Tech Savvy Parents – Smart-ICE4family Ranks in Top 5!

Check it out at iTunes or at www.ems-options.com

By Nancy B. Finn,

More than any other single device or tool, the your wireless mobile phone  with its audio, video, built in cameras and access to the Internet right at your fingertips, has the capability to help patients take charge of health issues, engage more effectively with providers, and become educated, empowered, and interactive in healthcare.

“One third of American adults (35%) own a smartphone (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Palm). 83% of American adults own some kind of cell phone. These mobile phone users incorporate their mobile devices into their lives, accessing the Internet, sending photos and videos to others, going to twitter and engaging in video calls and chats and seeking and using health information.

www.pewinternet.org/report/2011/cellphones/section-1/how-americans-use-their-cellphones.aspx

A study released at the end of 2011 from Manhattan Research, “ Cybercitizen Health® U.S., 2011”, which explores digital health trends among U.S. consumers reaffirms that more American consumers than ever are managing  their personal health  with a  wireless device. This study is based on a randomized poll, conducted on the telephone and online, of 8,745 US adults age 18 and over and revealed that 26 percent of US adults used their mobile phones for health information and tools. This compares with 12% in 2010 and 9% in 2009 and For example, the study revealed that 8% of consumers used prescription drug refill or reminder services on their mobile phones in 2011, up from 3% in 2010. Additionally, increasing numbers of caregivers are using online health information and tools.

Many smartphone owners have also downloaded one or more of the 17,000 health care apps currently available. Twenty-five percent of these apps are free. Research2Guidance, a consulting firm predicts that as many as 500 million people will be using healthcare mobile apps by 2015. Assuming that this prediction is correct, it means that people resonate to owning smartphones and empowering themselves as healthcare consumers with these interactive apps. Among the individuals polled for this research, 33% indicated that they want to manage their health records online and 32 percent said they want to have telehealth visits with their doctors.

www.research2guidance.com/500m-people-will-be-using-healthcare-mobile-applications-in-2015

Consumers indicate that their favorite smartphone applications include:  body weight scales, vital sign meters and gauges, devices that record and track fitness programs and nutrition. Two of the most popular apps to help individual in an emergency are pocket first aid which provides education and instructions on CPR, chocking, burns, diabetic emergencies, and ICE. (In Case of Emergency). When it comes to emergency aid there is nothing as powerful as a cell phone to provide instant access to a provider through the 911 emergency systems and nothing as powerful as the ICE (In Case of Emergency) to provide emergency medical personnel with information about you that could save your life. The newest version of ICE for the smartphone   includes: medical data & contacts for first responders including a list of people to call – (they can be called directly from the app); insurance information; doctor names and numbers; allergies; medical conditions; medication you are on, and any special instructions or other information you wish to provide This app even functions when the PHONE IS PATTERN/PIN/PASSWORD LOCKED. The ICE lock screen also includes an optional “if found” message in case you lose your phone. With this application you can optionally choose to email selected information to your doctor. The app will automatically switch between Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Spanish or Swedish when you are travelling. ICE is free, a gift to mobile phone users and one that every single user should have on their phone. Ideally every phone should come with the ICE app loaded into the phone automatically, leaving it up to the user to fill in the personal details. The mobile phone revolution is upon us and the availability of ICE makes it all worthwhile. 

Nancy B. Finn is the author of e-Patients Live Longer, the Complete Guide to Managing Health Care Using Technology. This book is a guidebook for millions of baby boomers, senior citizens and individual who suffer from chronic conditions and who are trying to address short and longer term health issues by using e-tools to facilitate the best possible medical care for themselves. The book is available as an e-book, software cover and hard cover on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, most online book sites, or from iUniverse, the Publisher.

 Nancy Finn is a  health care  technology expert and writer of the blog Health Care Basics http://www.healthcarebasics.blogspot.com

Organizing and constructing all manner of emergency preparations working off the floor or on wobbly benches or cluttered kitchen tables can be inefficient and frustrating.  Having a solid utilitarian workbench you can custom build yourself (DIY) using common 2×4 lumber will simplify your life considerably.

