Outskirts Overland Podcast

Medical Preparedness for Overlanders

• Charlie Racinowski

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Medical emergencies don't care how far you've ventured from civilization. When overlanding takes you deep into remote areas, your preparation for health concerns becomes as crucial as your recovery gear and spare parts.

Charlie explores a topic that rarely gets attention in overlanding circles but could save lives: how to prepare for adventures when you or your companions have medical limitations. This eye-opening discussion was inspired by a message from a listener named Corey, highlighting concerns that many overlanders simply never consider until faced with an emergency.

From severe allergies that require EpiPens to managing insulin that needs refrigeration, the conversation covers practical strategies for keeping everyone safe when help isn't just a phone call away. Charlie shares a startling personal experience where poison ivy in campfire smoke caused a serious reaction in a companion, demonstrating how even knowledgeable outdoors people can be caught unprepared.

The episode delves into important considerations like medication storage (keeping vital medications where they won't be accidentally dropped or left behind), redundancy planning (ensuring someone else can administer your emergency medication if you're unable), and communication (making sure your group knows about relevant medical needs before setting out).

These conversations aren't about limiting who can participate in adventures—they're about expanding our preparation to ensure everyone can explore safely. As Charlie puts it, "It would be so dumb to cause a catastrophe over something preventable." Whether you have medical considerations or travel with those who do, this episode provides valuable perspective that could prevent a wonderful adventure from turning into a nightmare scenario.

Have you thought about the medical needs of your overlanding companions? Share your own preparation strategies or experiences, and subscribe for more practical overlanding insights delivered daily.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the World of Warcraft, episode 1, the Warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft. Hey guys, it's Charlie and welcome to Outskirts Overland. It is Tuesday, the 25th. We're almost in April. Anyways, how's it going, guys? Back again, another daily one. Here we are. I got some. I'm finally starting to get some feedback, guys. I really appreciate you. Thank you for that, I super appreciate that. But the so my friend Corey wrote in and I'm gonna switch it a little bit. But he wrote in and said, essentially, you know, like overlanding with potentially medical limitations, and I'm also gonna spin off of that and say, hey, overlanding with friends that maybe have medical limitations, limitations potentially. So, for instance, when I go out, you know like there's a potential that somebody is allergic to bees, somebody is allergic to poison ivy. Um, one of my friends is blind in one eye, so it's extremely important that he has eye pro. We probably also don't want to put him in situations where affecting his eye, you know, as far as like we probably shouldn't have him doing something that that's that's potentially going to compromise the one eye he has to where now he can no longer see at all Right, or do you have? Or also knowing, like, with some redundancy, like does somebody have diabetes and they need to have their insulin and something cool, like is there a backup plan If what they have doesn't work? Is there, do you guys have a strategy If something happens along those lines? You know poison Ivy and you know and and and insulin is one, but the really real to us is the. Is someone with that's blind in one eye? It's really real to us. And then poison ivy is a big one, for sure.

Speaker 1:

Allergies can also be a big one, you know. Or even the potential of somebody being allergic to something and going into like anaphylaxis and this is not a first aid podcast, but it's it's it's just, it's more of a preparedness. You know, in general, like they're really expensive, but I think having an EpiPen probably two amongst the group at least is a super important thing to have just for allergy purposes, cause nothing is more and I carry an EpiPen, nothing is more. Like the whole point of our hobby is to get far away and there'd probably be nothing worse than somebody, just, you know, really being in a bad, a real, real bad way because you don't have an EpiPen. You know you don't have. You don't have the stuff you need to potentially just get somebody back. And when my friend, corey brought this up I was like man, that is such a good topic that I would have never even thought, like that would have never crossed my mind as a topic to have. So shout out to Corey, really really appreciate the topic, like because these are things that these are real things that we need to be paying attention to.

Speaker 1:

You know what happens like even in the event, like it's, it's worth being cautious and prepared, like you know. And again, it's not necessarily I'm not talking first aid, but like just just basic stuff that could happen, but like just just basic stuff that could happen. You know, the whole point of our hobby is getting as far. You know, not as far, but getting very far away. And again, I now have an iphone 16, I have a zolio, so satellite communication is a thing, but what if you can't make it? You know what if you can't make it back in time and somebody is get stung by a bee and is allergic to it or somebody?

Speaker 1:

You know you guys come together and cook food together and somebody puts something in food. You know Stacy put something in food that Sarah's allergic to and now we got a situation. You know, because I've never even been a part in in this I have kids and they're in school and this is a huge topic in schools but I've never even it has literally never even crossed my mind like what if you're as adults, somebody's allergic to something. You guys are at a potluck of some type or you guys do a like I'm gonna cook this night, you're gonna cook that night, you're gonna cook the next night. I've never been involved where it wasn't just we're making chili, like nobody's ever been. Like can you break down the ingredients? You know cause somebody might be allergic to something or somebody might have a problem with something. Or, for instance, like just knowing like for the individual with you know that's blind in one eye. We got to make sure we're protecting that eye from him. So we're not, we're not going to put him in charge of, you know, using the chainsaw.

