United States Air Force: Plants, Medicine and Temperature Objective: Know how plants can aid the survivor Describe how to identify, prepare and use plants

United States Air Force: Plants, Medicine and Temperature

Objective:Know how plants can aid the

survivorDescribe how to identify,

prepare and use plants for medicinal purposes

Know the factors causing changes in the body core temperature.

Describe the result of exposure to extreme temperatures

The Elements of SurvivingBasic Plant Terminology and

SafeguardsSpecific Remedies Body TemperatureHeat Transfer

Goals of a SurvivorThe two fundamental goals of

a survivor:

Maintain LifeReturn

And in survival medicine, the goals have not changed

Poultice: Crushed leaves or other plant parts, possibly heated, that you apply to a wound or sore either directly or wrapped in cloth or paper

Infusion: Boiled with water (think tea)

Decoction: The extract of a boiled down or simmered herb leaf or root.

Expressed Juice: Liquids or saps squeezed from plant material

Survivor Medicine: Basic Terminology

P I

D J

Diarrhea Drink tea made from the roots of

blackberries and their relatives to stop diarrhea.

You can stop diarrhea by eating white clay or campfire ashes.

Tea made from cowberry or cranberry or hazel leaves works too.

Survivor Medicine: Specific Remedies

Use only in a survival situation, not for routine use.

I

I

I

Anti-hemorrhagic. Make medications to stop

bleeding from a poultice of the puffball mushroom, plantain leaves, or most effectively from the leaves of the common yarrow root.



P

P

Antiseptics. Use to cleanse wounds, sores, or rashes.You can make them from the

expressed juice from wild onion or garlic, or chickweed leaves

You can also make antiseptics from a decoction of burdock root, mallow leaves or roots, or white oak bark.

All these medications are for external use only.


D

J

J


FeversTreat a tea made from

willow bark, an infusion of elder flowers or fruit, linden flower tea, or elm bark decoction


I

I

I


Colds and Sore Throats.Treat these illnesses with

a decoction make from either plantain leaves or willow bark.

You can also use a tea made from burdock roots, mallow or mullein flowers or mint leaves.


I

D


Aches, Pains, and Sprains.Treat with externally

applied poultices of dock, plantain, chickweed, willow bark, garlic, or sorrel.


P

P


Itching. Relieve the itch from

insect bites, sunburn, or plant poisoning rashes by applying a poultice of jewelweed or witch hazel leaves.


P

P


Sedatives. Get help in falling

asleep by brewing a tea made from mint leaves or passion flower leaves.

Gas and Cramps. Use a tea made from

carrot seeds or mint leaves to settle the stomach.


I

I


Make dyes from various plants to color clothing or to camouflage your skin.

Make fibers and cordage from plant fibers.

Make fish poison by dipping walnut hulls in a small area of water. This poison makes it impossible for the fish to breathe, but doesn’t adversely affect edibility.

Make tinder for starting fires from cattail fluff, cedar bark, or hardened sap from trees.

Make insulation by fluffing up female cattail heads or milkweed down.

Survivor Medicine: Miscellaneous

The body functions best when core temperatures range from 96ºF to 102ºF.

Climatic Conditions. Factors causing changes in body core temperature are the climatic conditions of temperature, wind, and moisture.

Temperature. As a general rule, exposure to extreme temperatures can result in considerable decreases in physical efficiency.

Wind increases the chill effect and causes dissipation of heat, and accelerates loss of body moisture.

Survivor Medicine: Temperature and You

MoisturePrecipitation, Ground

Moisture, or Immersion. Water provides an extremely effective way to transfer heat to and from the body.

This rapid heat transfer is the reason survivors must always guard against getting wet in cold environments.


Heat Transfer. There are five ways body heat can be transferred.Radiation, Conduction, Convection, EvaporationRespiration.



The New SledJanuary 15, 1984, in Chicago, at the foot of some of the tallest buildings in the world, Lake Michigan begins

to ice over. Four-year-old Brandon Smith, impatient to try out his new sled, stands on the shore and faces the icy cold winds with his father.

Suddenly the sled slips down the bank and comes to rest below on the dark ice of the lake. The child jumps from the bank and breaks through the thin film across which his father is already walking. Both fall into the icy waters. The father manages to get to the bank, but his son sinks.

The rescue team arrives within 5 minutes, but it takes the divers 15 minutes to locate the boy's body.After 20 minutes under water near 32F (0C), the child is clinically dead, his skin color is blue, there is no sign

of respiration or heart beat, and he displays the clinical symptom that signals death, dilation of the pupil. Nevertheless, the rescuers have incredible faith and do all they can. They administer artificial respiration and

repeated cardiac shocks. The oscilloscope continues to register a discouragingly straight line, which is not surprising since all known limits of survival have been far exceeded. The child has been dead for 1 hour and 30 minutes with an internal temperature of 77F (25C), when suddenly a spike appears on the electrocardiograph.

What should the rescuers do from this point?a. Spare the child the pain of living with brain damage.

b. Consult a doctor and continue to do what they are doing, but to warm the child up very slowly.c. The child’s body temperature is low, one way to increase the child’s body temperature is to put him in a

hot tub of water.d. The rescuers and Brandon’s father should all gather around him and radiate their body heat to Brandon.

United States Air Force: Plants, Medicine and Temperature

Objective:Know how plants can aid the

survivorDescribe how to identify,

prepare and use plants for medicinal purposes

Know the factors causing changes in the body core temperature.

Describe the result of exposure to extreme temperatures

Documents

United States Air Force: Plants, Medicine and Temperature Objective: Know how plants can aid the survivor Describe how to identify, prepare and use plants