We built 2 of these simultaneously following instructions with only one modification that allows them to be butted up together back to back to create a larger workspace in an emergency. Normal use would have them against a wall or freestanding.   If you are not overly confident cutting wood yourself – you can have the planning worksheet ready when you visit your local big box or lumber merchant.  you’ll be done in minutes with minimal waste. (One note Home Depot won’t cut wood under 1 foot in length)

Highest quality wood is not essential as run of the mill (no pun) lumber will suffice if straight – but we’d recommend better than stud quality 2×4′s.   We had the local Home Depot cut the wood despite plenty of tools on hand to see if we would save some time – it did. Assembly tools required would be a drill or impact driver (careful not to split wood by drilling and countersinking certain holes), a square, countersink drill bit and screws. 

There are 3 versions of the basic bench using progressively more 2×4′s to reinforce the design and add weight.  We used the 2nd design as it was reinforced in critical parts and we found adding more reinforcement over time if you wanted was a cinch.  The strength of the design allows this to be considered emergency cover in a windstorm or earthquake. 

Choice of worktop, size, work height and materials used is up to you.  Assembly/repair oriented work is better served with a bench above wrist height but we stuck with wrist height as a useful compromise. Even easier is the ability to use 2×4′s as the worktop over the rough surface lower quality plywood found in many stores.  A good sheet of one side sanded plywood can run $30 where you can get enough 2×4′s for a fraction of that.  If you want a smooth surface you can also use a 1/8″ sheet of Masonite board on top and glue or fasten it down.  If you have a lumber merchant nearby – stop by they usually have long term experienced help on hand.

Adding a shelf below and the height of that shelf are up to you as well.  If on a budget-use what you can and attach with exterior grade treated 2 1/2″ decking screws. We suggest you get a battery powered impact drill/driver anyways as they are simply one of the more useful inventions for the home handy person and DIY’er.  Using an impact driver makes all kinds of common sense – they are powerful and small.  If you use plywood on top you might want to countersink the tops of the screws so you will need a countersink drilbit…unless you are not fussy.  The plans call for glueing – your option.

At $4.95 these plans are worth it to organize your workflow, make it easy to understand and visualize the joints and assembly process – even for a novice.  Once you have one of these benches and begin using them to complete your preps or repairs you will wonder why you waited so long.   Visit Andy’s EzWoodshop.com

“No self-respecting person would ever allow themselves (or their family) to be the subject of a TV series that promotes the typecasting of people that prudently prepare for emergencies as members of some fringe, mentally unbalanced element of society.  ”  

There have been a series of programs on TV that now cater to the voyeurs of our society and depict the some unlikely persons in compromising situations for purely entertainment purposes.  One of those shows personal preparedness in a peculiar light.

Shows like Ax Men, Swamp Loggers, Gold Rush, Pot Growers, Hoarders, Moonshiners and other oddball glorifying situation shows permeate the airwaves.  Depicting oddballs in society as somehow “mainstream” or entertaining somehow promotes their dysfunction as the norm.  It might just be a reflection of the overall decay of our western society.

People recognizing disturbing trends for what they really are and that have taken steps to prepare for anticipated periods of extended breakdown of social order, anarchy, employment, security and food distribution have been unfairly (but expectedly) targeted for marginalization by the very people that would remove rights and freedoms we have enjoyed for years.    

We used to be able to say you can see what is going on in the world in the news but unfortunately the formerly mainstream media outlets no longer report “news” but push socialist propaganda and ignore all else.   There are a few real sources of accurate news out there as well as some hard hitting blogs and websites that offer refreshing information over the trite nonsense seen on TV.  

If the content of these shows is a reflection on the intelligence of our population as a whole, then the claims showing 50% of us as ignorant sheep are spot on. 

Keep prepping.