Speaker 1:

You know like just just kind of more of being acclimated to the group you're with, the people you're with, or even your own potential limitations and being prepared for those. You know like even I could think of it like and I know I have a lot of international listeners so and I don't know fully the context of like medications and the medical how the medical system works there. But I do know in America a lot of people are on blood thinners and blood thinners are potential. You know, if you're somebody that's using an ax and you're on blood thinners, you cut yourself. You know they make stuff like and again, I'm not trying to make this about like what you should carry for first aid. I'm just talking about like what you should be prepared for or your specific needs due to your specific potential medical physical limitations.

Speaker 1:

So like, for instance, if you're someone that's on blood thinners and you're out in the back country and you're sawing stuff and cutting stuff, like it'd probably be very I would probably have like a decent type of pressure dressing to where you could pack a wound or put something tight on a wound. A tourniquet is a great thing, but I don't think just because you got a cut you want to tourniquet an arm or something you know, because the potential of of that getting amputated for being tourniqueted too long and again, I'll get way into my knowledge on this another time, but like just just again, like if you're on blood thinners, I probably have some type of way of of potentially putting a dressing on that wound to try and not necessarily stop the bleed I mean, it's not an arterial bleed but you will bleed more on blood thinners so I think that's super important If you're on blood thinners. So I think that's super important If you're excuse me, like I said, if you're somebody with allergies and I don't mean allergies like ragweed, I mean like you're alert, physically allergic to something like in a bad way then I think it's very, very, very, very, very, very useful to have an EpiPen and um and know how to administer it. You know, um, epipens are kind of expensive these days and they they do expire somewhat regularly, but you know, it's kind of like. It's kind of like if life jackets were expensive and you're, and you're somebody that is on a boat, a lot like it's the difference between and you can't swim. It's kind of like is an EpiPen worth potentially your life over something dumb Like getting stung accidentally, like you could get stung accidentally? You know what I mean.

Speaker 1:

So I think, just paying attention to what your potential limitation may or may not be and being prepared not only being prepared yourself, but being prepared for your own known limitation, making the group or people you're with like, like, even if it's not a group like your passenger, making them aware of your physical limitation and needs, and also being prepared yourself and and potentially even you know, volun, telling someone I like the term voluntold to be like the secondary you know. Hey, could you also bring this just in case, like, because what what I could see happening is say I am, say I'm, let's, just bees is just what comes to mind, freaking, the easiest one to use it for this analogy but say I'm allergic to bees and I have an epi pen, but I get stung by a bee and you don't know where my epi pen is and my throat's closing and my face is swelling or my eyes are swelling shut, et cetera, et cetera. That epi pen's not really as good for me because I don't know that I can get to it. My eyes have swollen shut, I can hardly breathe. So it's important that somebody that's not allergic to bees probably also has an EpiPen.

Speaker 1:

You know, you don't want to be the one that's prepared just for yourself, and then you're in a situation where you yourself couldn't even facilitate your own aid. So I think that's definitely worth, worth the thought at least. Um, because let's be real here, guy, guy, like guys, like they're, people have stuff going on, like people have stuff and that shouldn't deter you from going. But you definitely should be thinking through it, like have some forethought, like, oh, you know, we could sit here and think like, oh, I need a tire patch kit, you know, I need tools, I need spare parts. But like I have never, ever, ever even thought like, do my friends have any medical, like needs that maybe we need to, that maybe we should be aware of? I never even thought of it and when Corey brought up I was like, dude, that is not only a great topic, that's something I should implement, you know, I mean people offer that information rarely, but you know it's people bring their kids with us Like and, and we take kids with us. Like different people will take people's kids like, oh, hey, we're going to go down to the lake and go fishing with so-and-so, you know, and their parents are still at the lake.

Speaker 1:

Like it's definitely worth knowing if they're like real allergic to something. And this may sound like kind of like a real, like I don't know hover parent type thing, but like it's a real thing and we should pay attention to it. Like it, it it's such a it would be such a dumb thing to cause like a real legitimate catastrophe, like it's. So it would be so dumb, at least in my opinion, if I got myself in like a really bad situation, if somebody got really hurt over something. So in my opinion, just like I don't know dumb, it's just it would be dumb. It's just not that hard to go. Hey, you know, what are you cooking that with? Or hey, I'm allergic to this, I'm allergic to that Cause.

