade before Mrs. Fletcher (played by actress Dorothy McHugh) famously told the world that he had fallen and can’t get up, London engineer Douglas Wells, presumably shown in the dramatic re-enactment shown here, was at work on the problem. An elderly neighbor had tripped and fallen down the stairs of her home. She was found three days later, dead. This inspired Wells to come up with the early prototype shown here. It consisted of a mat which was placed at the bottom of the stairs. If someone fell down the stairs and landed on the mat, it would trigger an alarm bell and lighted “HELP” sign outside the house.

This would, of course, be a great benefit if someone fell on that particular stairway. But it would be of no help if some casualty afflicted the person elsewhere in the house. So the wireless device worn around the neck, hooked up to the telephone line, is probably a better solution.

For those in need of such a system, the first point of inquiry is often your local hospital, some of which provide these systems free of charge. If that’s not an option, one alternative is a medical alert service. They typically supply the equipment at no cost, but provide the service for about $20 per month. So if the person requiring assistance pushes the button, like Mrs. Fletcher, they will speak directly to an operator who will summon the required assistance. You can find a comparison of the available services at this link.

Another option is to purchase equipment similar to that shown here.
It consists of a base unit that connects to the normal landline telephone. If either of the panic buttons is pushed, it automatically dials up to three telephone numbers and plays a prerecorded message. The advantage of this type of system is that the caller ID information is displayed at the other end. So if it’s set to call 911, then the 911 dispatcher will know the location of the emergency. However, it’s probably best to program it to dial the numbers of friends or relatives who can intervene in emergencies, which may or may not warrant 911.

The third option is a system similar to the one shown here.
This small unit is actually a cellular phone. It relies upon the fact that all cellular phones in the U.S., whether or not activated, are required to be able to call 911. In this case, 911 is the only number it will call. The disadvantage is that, since it is not an activated phone, the 911 dispatcher probably won’t have access to your location. But as long as the owner is able to speak, they will be able to tell the dispatcher where they are, and what the emergency is. The phone is turned off until the button is pushed, so batteries (normal AAA batteries) will last a long time, and only need to be replaced once a year or so.

A final option for anyone potentially in need of such assistance is any cellular phone. Again, even if the phone is not activated, it can be used to call 911. One disadvantage is that it does require the user to affirmatively dial 911, which might be difficult in an emergency. Also, batteries need to be charged on a regular basis, which means it’s not something that can simply be forgotten until needed. But since most people have old cell phones lying around, it is a zero-cost option. If you’re worried about someone, simply asking them to put an old phone in their pocket gives some assurance that they can call for help, even if they can’t access their normal phone. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to keep an old phone, along with a 12 volt cord, in your car as a backup communications method in an emergency.

The picture at the top of the page of the 1973 system is from the November 1973 issue of Elementary Electronics.

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1923 Safety Tip

This illustration appeared in Popular Science a hundred years ago this month, November 1923. And it’s still not bad advice. We sometimes say that when doing electrical work, among other precautions, you should keep one hand in your pocket. If one hand inadvertently comes in contact with high voltage, you don’t want to be touching a metallic object with the other hand, because the current will pass through your heart.

The light switch you’re flipping today is UL Listed, and nothing could possibly go wrong, right? We’re sure for the Chinese manufacturer, your safety is the paramount concern. But still, it’s not a bad idea to make sure you’re not touching anything else when you reach for a light switch, or anything else that’s potentially energized.

The Importance of Owning a Radio

Gaza, 2023. Wikimedia image.

We’ll refrain from taking sides for the moment. (We definitely have a side, which we’ll undoubtedly explain later), but the the recent headlines from the Israel-Gaza war highlight the importance of having, at a minimum, some sort of radio receiver as part of your preparations for disaster.

According to this news report, the cutoff of telephone and internet service in Gaza means that “for those who have them, radios have become the sole link to the outside world.” Even though I’ve come to expect it, the words “for those who have them” highlights a fundamental misunderstanding that much of the public has. They have, in their pocket, a device that will bring them all of the information in the world. So perhaps it’s not surprising that an inferior device, a simple AM-FM radio receiver, is viewed as not necessary.

But as the current situation in Gaza makes clear, your receipt of information via the internet depends upon the kindness of strangers. If the internet is cut off, then so is your source of information. But in the meantime, hundreds of radio signals, some of which contain reliable information, are landing at your feet. You simply need a receiver to pick them up.

