Worldwide Pandemic predicted - LDS leaders help members prepare.

[justamere10]

As many people know, Latter-day Saints have been counseled by their leaders to store food and emergency supplies in preparation for scarcities such as loss of income, and natural and manmade disasters.

Family Home Storage

Yesterday my wife and I visited an active LDS family in a prosperous neighborhood. When the subject of emergency preparations came up (as it often does these last few weeks) they revealed that they used to have storage but they didn't replenish their stock when they last moved to a new home. They have the means to buy supplies, they just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I wonder how many LDS families have ignored the counsel of their leaders and are vulnerable? And how many non-LDS families could not last more than a few days without needing resources not found in their homes?

Below is an illustration of how within a few hours people could find themselves isolated within the walls of their own home, unable to leave and unable to get supplies delivered by others, forced to live on what's in the cupboards and the pantry.

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(Extracts from an article in Meridian Magazine.)

You can and should prepare now for the possibility of a pandemic. Our government and governments throughout the world, the World Health Organization, and relief agencies worldwide all believe a pandemic is coming, if not this year, then soon.

What we can expect when another Pandemic hits

To help prevent the spread of the flu, communities may be quarantined - meaning you will not be able to count on out-of-town family and friends to help. People who may have been exposed may be required to stay in their homes. Schools, public transportation systems, all public events, government and private sector offices, even churches will all closed down.

According to health officials, preparation means assuming that any or most of these conditions will apply in severely affected communities: Those who work in stores, who deliver to those stores, and who work at docks unloading supplies arriving from other countries, will also become ill or restricted to their homes. Many businesses will be forced to close because employees will stay home to protect themselves or to care for ill family members. This will mean the closure of businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations.

Relief agencies, police and fire departments and hospitals will be short-staffed as employees and volunteers will become ill or remain home to care for family members. You will be on your own for most flu related issues.

Outside of the quarantine area, businesses will close as supplies become limited. The stock market will close, bankruptcies will increase as people stop receiving government aid and pay checks.

Prepare for disruptions in utility services. Pandemics are most likely to occur during the cold weather months. Utilities; electric, gas and water, all require staff to keep them operating at full capacity. Workers will stay home and ordinary repairs will become major complications as the staff will be limited. Power outages may last longer than normal. This may mean no heat, refrigeration, lights, and for those served by wells – no water. Without power pipes may freeze and break. Water may become contaminated as staff will not be equipped to monitor and control all systems and repairs. If we should experience a winter storm, ice storm, firestorm or earthquake which damages or destroys lines during this time, the problems would be greatly compounded.

Communications during this time will become vital to your physical and emotional health.

Government and relief agencies all recommend we prepare to care for our own needs. If your community is not quarantined but the flu virus is in the area, you will want to impose a self quarantine and stay in your home. Only with exposure to flu germs can you catch the flu. For this to be possible you will need to prepare now.

We can learn from the experiences of the past:

Case Study for Self Imposed Reverse Quarantine (SIRQ), Yerba Buena Island

Yerba Buena Island is in the middle of San Francisco Bay – it is the island at the midway point of today's Bay Bridge , but in 1918, it stood alone, connected only by ferries to the mainland.

On September 23, 1918 Commandant Percival Rossiter of the San Francisco Naval Training Station ordered an immediate SIRQ of the island. All 6,000 people on the island, including civilians, were required to remain on the island. All contact with others living in the San Francisco Bay Area were halted except to receive supplies. Supplies were delivered to the docks and recovered only after the vessel delivering them had left. On the rare occasion that military personnel arrived on the island they were placed in a quarantine camp for several days.

By early November new influenza cases was decreasing in the San Francisco area. On Thursday, November 21, after two months of SIRQ the ban on travel off the island was lifted. This may have been premature as the first case of influenza on the island was reported on December 6, 1918. During December 1918 and January 1919, Yerba Buena Island recorded 3 deaths from influenza and 2 from pneumonia. Deaths during the Self Imposed Reverse Quarantine:0

Gunnison, Colorado

The city of Gunnison , Colorado took steps early to protect its citizens. In early October 1918 the Colorado State Board of Health issued a warning. Schools were closed across the county, with orders that they would remain closed. Large meetings were banned.

With the news that nearby towns were being hard hit by the pandemic, Gunnison enacted measures to protect its citizens. Anyone entering the town was required to remain in a quarantine location for two days. Barricades were erected on the main highways and cars were warned to drive through without stopping.

After three months, on February 4, 1919, Dr. Hyatt called for an end to the protective sequestration and closure order for the town of Gunnison . Only one death had been recorded. When a third wave of the flu arrived, 100 cases were reported in Gunnison and 5 deaths occurred.

Western Pennsylvania Institute for the Blind

The Western Pennsylvania Institute for the Blind escaped the influenza pandemic even though nearby Pittsburgh was hit hard. When word of illness in nearby towns reached the school, officials announced that visitors would not be allowed to enter the school nor students allowed to leave. No cases of the flu were reported at the school. Students were allowed to return home for Thanksgiving and upon their return 12 cases of the flu were recorded at the school. The school was closed and students sent home until the flu subsided.