Speaker 1:

I remember when I was in the military and again I go back to the military a lot but if you have any allergies you wear a red dog tag so that it's known you have those allergies. So somebody doesn't administer something that you're allergic to, potentially medically, or they know, if something's happening, what the potential cause of that might be, and everybody's got their blood type on them and stuff. But, like, even in the military, like you don't want to be, you don't want to take one problem and make it a worse problem due to an allergy. You don't want an allergy to be the problem and you're treating something different. You know, even in in in, uh, you know, even in a combat scenario, like being allergic to something is, you know, being allergic, just being allergic to something that that's known and then essentially getting hurt or even worse, you know, passing away due to a known allergy would be about the freaking dumbest thing that could happen, like be be ahead of that. You know, and I do go with groups Sometimes, I go by myself sometimes and I am lucky enough to where the only allergies I have are medications that aren't available to me and you know, openly to have in my truck or anything.

Speaker 1:

So I mean, I'm pretty well good to go. I don't have allergies to bees, wasps, scorpions, you know whatever Poison ivy, poison oak and I bring up poison ivy and poison oak because there's been a scenario in my life where I have been with someone and they're very allergic to poison ivy and somehow, some way, there was some poison ivy on something that we burned in a fire and then that poison ivy got in said individual's lungs, our throat, excuse me, throat, lungs, whatever. That was a bad deal, that was like a super bad deal and we knew they were allergic to poison ivy. I don't even know how that occurred, like I don't recall it happening, but based on the reaction and then the medical reaction, like that is what happened. Um, and they, they were I wouldn't say they're severely allergic to it, like they weren't gonna, but when it got in their throat and stuff, that was a bad deal. So you may be like, oh, not a big deal, I'll just look for it. Like that happened. Like that happened, I lived that. That's a thing that happened.

Speaker 1:

So it's something to definitely think about. Never in a million years did I think like that, would like aerosolize it. But hey, man, it did and that's real. So you know, you just think about it like it again, it's not like a huge deal. This isn't a call to action like do this or everybody's screwed, like, but it is something to think about. That I I mean, I guess I'm aware of it to some extent but it's not like something that's been at the front of my mind. You know, thinking like, oh yeah, like gotta make sure I got that. I'm more like gotta make sure I got food. You know, gotta make sure I brought my recovery gear, you know, just just other stuff, and it's really not life or death potentially.

Speaker 1:

So I think that, paying attention and thinking through your own limitations, I could see it being your own limitation that you're not prepared for just because you don't think about it. You know, like, you just might not think about it, but you may be so far and so long away from any way of getting aid that you need to be able to self-administer some stuff for yourself. In case that happens, you know, like, and then again I'll bring it back. Like, you also need to know the limitations of the people you're with. Like, just like, whether it's you know, if you're with somebody and they are diabetic and their insulin needs to stay cold, it'd probably be best to not just have one person with a fridge or a cooler full of ice, you know, and if it's you that has insulin, it's probably not the smartest to only have one way of keeping that cool. You know, have two ways of keeping that cool, just in case, you know, because that's expensive to you and you need it. You like, literally need it, and prescriptions aren't based around the fact that like, oh, I messed up and ruined it. Like, you get it based on a time frame and dosage based on days. So, like, if you're not prepared and you ruin something, like, you're not going to just be able to be like oh yeah, like it doesn't necessarily work that way.

Speaker 1:

So making sure your medications are handled. If you take any medications that are, like really, really, really necessary, making sure you have you're prepared to have those protected. Have them in places where you're not going to accidentally drop them out of the car. You know, like say, you have a medication that's pill form and you need to. You need it, like, you have to have it right. Don't have it in something where the potential to just drop it is going to be easy. Like.

Speaker 1:

Keep it somewhere where, like for me, I have some medications that are pretty important to me. I keep them in the center console and I take them in the truck, take the medication and put the bottle back in the center console and close it. I am never in a situation where, like, I step out of the truck to take it and and and again I do this. But I never thought in the world to like pass that along, cause I know a lot of people like you get up in the morning, you brush your teeth, you've got all your stuff outside the. You know you're outside, like outside the tent, brushing your teeth, doing whatever you could super easily drop something and just, you know, be aloof and just leave without it. So I keep my medication separate. I keep it in the center console. Again, open the console, grab the stuff out, put it back in, close it. My EpiPen is kind of the same way, Like it's not in the easiest to access place but it's in a place where I'm not going to lose it either. So those are super freaking important things to consider.