To get some idea of what you would be able to hear on a radio in the Middle East, this link goes to an internet-connected receiver in Kuwait, and this link goes to one in Cyprus, which seems to be the closest one available. But most of the strong medium wave stations you hear on that receiver could also be picked up in Gaza at night. And if you tune the shortwave dial, there are many more stations available. Undoubtedly, some of the stations you pick up will be filled with propaganda. But reliable information is available from sources such as the BBC.

In short, you needn’t be in a total information blackout, but it requires some minimal preparation. An inexpensive shortwave receiver like the one shown here would let you know what’s going on in the outside world, no matter how much the other side tries to cut you off. It doesn’t draw much current, so a box of batteries would keep it running more or less indefinitely. And there are also many solar and hand crank radios available.

And even if you don’t prepare, remember that most cell phones sold in the United States include an FM receiver, which doesn’t require any kind of connectivity.

Incidentally, it’s interesting that the article equates listening to the radio for news with burning furniture for heat. I wonder if they got that idea from us.

Field Day 2023: Greenberg Island, Wm. O’Brien State Park, MN

This past weekend was ARRL Field Day, an operating event in which Amateur Radio operators set up in the field and see how many contacts they can make with portable equipment. It’s mostly a fun activity, but it also serves as a test of emergency capabilities. For many, this involves hauling large equipment, often powered by a gasoline generator, and setting up large antennas. Often, large groups are involved in these operations. It’s been around since 1933, so this year’s running marked the 90th anniversary.

I prefer a simpler approach, and set out by myself or a smaller group with equipment that I can easily carry and quickly set up. This year, instead of just driving to a park, I decided to operate from an island accessible only by boat. In particular, I operated from Greenberg Island in the St. Croix River, part of William O’Brien State Park, Minnesota. The plan was for my wife and I to do the operation, bringing our canoe from home.

Setting up one end of my antenna. I’m breaking of a stick which I used as a stake to anchor it in the sand.

The initial weather reports didn’t look promising, so we decided not to take the canoe, and instead just operate from the mainland. But while driving there, the weather looked fine, so we decided to rent a canoe and activate the island as originally planned.

The island has been part of the park since 1958. When I was a kid, there was a pedestrian bridge linking it to the mainland, with a trail covering part of the island. Exploring the island was always a fun part of a trip to the park. The bridge is long gone, and the only way to access it is by boat. I did check first, and it’s perfectly legal to land there, although it is posted “No Camping.” And not having been there for about 50 years, it was fun to explore the island again, but there was no trace of the old trails.

There were a few human footprints on the beach, but not many. At the beach where we landed, there were deer footprints, as well as either a dog or a wolf. The only other sign of humans was a fairly recent mylar balloon reading “happy birthday” which had landed in the brush just off the beach. I inspected it carefully to see if it carried a note. Unfortunately it didn’t, so I just picked it up and took it to a trash can on the mainland.

I was on the air from about 3:30 – 5:00 PM, and the weather held up fine. It started looking like rain and we headed back. We had a few drops of rain, but it didn’t start pouring until we had just left the park on the way home.

We found a beach on the east side of the island, and set up there. I used the QCX Mini, running 5 watts on 40 meter CW, and worked about 20 contacts. The antenna was an inverted vee supported my trusty golf ball retriever shoved into the sand and leaning against a tree. The power source was a fish finder battery. I did purchase it new for Field Day, since the previous one was showing signs of wear after 7 years of abuse.

I forgot to bring a folding chair (although my wife remembered hers and was able to relax while I operated). The fallen tree shown above served as a suitable substitute.

Heading home. KC0OIA at the bow, W0IS at the stern.

Best DX was Alabama, I believe. In addition to working Field Day, I submitted the logs for Parks On The Air (POTA), WWFF-KFF, and U.S. Islands Awards Program. This is the first time the island has been activated, and since we went over the magic number of 15 QSOs, it will count as being “qualified” for that program.

Thanks to the stations shown below, some at home, and some out in the field, for pulling in my 5 watt signal. If you look carefully, you’ll see three dupes. All of my logging is pencil and notebook, so sometimes it’s hard to remember who I just worked.

Will I ever save the world with my communications abilities? Probably not. But it’s good to know that with equipment I can carry with me, just a few minutes setting up, and a battery found in any car, I could get messages out to my friends and relatives in case of disaster, and could do the same thing for my neighbors.

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When Wires Are Down: 1948

There was a time when electronic communications meant wires running from city to city. In the United States, these were the telephone lines owned by The Phone Company, or telegraph lines owned by Western Union. If those lines were knocked down due to some kind of natural disaster, then whole communities could be cut off from the rest of the world.