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Here is a list of American Made Clothing Products with associated hyperlinks as well from The American List

ABC News has assembled a fledgling State by State List of Companies Producing goods in the USA that you can view online here:  http://abcnews.go.com/WN/page/map-find-made-america-goods-13917383

This list was provided by a commenter on GBTV   There has been considerably accurate information on the course of events over the past few years submitted by Beck.

Most everyone of these items can be used as barter when the dollar eventually collapses and is worthless.  There are some pretty powerful people and organizations working quite diligently to make sure that the devaluation happens while they appear at the same time to be propping the currency (and the country) up.   Anyways, be sure to have appropriate numbers of containers that can hold smaller quantities of some of these items – for instance – coffee or liquor.  Suggest you make that instant coffee – easier to prepare without electricity. 

Store these items in plastic sealed containers if you got enough room or increase the amounts on hand for yourself and mark up the items with your own code to determine which items are for barter…..this could be too simple, but how about “B”.   KISS.

We will add more as we see fit……

You can include the hyperlink to the site where your dogs picture is located…..no more having to put your phone number on the bottom of the poster in little strips……yikes!

Here is a sample Lost Pet ICE-QR Code 

You can make them sized from very small to very large here at ICE4SAFETY…..and in color and with Descriptive Text, Links, Reward Info or SMS & Hyperlinks….

Nothing saying you can’t use ICE Cards for your Pet…

FREE.

If so, there are some physical properties about Propane that are important to know and that you would not want to learn about when the temperature plummets leaving you powerless just when you would need the services of your generator.   We discussed converting your generators to multi-fuel use in previous blog articles.

Cylinder Capacities in Gallons and BTU’s 

Conversion Example:

 Using these factors we can arrive at run times based on average load for any generator.  

For instance:

How long would a 5000 Watt Generator with a 10 HP engine at 50% load run on a 20# propane cylinder?  (Point to Consider: Some older gensets will run at full (100%) when it senses any load - newer units can power up the engine to meet the load demanded)

10hp at 50% load would be using 5 horse power to generate 2500 watts of energy.

5hp x 10,000 btu would consume 50,000 btu per hour.  

Using a 20# cylinder that produces 441,600 total btu, the engine consuming 50,000 btu per hour would run for about 8.8 hours.

BTU Consumption Chart based on Generator/engine size and load

Many people would want to know what size cylinders they need based on their engine size.  Below are some real conservative estimates of the vaporization rate of various size cylinders based on the ambient outside temperature.  

Output in BTU’s per/hr – Vertical Cylinder 25% full – Minimum Cylinder Pressure 10 PSI

                                                    Cylinder Size

Temp            20             30               40              100             200              420

+60F         24,000       32,000       40,100       79,700       125,900       185,500

+50F         21,200       28,300       35,500       70,600       111,500       164,300

+40F         18,450       24,700       31,000       61,500        97,200        143,100

+30F         15,700       21,000       26,400       52,400        82,800       122,000

+20F        13,000       17,300        21,800       43,300        68,400        100,700

+10F        10,250       13,700        17,200        34,200        54,000          79,500

0                 7,500       10,000        12,600        25,000        39,500          58,300

-10F          4,780         6,400          8,000        16,000         25,300          37,100

-20F         2,050         2,700          3,400          6,800          10,700          15,900

 Click on this link for the physical properties of each cylinder.

 In Laymans Terms – What Does This All Mean?

 Well, if you went exactly by the chart, you would need a 420# cylinder to run a 14hp engine if it was 25% full and 40 degrees outside and keep a minimum of 10 psi in the cylinder.  This is a worse case scenario.  For instance, when a 20# cylinder is full it can run a 16hp engine for quite some time in 40 degree weather before there will be any freezing problem. But if you wanted to use up all the gas in a cylinder, it would have to be sized according to the chart.

Here is why.   Propane is stored as a liquid under pressure and boils to produce a vapor that is drawn off at the top for the engine to use as the fuel.  Because propane boils at -44° (below zero), the gas will freeze if it can not absorb enough ambient heat to compensate for the boiling process.  The bigger the cylinder is compared to the amount of load, the warmer it is outside, the warmer the cylinder is kept, all are a determining factors as to the likelihood of a propane cylinder freezing up. 