There are many more examples of Self Imposed Reverse Quarantines that prevented or greatly reduced illness and death. For this reason it is expected that many communities will choose this same protection method when the next pandemic arrives. BYU Idaho, in Rexburg, is already preparing for their students to participate in a Self Imposed Reverse Quarantine should a pandemic occur.

There is a limit to what the government, the health care community, and the Church can do in advance of a pandemic outbreak. With a worldwide Church it would be virtually impossible for the Church to stockpile all the goods that members would require. We need to prepare to care for our own families.

The U.S. Federal Government, the World Health Organization, and others are monitoring avian flue outbreaks, as well as other pandemic threat sources closely. The United States has active national as well as international programs for manufacturing, pre-positioning, and stockpiling antiviral drugs, masks, and other supplies. Work on a specific vaccine cannot occur until a virus strain that infects people is identified and isolated. Most experts agree that development of an effective vaccine would take six months or more.

In the United States, Secretary Leavitt of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) has stated that "any community that fails to prepare—with the expectation that the federal government can come to the rescue—will be tragically wrong" (April 10, 2006).

"And plagues shall go forth, and they shall not be taken from the earth until I have completed my work, which shall be cut short in righteousness - Until all shall know me, who remain even from the least unto the greatest, and shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, and shall see eye to eye... " - D&C 84:97-98

We need to prepare. Now is the time.

Meridian Magazine :: Emergency Preparedness: "When the World Catches the Flu"

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What good is cash in the bank or credit cards in your wallet if the stores are all closed? Do you not agree that it would be prudent to buy extra necessities such as food and water to store in your home today?

Below is a link to information that could save your and your family's lives if you act upon it.

Provident Living Home

[countrygirl66]

I was raised by my parents to have food storage and so I have always had it. We have never had a major worldwide emergency but it has helped our lives to be easier in general. By having food storage we have been able to bless the lives of others struggling. We have been able to be generous in our scouting for food donations. We have been able to forgo groceries when money is tight. I do remember growing up we were snowed in for 10 days once. The only thing going to town was snowmobiles and that was just to get perscriptions for the people that needed them. I remember it as such a fun time because my parents had no worries. We had all we needed in our own home. I have a strong testimony of storage to the best of your ability. I wonder how many could be blessed by having it. I read of a family in a poor country that would take one tablespoon of rice and set it aside from each meal to have a storage. They said their lives were blessed for it. I know my family has been blessed abundtly because of it. It also saves me a lot of money. I can buy in bulk when something is on sale and then don't have to buy it again when it is not.

[MrNirom]

I wonder how many of us.. that don't live in Mormon neighborhoods..

share this information with our non Mormon neighbors?

[Hemidakota]

Talking about flu, the Bird Flu is back with a vengeance and is now in Northern Thailand.

[Guest TheLutheran]

I wonder how many of us.. that don't live in Mormon neighborhoods..

share this information with our non Mormon neighbors?

. . . at just how prepared your non-Mormon neighbors might be! Our stash is pretty impressive because living far from town makes it inconvenient to run to the store frequently. We raise our own beef and pork, grow a huge garden, keep our shelves overstocked with staples, have a 2,000 gallon fuel tank for gas and another for diesel, and own several generators. We live in a state of quarantine most of the time. Haha!! Self-sufficiency is a way of life for us, but then I grew up that way even when we lived in town. Do most folks keep a small inventory?? I think its great that you are encouraged to be prepared!

[yeti_mawl]

My guess is that a pandemic will be developed in a lab somewhere and then turned out against a people. All commerce and travel will cease. Society will then completely break down with marauding bands killing for any food that can be found. If it is know that you are LDS you will be targeted.

If a righteous people were to be preserved from this they would need to get out and gather before the pandemic is released, which is what tend to think will occur. See Revelation 18:4

Only in the last year or so have these thoughts taken hold. I feel deeply that something is coming, both great and terrible. I have sold personal belongings to raise capital to purchase things I would use; grain mill, cold weather clothing, food storage, ammo, things

i don't expect to be available during the times of trial.

[MrNirom]

My guess is that a pandemic will be developed in a lab somewhere and then turned out against a people.

Funny you should say that. A few other LDS people have had visions regarding this. She said specifically:

Next I saw the airport. It was damaged a lot from the earthquakes but it was still functioning. I saw the clear vials of a clear liquid dropped there and the beginning of a plague. People were lining up for flu shots.. (Don't do it! You'll be more susceptible.) Nothing the government did worked, except quarantine. I saw to plan for 3 months.. have food warmth, generators, surgical gloves and masks, antiviral meds. This seemed like early spring and was worldwide. There were mass quarantines; and road blockades. Very little travel, massive deaths, this effected every household. I was told to have faith. The Lord knows best! After about 3 months (around June?), people started emerging with a resistance to the virus. There were only a few scattered cases at that time. Foods were scarce. People's hands were empty. No spring planting because of the quarantine. Although some people did sneak out to plant.