When that happened, Amateur Radio might serve as the only link. And 75 years ago this month, the June 1948 issue of QST announced that Western Union had reinstated a cooperative program with the ARRL to ensure that hams were available as backup “when wires are down.” It was a reinstatement because Amateur Radio had been off the air during the War, and the program originally dated to 1939, as announced in the June 1939 issue of QST.

Image, 1950 Handbook.

The ARRL was able to “give W.U. a list of Emergency Coordinators (EC), so in any pinch, the W.U. local managers will know who to call upon for coordinated information on the active amateur stations, radio schedules, points in radio nets, local emergency-powered outlet, and so on, so
necessary emergency traffic might be filed.” For their part, Amateurs were encouraged to fill out ARRL Form 7 and give it to their EC to sign up as members of the Amateur Emergency Corps. In fact, the blank forms were available at Western Union offices, and could even be dropped off there, with Western Union routing the forms back to ARRL headquarters.

In reports of disasters, it wasn’t uncommon to read that hams had assisted Western Union when the lines were down. For example, during the 1940 Armistice Day Blizzard, Sherm Boen of Albert Lea handled traffic for the railroad, since a dispatcher in southern Minnesota needed permission from Minneapolis before sending a snowplow north.

These days, it’s unlikely (but not totally inconceivable) that the normal telecommunications networks will fail completely. In addition to ground-based lines, there are multiple satellite options available for linking various communities. So it’s unlikely that an internet service provider or phone company will call hams for assistance with restoring their networks.

However, it’s not unheard of for individuals and families in areas hit by disasters to be cut off from the outside world. The ability to send a short message to family or friends in other states could be a major morale booster, and could be extremely helpful in reuniting families separated by disasters. Hams spend an inordinate amount of time trying to find a “served agency” to whom they can offer their services. But radio communications today isn’t exactly rocket science, and those agencies can probably have communications in place operated by their own personnel.

But hams still have a major strength, and that is the fact that they are widely dispersed around the country, mostly in residential areas. In other words, if there is a local or regional disaster, they are already there, and they can begin communicating immediately. As exercises such as Field Day and Winter Field Day prove, they can be on the air immediately, even if power is out, and even if part of their station is damaged. A wire antenna can be put up almost anywhere, hooked up to an HF rig and car battery, and communications are immediately established. Even the most modest of VHF rigs can provide local communications with other hams.

It seems to me that individual hams should figure out how they can serve their neighbors in time of emergency. In my case, I will simply make it known, perhaps with a sign in the front yard, that I can send short messages to anyone, just about anywhere, via Amateur Radio. I have multiple radios that can be pressed into service, and all I need is some wire to build an antenna. For power, I have multiple options, such as a car battery, flashlight batteries, or a solar panel. I can be on the air almost immediately, and stay on the air more or less indefinitely. I don’t need any agency to serve. My license is the only authorization I need to offer my services to my neighbors.

Solar Cooking, 1923

Harnessing the power of the sun to cook your food is nothing new, as shown by this hundred-year-old illustration on the cover of Science and Invention, June 1923.

The accompanying article, penned by Dr. C.G. Abbott, the assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, isn’t quite a construction article, but it does provide some basic ideas. The model shown above was suitable for camping, or other situations where fuel and power were unavailable. The two concave mirrors, made of tin, reflected the sun onto the cooking surface, the bottom of which was blackened with soot. The complicating factor, possibly unnecessary, is the use of an alarm clock to keep the mirrors aimed.

For situations where it was necessary to cook at night or when there was no sun, the author also described a more complicated system, where the sun heated a reservoir of oil, which was in turn used to provide the cooking heat.

For a simple solar cooker, you can see our earlier post, where we provide plans for construction of a solar oven. If you want to save the work, the solar cooker shown below uses the same principle as the 1923 design, but it somewhat more efficient with the parabolic mirror. Also shown are some solar ovens:

While these can’t be used in the dark or on cloudy days, having the ability to cook using only the sun’s energy adds flexibility for camping or emergency preparedness.

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Stockpiling Prescription Drugs In Case of Emergency

FDA image.

Are you worried that a war or natural disaster might make it impossible for you to get your prescription medicines? Or are you concerned that the United States is dependent upon a potentially hostile nation for prescription drugs? If so, we provide some advice today.

Disclaimer 1: I am not a doctor, so don’t get medical advice from this website, or any other website. If you have medical questions, talk to your doctor. The purpose of this article is to give you advice on the most convenient way to carry out your doctor’s advice.

