I recently completed my basic training to join Portland’s Neighborhood Emergency Team program. Each of us is expected to have a certain set of gear ready to go in case of deployment. It breaks down into a few categories:
- my official ID card with handy orange lanyard
- personal protective equipment (PPE):
- hard hat
- safety vest
- knee pads
- work gloves
- goggles
- N95 mask
- search and rescue gear:
- flashlight
- 12” pry bar
- 4 in 1 tool for shutting off utilities
- marker (I need to add a lumber crayon for writing on buildings and colored tape for triage)
- other tools:
- knife (I have a Leatherman Skeletool)
- duct tape
- nylon cord
- communication:
- safety whistle
- pad of paper
- clipboard
- pencils
- a waterproof notebook because we’re in Portland
- AM/FM radio for picking up emergency broadcasts
- FRS/GRSM radio that also does weather (with spare batteries – except I keep forgetting to actually put those in the bag)
- medical supplies:
- I have the Sportsman Steelhead kit from Adventure Medical Kits which is pretty bare minumum, but I carry extra gloves and I’m going to add some more supplies like gauze, menstrual pads (cheap, sanitary, and super absorbant), quick clot, and a tourniquet. Glucose tabs for diabetics would be smart too.
- water and a snack
I’m looking for a new backpack because right now I have all this in a very basic school bag from Amazon. It’s not the worst but I do have to take things out to get to stuff at the bottom.
Day-to-day when I’m in an urban area I have a much simpler (and lighter!) set of things.
- my phone
- whistle and dust mask
- random band-aids and some alcohol wipes
- nitrile gloves
- tea and Emergen-C packets
- Benadryl, Sudafed, Aleve, and some vitamins
- water and a snack
- a flashlight on my keychain
- a bandana (when I remember to return it after washing)
Given that stabbings are on my mind a lot lately I’m going to throw in some extra pads next time I get to the store. A lot of medical situations can be handled with gloves, water (for cleaning wounds, cooling burns, and dehydration), and a phone, though, so that’s kinda the bare minimum.
I’ve been thinking about carrying a spare radio with me more often, but right now I’m inclined to leave it at home unless I have a specific reason to think the cell networks will go down (like the 1 million extra people expected to visit Oregon for the eclipse in August who are all going to want to call their friends.) I would think about bringing the radio if I’m headed to a protest.
That’s it right now! I’ll update when I decide what backpack to go with.