[BenRaines]

Sounds like some people have been reading too much Robin Cook.

Don't be freaking out on how bad it will be but prepare to provide for your own extended family.

We gave our children 72 hour kits for Christmas last year. One for each member of their family. Help them become better prepared.

Ben Raines

[pam]

Thanks Ben because I was seriously getting freaked out by this whole thread.

[BenRaines]

That said my wife and I have our anti-contamination suits to put on and wear for a couple of months with replaceable filters.

Ben Raines

[MrNirom]

We should we worry about our own families? It should be neighborhoods and cities that prepare together.

[pam]

Perhaps because it starts with families?

[MrNirom]

Perhaps because it starts with families?

Yes.. but it should not stop there. And from what I gather... it is.

[pam]

I understand what you are saying. Right now my #1 priority is and always will be my family. My children. Then my extended family...siblings and their families, parents etc.

[BenRaines]

I have my own group. We have often discussed where we will gather, what to bring, who has what strengths, etc. This totals about six families and their children. It doesn't work well with a bunch of educated professionals who can't change a light bulb. You need people who know how to troubleshoot a generator that won't start. How to keep the vehicles running. How to cook food without a microwave, things like that.

I think there are way too many people who don't know how to plant a seed and grow something to eat.

If, when, it comes down to it it will be an interesting time.

Ben Raines

[MrNirom]

Personally.. I hope I die before all this happens... I prepare in case I don't.

[BenRaines]

Personally it would not bother me either way. I am prepared to leave mortal existence. Not going to hurry the process but if the time comes not worried about holding on.

So many spend all their life worrying about dying that they can't enjoy living. I enjoy living every day.

Ben Raines

[threepercent]

whoa, whoa, whoa!

you mean you can COOK without a MICROWAVE?

[BenRaines]

I can, not sure my wife can.

Good thing she never comes here. :)

Ben Raines

[Bookmeister]

*...singing the Darth Vader theme song...* DOOM DOOM DOOM, DOOM DE DOOM DOOM DE DOOM.

[abqfriend]

I have always respected the LDS Church and their members for their "be prepared" way of life.

In some things we can be prepared.

In others we cannot-as we rely on society at large.

My husband is an RN as many of you know.

He is also slowly dying of pancreatic Cancer.

Two weeks ago-death almost came.

Our Picture on our profile here was taken just 1 day before that event.

He collapsed at home became unconscious-I called 911-and off to the hospital we went.

He lost 4 units of blood.

Had I not been home and heard him calling out before he collapsed-he may have died.

What we found in our local emergency room here in Albuquerque reflects emergency rooms all over the country.

-They are packed and not staffed enough.

There are bed shortages and doctor and nurse shortages.

We had to wait in the ER till they found him a bed in the hospital.

The gentleman next to us was waiting in the ER since the previous day-waiting for a heart monitored bed.

The average age of a nurse in this country is 49.

There are 4 nurses leaving the profession for 1 joining.

The population is getting older.

-such is healthcare-on an average day-the system is overloaded-and broken.

Our country is ill prepared for any pandemic. let alone a major flu outbreak.

So-besides storing food and water--and perhaps living in a rural area where the threat of catastrophic war and pandemic may be less-we can pray.

We can also work together to slowly change the healthcare system.

-Carol

[MrNirom]

We can also work together to slowly change the healthcare system.

-Carol

Unfortunately.. It will be far too late for that. The wheels of everything in this world has seem to slow down. As we approach the time of the 2nd coming.. the warnings go out.. and people will unite. Those that survive will be the ones called to continue do his work. It will be future generations that do the rebuilding.

[abqfriend]

It is never too late to work for change.

Never give up-or give in to the society.

I do not know the future or when the second coming will come.

The original 12 Apostles thought it may be in their own lifetime.

No one knows the hour or day of the Lord's return.

-until that time-be prepared-and work for change.

Never give up, never give in.

-Carol

Unfortunately.. It will be far too late for that. The wheels of everything in this world has seem to slow down. As we approach the time of the 2nd coming.. the warnings go out.. and people will unite. Those that survive will be the ones called to continue do his work. It will be future generations that do the rebuilding.

[MrNirom]

It is never too late to work for change.

Never give up-or give in to the society.

I do not know the future or when the second coming will come.

The original 12 Apostles thought it may be in their own lifetime.

No one knows the hour or day of the Lord's return.

-until that time-be prepared-and work for change.

Never give up, never give in.

-Carol

People can focus their attention on whatever they want to. God gave us the ability to discern and prioritize. There is only so much plowing one can do and there is a certain amount of time in which to do it before it becomes too late.

If you have the time... then by all means.. proceed.