Disclaimer 2: Not surprisingly, the advice on this page will not work for narcotics or other controlled substances. So if you need narcotics on a regular basis to survive, you have my sympathy, but I’m not able to help. You should definitely talk to your doctor. The most commonly prescribed medicines, however, are not controlled substances. If you’re not sure, you can look them up on the DEA website. From the list at that link, just search for the name of your medicine. If it’s not listed there, then all of these hints will work. If it is listed there, none of them will work. Really, your only option in that situation is to talk to your doctor about your concerns.

Some people require prescription medicines to stay alive, or to maintain their quality of life. Even though it’s popular to bash “big pharma,” sometimes justifiably, the fact remains that there are a certain number of people alive, who would otherwise be dead, if it weren’t for their products. The exact number is debatable, but it’s not zero. If you are one of those people, then you might have thought about how you would get your medicine if there were a disruption to the supply chain.

Coping with Short-Term Disasters

GAO image.

This disruption could come from a war or natural disaster. If it’s a local disaster, where you have to evacuate, then it’s an inconvenience, but not a particularly dire situation. The best way to deal with it is to keep a few days’ supply of your medicine in your car. Even if you are not able to go to your home before evacuating, you won’t have to worry about it immediately. When you are out of the disaster area, you can go to a local pharmacy (ideally, of the same chain as your pharmacy back home) and ask them to transfer the prescription. Or you can go to a local doctor or clinic and ask them for a new prescription. (In fact, a telehealth physician, if you explain the circumstances, will probably be willing to write a short-term prescription.)

CDC image.

One thing to keep in mind is that in most states, pharmacists are authorized to dispense a short-term (usually 72 hours, but possibly longer during an emergency such as a hurricane evacuation) supply of prescription medicine if it is necessary to maintain your health, even if you cannot produce a prescription from your doctor. So if all else fails, and you are out of your prescription medicine, then go to the closest pharmacy and explain your situation. Bring along things such as your empty prescription bottle and/or medical records showing that you do, indeed, have a prescription for this medicine, albeit an expired prescription.

If you do keep medicine in your car, you should keep it in the original bottles. The easiest way to do this is, when your bottle is down to 3 or 4 pills, just put that one in your car, and open the new one. Every time you start a new bottle, finish up the ones in your car first, and then replenish the car supply.

Coping With Long-Term Supply Disruptions

NWS image.

It’s one thing to run out of medicine at a time when most of the pharmacies in the country have it available, and it just takes you a few days to get there. Having a few extra doses in your car will take care of that. But if you depend on prescription drugs, what would you do if no pharmacies had them, or that there were no pharmacies around?

If you read the book One Second After by William R. Forstchen, you will remember that was one of the main themes of that book. As a result of an EMP attack, virtually all transportation and communication was destroyed. That meant that pharmacies had no more medicine, and people who relied on medicine started dying.

But the event that triggers an acute medicine shortage might be much less dramatic. According to news reports, even though your medicine might be made in the USA, “almost all drug pipelines start in China.” In other words, the manufacturer in the USA (or perhaps India) gets some or all of the raw ingredients from China. I’m a little bit concerned that China is spying on Americans via Tik-Tok. And I’m a little concerned when they send over a spy balloon. But I’m very concerned about what would happen if China decided to stop sending the ingredients we need for lifesaving medicines. A lot of Americans would die, without even a single shot being fired.

You can’t stockpile enough medicine to last the rest of your life. (Of course, whatever amount you stockpile could define the “rest of your life.”) So you need to have some faith that eventually, U.S. industry and government would get its act together and start producing what you need. But that’s not going to happen immediately. If you rely on medicines to keep you alive and healthy, then you do need to stockpile enough to last a few weeks, or a few months, or perhaps a year, until production can be started.

There is nothing unpatriotic about doing this. If you buy an extra bottle of pills today, then your drug store will immediately re-order. If the manufacturer is running low, then they’ll manufacture that many more pills. And if they have to order more raw materials from China, they’ll do it today when the supply lines are still in place.

If you wait until the disaster strikes and then try to re-order, that is what is unpatriotic. You’ll be competing with millions of other people for limited supplies, and neither the pharmacy nor the manufacturer will be able to get more. If you get your pills, that means that some other person didn’t. If you get them now, you are doing a favor to those who haven’t bothered to prepare.

How To Stockpile Medicines

In an ideal world, after your realized that you wanted to stockpile your medicine, you would just walk in to the pharmacy and buy as many as you thought you needed. So if you take one blue pill per day, you would just go buy 365 blue pills, and know that you’re all set for one year.