 If a sweat or frost line forms around the cylinder at the level of the fuel, this is a telltale sign that the cylinder over worked and is in the process of freeze up.  If the gas does freeze, it will stop producing vapor and the pressure inside the cylinder will drop to as low as zero psi which will cause the engine to stop running. 

  To compensate for an under size cylinder, two cylinders can be tied together using a tee check and pigtails.  Some people place the propane cylinder near the exhaust of the engine to help keep the cylinder warm and have no problem using smaller tanks on bigger engines. This practice needs to be carefully monitored (be prepared to do that!) so that the cylinder does not overheat and cause the relief valve to check off. 

Source: Info adapted from US Carburetion website.  They convert generators to tri-fuel capability as well as offer converted units for sale.

 Then my sister, a capable Maine cook with years of camping experience, said “Let’s do cooler corn!” Before I could ask “What the hell is cooler corn?” a Coleman cooler appeared from the garage, was wiped clean, then filled with the shucked ears. Next, two kettles-full of boiling water were poured over the corn and the top closed.  Then, nothing.

When we sat down to dinner 30 minutes later and opened it, the corn was perfectly cooked. I’m told that the corn will remain at the perfect level of doneness for a couple of hours.
My mind was blown.

Turns out, Cooler Corn is pretty well known among the outdoorsy set, but for those of us who avoid tents as  much as possible, it’s perfect for large barbecues and way less of a mess than grilling. In fact, I may even buy another cooler just so I’m ready for next summer, now that I’m in the know..

Update:  We failed to mention this should be used in an emergency situation – we were reminded recently that unless a plastic container is labeled as being approved for handling food/cooking it should not be used on a regular basis due to the leaching of chemicals that may be hazardous to your health.  You may oddly enough be faced with cooking the only food you have – in this case corn – for a group of people. You could also cook other types of food in this manner as well. Corn is a highly popular treat of course.

Bottom Line – Yes- it works, but keep it in mind for an emergency – An alternative method if you have a large enough cooler would be to place food safe metal/glass containers (like aluminum party dish, pyrex ware etc) inside the cooler and pour in the water to accomplish the same result  – now you would have a super insulated steamer – without the worry.  When you are evacuating or surviving in unfamiliar territory you might have to rely on a variety of methods to stay alive – likely NOT worrying about whether you will get cancer in 20-30 years.   

Some coolers, like the very expensive Yeti Coolers are made of food grade plastic.

 We were asked by CampingSurvival.com to give some critical assessments of this new product…..so let’s get right to it….

Special Ops – the name suggests it is somehow well suited to some specific tasks.   Just how practical is tactical anyways? 

 Here are features we found practical:

 Appearance – looks good in Olive Drab, Coyote Brown and Black – the same colors as most of your bug out packs – so you match just in case you were concerned about that.   Looks good in public areas and the only attention getting (non gray man) item would be the two 4”x4” Velcro shoulder patch panels.  They are strong enough to hold some small electronics gear or your ski pass or some other ID for downhill skiing or some special volunteer event.  Having a cloth hook for microphone or ID clips would have been nice.  The sample we received for testing was fully cut in Large and not too tight or too loose.  The jacket is not reflective.  Sized for S-3XL.

 Zippers – simple, inexpensive to build into a jacket or replace if broken (fix in the field)  – they are not name brand zippers like YKK ,but they work.  Velcro is too noisy, it attaches and rips up everything clothing related and too much of it shouts “Cheap”.    Zippers also can be sealed for added wind resistance….these are not – they could be functional on the arm pockets – but the price would go up. Pit Zips help release trapped moist hot air when active – they are large and unprotected with any mesh so they could also be used for hand warmers for a second person.  Front zipper is a two way so you can sit/drive/relieve yourself/access gear zip up or zip down – we like that and if it didn’t have this feature – the evaluation would be over right here. 

