Decide what to do when no help is coming
In a long blackout, ambulances, hospitals and pharmacies may not work. Decide now which problems you can manage at home and which mean moving the person to where care still works.
How
- List what the household can manage with its training: minor wounds, burns, sprains, mild heat or cold illness, diarrhoea with ORS, colds and stress.
- List relocation triggers, the problems you cannot manage. Examples: any red flag in medical-25, a suspected rabies exposure, dialysis or home oxygen that cannot continue, and a medicine about to run out.
- Add each person's own triggers from their chronic condition plan (medical-28) and needs profile (medical-4).
- For each trigger, write who drives, which route, where to, and where the nearest working care is likely to be (medical-26). Keep a second destination in case the first is closed.
- Decide early. Move while roads, fuel and daylight allow, rather than waiting for a crisis.
- Keep a printed austere reference with the health file, such as Hesperian's Where There Is No Doctor.
- Print this plan as a card and keep it in the medical room and each vehicle.
Safety: These lists are examples, not complete. When any help can be reached, ask a clinician first (medical-24).
Do these first
Sources
- NOLS Wilderness Medicine Institute: Wilderness Medicine Practices and Protocols (2016). NOLS, accessed 2026-11
- Is it an emergency? Warning signs. American College of Emergency Physicians, accessed 2026-11
- New Where There Is No Doctor (HealthWiki). Hesperian Health Guides, accessed 2026-11