Unfortunately, however, this is not an ideal world, and you can’t do that. You need a prescription to buy the medicine, and most doctors seem to be reluctant to write a prescription for more than a few weeks at a time. In normal circumstances, this might be reasonable. Your needs might change, and the doctor is doing you a favor by not letting you buy medicine that you won’t be using.

HHS image.

The easiest way to deal with this situation is to talk to your doctor, and explain your reasons for wanting a longer prescription. If the doctor thinks that you’re doing this simply so that you won’t have to talk to him or her for another year, then your request might be denied. But the doctor isn’t stupid, and they probably also understand the vulnerability of the supply chain. They will probably counsel you about checking in with them regularly, and also warn you to rotate your supplies so that you’re not stuck taking expired medicine. But if they are confident that you will not abuse the privilege, they will probably be happy to write a prescription. If they stubbornly refuse on philosophical grounds, then perhaps you should think about finding a better doctor.

Insurance Companies

Another problem you might run into is your insurance company. Even though your doctor is willing to write a prescription for 365 of your pills, your insurance company might not be willing to pay for it. If that is the case, then you will have to pay for them yourself.

But this might be much less expensive than you think. Let’s say, for example, that you are taking Lisinopril, which is a blood pressure medicine, and the most commonly prescribed medicine. If you just walk into a pharmacy, and tell them you are paying cash, the price can vary wildly. But the cash price might be as much as $50 for a 30 day supply, or about $600 for a one year supply. Normally, your insurance company worries about it, and you just pay a $10 co-pay for the 30 day supply. But they make you go back every month. So do you fork over the $600? In most cases, this is not necessary.

If you shop around to different pharmacies, you will find much lower prices. And the easiest way to shop around is with a website like GoodRx.com In this case, when you search for that medication, you will find that the price varies, from a high of $54, to as low as $4. While $600 is a prohibitive price for a year’s supply, you can probably afford to pay $48 for that 12 month supply. And you are eventually going to take the pills anyway, so it doesn’t really cost you anything. In some cases, with GoodRx, you will need to print a coupon to get the lower price. But the savings can be dramatic. In fact, you might discover that the cash price that you get from GoodRx is actually less than the co-pay you’ve been paying to your insurance company! You might discover that it’s best to stop worrying about using insurance.

Amazon also has a pharmacy, which in some cases might have reasonable prices. But compare prices for every single prescription, since they can vary widely. For more information about pharmacy pricing, see my earlier post on that subject.

Canadian Pharmacies

220px-Canada_flag_halifax_9_-04 For generic medicines, then GoodRx and other similar websites will get you the best prices, often with dramatic savings. But if only a name-brand medicine is available, then you won’t get many savings on that site. In that case, your best option is usually a Canadian pharmacy. You’ll still need a prescription, but the Canadian price for many medicines is dramatically lower than the U.S. price. One reputable pharmacy that I’ve used is CanadianPharmacyStore.com. The site is based in Winnipeg, which is where your doctor will need to fax or mail the prescription. The prescription might be filled by a pharmacy in Canada, or possibly in another country, and will be mailed to you.

If you need a prescription which needs to be refrigerated, such as insulin, then you won’t be able to get it by mail. But it might be worth planning a visit to a retail pharmacy near the border. Your U.S. doctor can fax them the prescription to them, and they will honor it. It’s worth a phone call to check the price.

When you return to the U.S., of course, you need to tell the customs officer that you purchased it. But as long as it is a 90-day supply for your personal use, they will simply wave you through.

If You Don’t Want to Ask Your Doctor

For whatever reason, you might not want to ask your doctor for a longer prescription. If so, you can still maximize the amount of medicine you keep on hand. Don’t wait until you are out of pills before getting a refill. Get your refills as early as possible. If you get a refill once a month, then consistently have it refilled a week early. After six months, you will have a six-week supply on hand.

Keep in mind, though, that the pharmacy will be keeping track of this, and they will eventually figure out that you have an excess supply on hand. If the pharmacist questions you about this, I would just be honest and explain why you are doing it. Just like your doctor, your pharmacist isn’t stupid, and they realize how fragile the supply chain is. They’ll probably commend your for your foresight.