Speaker 1:

And, man, at least in america, like a lot of people are on meds, like a lot of people are on something you know like and and and I couldn't tell you what any single person that I go with is on, or if it's, or if it's, you know, detrimental to their like, potentially detrimental if they don't have it. And if it is like and I'm not saying I need to know everybody's business, but just in the instance you're going on a long trip, like just having that knowledge would be helpful. You know, thinking through that yourself would be helpful If you're taking kids, considering that your kids aren't adults and could get themselves into a situation like they're allergic to something being prepared for that helpful situation, like they're allergic to something being prepared for that helpful, all of those things you know would be just extremely you know, good thought processes to have. And then knowing the limitations of the people in your group, like if you get up to something like I know, for instance, our friend that's that's that's somewhat vision impaired. Like he's really good at advocating for himself, like, and we understand what's going on, but like there's also instances where a trail is so narrow it's kind of sketchy for him, you know, with depth perception and stuff, and sometimes he does go a little slower just because of it. Like, not like oh, he's going slow and this sucks. Like it's just like because we know we're like cool, like we got it. Like we're good, like everybody's good if you need a spotter over something the rest of us didn't need a spotter over cool, like that's a known thing that you need to know. Um, like it's important, like because otherwise we could be on the radio bashing somebody and again, I'm not trying to be mr like you know everybody's feelings like, but just like knowing the potential of like there's a physical reason that this is this way or there's a physical reason we need to know the ingredients. There's a reason why we need an epi pen. There's a reason why we need something to keep stuff cool, depending on what they have, what's going on. That all is extremely important and it's not camper gear. Like it's not camper gear, it's not overlanding gear, but it is the person driving the vehicle wants to stay breathing. You need the stuff.

Speaker 1:

So I think that's an extremely good topic and I can't even articulate it to the extent that it would go, just because I'm only thinking of things I even know about. But all you guys that listen like you may be the person that has something that I've never heard of I mean, just make sure you are thinking about it. I guess would be like, like I'm trying to advocate the thought process here. Like, think about it, think about telling people about it. That's like you need to put it on your Facebook status, but you need to tell the people you're going with so that they know. Like and the people that are going with don't be like okay, who cares? Like you guys might be gone for three, four, five, 20 days. Like knowing that would be important.

Speaker 1:

Also, think of the think of the case like you are going somewhere for two weeks. Like maybe you're the person that's going somewhere for two weeks and you normally get your prescriptions at the local hospital, like being prepared, with your doctor, to like maybe have those sent to a Walmart or a Walgreens because along your travels you might be able to pick up, pick it up there. You know, like never in the world that I even, you know like never. I never thought, I mean, even right now, I wouldn't say I've been gone for a month before, and it never crossed my mind to make sure I even had a month worth of my stuff. I mean, I guess I've just been one, I've been ignorant to have been lucky, but that's like and maybe everybody else is like Charlie duh. But I mean, here I am, I'm like, yeah, I mean, yes, duh, but I didn't do it.

Speaker 1:

So I got to at least say something about it. You know, you know my friends got X, y or Z and we got them playing. You know doing this or that Like duh. Well, yeah, duh, if you know, but you might not know. So make sure you guys are communicating that if you have some medical needs, and hopefully nothing needs to happen with it, but it would be good for everybody to know, in case you know, and hopefully nothing needs to happen with it, but it'd be good for everybody to know, in case you know hell. Even in the case like you forget to take something that's really important or you're forgetful about it, letting somebody else know like hey, can you set an alarm to to make sure I take this thing Cause it's kind of important stuff like that Like it would be extremely helpful, not so much talk about like overlanding, but because we're overlanding and the idea is to get far away and the idea is to enjoy it and the idea is to hopefully mitigate catastrophe you know that'd be one that's preventable in some cases Injury not so much, but like if it's known and you're knowingly going to be having this scenario, like it's something that's extremely preventable.

Speaker 1:

And to think about so kind of a weird topic today, not weird, not weird at all. I mean it's such a good topic Like and again, I just it never even crossed my mind to talk about it, necessarily even really think about it. So that's uh, again, I'm trying to be here to be educational and and I want to be available to you guys. So when I get a topic like this and I'm like holy crap, never even crossed my mind, I'm going to talk about it Like I can see the benefit in it. So that's where you guys, that's what you guys got today.

Speaker 1:

Tomorrow will be a new day. I've got uh, again, this is somebody else's topic that I just kind of ran with. Like I spun it a little, but I kind of ran with it, and if you guys have anything that comes to mind for you that you think isn't being discussed in the space, hit me up. I'll talk about it, I'll bring it up, I'll give you a shout out. Like this is from Corey, like Corey gave me this idea. I'm not here to make any benefit off anybody else, but because I have platform, I'll talk about your topic. Um, yeah, so anyways, guys, have a good day. Think about that a little bit. It's a man, it's still. I don't want to keep saying it and saying it and saying it, but man, I just want to think about it. I will correct myself and do that more from now on. Anyways, catch you guys later. See you tomorrow. Have a good day. Taco Tuesday. Get some tacos. Talk to you later.