 Hood – very large insulated hood with a front lip zipped into the collar when folded up makes it rather bulky – it can however be detached and optionally carried in the unique rear panel pocket or simply left deployed or home/car.  You could carry other gear in your hood pouch as needed – maybe a small first aid kit or something. The large size makes a difference when you want to cover up a hat or other head gear for added warmth or utility.  This mostly bald headed tester found the hat overly roomy by itself.  Plenty of options with this hood so we like it.  The collar is considered a “stand up” that can be bent over when the hood is not enclosed inside.  We put the hood inside the back pocket for when a ball cap will suffice.  You can also fold over the hood with Velcro tabs inside when deployed to keep it from flapping or collecting debris/water/snow.  The cinch cords have to be untied when removing the hood and retied when reinstalled…so not a quick zip up install there – not a big hassle in normal wear….or if you leave it on or off seasonally. 

 Pockets – lots of them…some small, some large…with internal compartments for phones, radios, knives, gun, magazines etc…..they work when seated in your vehicle or when wearing a fully loaded Maxpedition rucksack.  Forearm and shoulder pockets are conveniently located – not too large so as to encourage stuffing large heavy items there but they are reinforced and disperse the load across the entire jacket versus just stuffing some waist pockets as a traditional jacket would.  Handkerchiefs, lip balm,  phones, GPS, maps, flashlights, batteries, spare mags…bug out or hiking essentials all have a place to go using the internal or forearm or shoulder pockets.   Wearing a reflective vest over this jacket still allows for access to the chest pockets as well as the arm pockets.  We stuffed some small knives, 2 cell flashlights and wallets into the arm pockets with no issue.  A Ham Radio (HT) with speaker/mic was dropped into the cavernous chest pockets making it a no brainer for radio buffs.  The usual iPod earplug wire cutouts are present on both of the front pockets. 

 The internal pocket fabric supports are attached in such a way that a hollow tube exists where you can stuff a hat, gloves or scarf into when you stop or hang it up for the night.  In fact this fabric could serve as an attachment point for a radio speaker microphone to be secreted inside your jacket.

Most unusual is the rear compartment pocket that is easily accessed from either side by either hand – big enough for the hood or a shirt/shorts or small kit of some kind.  Practical?  Yes. 

 Weatherproofing – breathable fabric associated with a lightweight insulating layer that can be paired up with several layers of Under Armor or similar insulated active wear with light sweaters for considerable warmth down to 20°.  Drawstring hood in wind is a welcome feature because the hood is oversized.  Expanding wrist cuffs have a Velcro strap – something North Face did not do.  This means you won’t need to adjust the Velcro strap but one time.   While these may seem like inconsequential items, they are problematic and annoying over the long term – if you are stuck with one jacket on a “bug out” you want one that functions in a variety of ways and won’t be a PITA.   No waist drawstring or powder skirt as it was not expressly designed for skiing.  We held the jacket under running water for 60 seconds to make sure it lived up to the waterproof claim – it did.  

 Further Discussion:

• We’d select this over the North Face Jacket as it is stylish and offers more utility to the user and is less expensive. 
• Price point for this jacket is acceptable - custom tactical wear is more expensive and less suited for normal civilian attire.
• Rothco should consider including a discreet attachment strap for Radio/ID clips
• Shoulder patch Velcro could be outfitted (by end user) with reflective materials for everyday hiking or even road running in colder weather.
• Most shoulder or belt holstered weapons can be carried concealed without detection if worn correctly.  
• While the jacket could use some refinement in some reinforcement and double stitching it should provide the daily user a considerable amount of utility, warmth and protection from the elements.   
• Will it hold up in extended police/combat duty…not as long as some others. 
• Will it satisfy the average civilian who has lots of gear and doesn’t want to pay $300+ for a jacket with 50 or more pockets? You bet.
• Round out this jacket with some well made Tactical Pants for practical wear.
• ICE4SAFETY

 Check out video/prices HERE.