Buying Medications in Mexico

Many Americans have discovered that buying medicines in Mexico is a safe and convenient option. You might save a little bit of money, but as a practical matter, prices in Mexico are about the same as the prices you will find with the methods described above. But the advantage of buying in Mexico is that (as long as it’s not a controlled substance) you don’t need a prescription. The Mexican system places more trust in the patient. You go to the doctor, and they will prescribe a medicine. In other words, they will tell you what medicine you need, and what dosage. You then go to the pharmacy and buy what your doctor told you to buy. But for most medicines, you don’t need to give the pharmacist the prescription and have them scrutinize it. They’ll take your word for it, because there’s really no good reason why they shouldn’t.

This means that if you need a medicine that your American doctor prescribed, you can walk into a Mexican pharmacy and simply buy it over the counter.

Unlike Canadian pharmacies, however, you can’t do this online or by mail. To buy medicine from a Mexican pharmacy, you need to go there in person. But, as noted above, as long as you are buying a 90 day or less supply for your own personal use, bringing it back into the country is a non-issue. Just tell the officer what you have, and they will wave you through.

If you live near the border, or if you are planning a vacation in Mexico, this is an easy way to boost your supply by 90 days. Medicines are made under the same conditions as American medicines, possibly in the very same factories.

I suppose there are unscrupulous pharmcies in Mexico, so it’s probably best to stick with a major chain. The largest pharmacy chain in Mexico is Farmacias Benavides. They have modern pharmacies, staffed by professionals. It’s likely that someone will speak English. Even in the unlikely event that they do not, if you write down the name of the medicine and the dose, that should be all the information you need. You can pay with a credit card, and it is a very simple transaction.

Of course, before you go, you will want to get some idea of the price and whether your medicine is available. The Benavides website does not allow you to search for individual medicines online, but it is possible to do that at another pharmacy, Farmacias del Ahorro.

At the top of the screen on their website, there is a search box marked “Qué estás buscando?” Type the name of your medicine in that box, and click the magnifying glass. You should be able to find the name of your medicine and the dose (in mg or mcg), along with the price in Mexican pesos. (The name of many medicines might change slightly and end with the letter “a.” For example, the thyroid medicine levotiroxine will be called levotiroxina in Mexico.) Currently, approximately 17 pesos are equivalent to one dollar, so divide the price shown by 17 to get the price in dollars. If the box contains 30 pills (30 tabletas), then you can buy three of them and bring them home.

If you have any concerns about the potency of the Mexican medicine, then you can use them now, before the emergency arises. Alternate days: Take one of the American pills one day, and a Mexican pill the next day. In the unlikely event that there is a problem, you will know it now, when your doctor is still available. But after you have used up the Mexican pills, you have increased your stockpile of American pills by 90.

Expiration Dates

You will want to keep track of when you bought a particular bottle of medicine, and use it before its expiration date. Most prescription drugs I’ve bought in the U.S. are filled by the pharmacy, and have an expiration date one year after the prescription was filled. Mexican and Canadian medicines will generally have the expiration date printed on the sealed box. Use the oldest ones first, and you’ll be assured of having up to a one year supply on hand.

Rationing Medicine

I am not a doctor, but I do know that you should not ration medicine without first consulting your doctor. But there might come a time when the medicine is unavailable, but your doctor is available. When that time comes, you might want to ask your doctor what to do. If you have a six month supply, then possibly you can make it last twelve months. You’ll need to ask your doctor at that time, but it seems reasonable. For example, if you have a medicine that you take once a day, perhaps it will be OK to take it every 36 hours. If that is the case, then your six month supply would last nine months. But ask your doctor before you start doing things like that.

Conclusion

A disruption of the pharmaceutical supply chain, whether it’s due to an act of war, economic sanctions by a hostile country, or any other reason, could result in many American deaths and suffering. But with a little bit of preparation, the death and suffering could be reduced considerably. But it takes a little bit of planning on your part.

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Power Outage Preparedness: 1953

Seventy years ago, the power was out, but this family was safe and warm thanks to following the helpful pointers in the March 1953 issue of Popular Science. The general advice is the same–you should make some basic preparations for power outages. We’ve previously covered the subject in general, as well as specific provisions for cold weather.

If you have a gas stove today, you can (in most cases) use the burners on top if you light them with a match. But today, unless you have a very old oven with a pilot light, the article’s advice about using the oven won’t work–on modern gas stoves, the oven requires electricity to operate. And unless you have an absolutely ancient gravity furnace, it won’t work without electricity. But letting the faucets drip is still a good idea.

I wouldn’t improvise some kind of burner on your furnace, and there’s no need for an army-style stove. Today, there are safe propane and kerosene heaters certified for indoor use, as we previously reviewed.

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