Andy Haskins
NCREMT-P, SCT/P

Great info I myself and a Paramedic / Fire Captain and I agree with what you’ve written. Not only good information but a funny story! I can only imagine the conversation you had with dispatch trying to relay your predicament

BTW, thanks for all of your other great posts to assist others with the unexpected & unforeseen things that may happen on an RV outing.

One of the great things about camping is that can get away from civilization. The side effect is that you may also be too far away from technology. Cell phone coverage may be sketchy which is going to slow down the information flow from the jewelery company, or the ICE entry. Most ambulances are not going to have laptops onboard for the 1 in 10000 chance that there next patient will have a thumbdrive.

This all leads to a potential for mis-diagnosis until one has been in the ER for awhile.

If your local hospital does not have the vial/file of life, you may want to try your local fire department or ambulance service.

ICE entries are a great idea, and I would like to see more and better implementation. Many responders do not have it in their protocals to look for it, and it can often be hard to find in the phone list. On my phones I prefixed ICE by using whatever special character (such as an asterik or a dash) will bring it up towards the top of my contact list. Here is how my address book starts out:
HOME (prefixed with a space)
* Name – spouse – cell
1CE – Name – Relationship

Is interesting that I stumble into this conversation, as Jim Baker mentioned the idea of the USB devices is great. The proliferation of these devises and also the standarization of them allows us to use them anywhere even at ERs, Doctors offices, or EMTs.

My wife was diagnsed with Lupus last year and the need to have available all her medical information with her prompt me to develop a very small application that allows you to enter all your medical information and that once you insert the device into the computer medical alerts are displayed immediatelly.

If you like more information please go to my website http://WWW.DrInfoByUSB.com

Cheers, and stay healthy

Ed

USB drives sound like a great idea, but honestly, when time is of the essence, fast quick info still sounds like the best bet to me. Who are you? What is your situation? Who is your doctor? What do I, as a layperson, need to do to help you? For those of us with any sort of serious condition, something that is on our bodies 24/7 is really the best bet we have. And there is medical alert “jewelry” that is attractive. I know. I have some!

But you can’t engrave all the info you need on a piece of jewelry. And for everyone else, store copies of emergency cards everywhere people can find them. Your wallet. With your car/RV registration. Next to your medicine. Put your doctor’s business card with it. Put contact info of family members (their business or personal cards) with it. Do you have a pet? Put your vet’s and boarding kennel’s info there too. If there’s an emergency (medical or perhaps a vehicle accident), and I stumble upon you unconscious, I’m a take-action person. I do things; I can delegate others to do things. But I need all the information that you can possibly give me.

Yes, it’s a hassle to create these cards and maintain them whenever someone moves, changes cell phone numbers, email addresses, etc. I know: I carry this info with me every minute of every day that I’m not in my home. Do it anyhow.

I can’t help you out unless you help me!

Before we head south for the winter, I would always make up “business cards” for us to hand out to people we wanted to keep in contact with during our 3-5 months away from home. My father has been going with us the past 3 years and I decided to do him up a few as well.

After reading some of the suggestions on this site and after he fell this winter and broke his hip, I decided to make him up just one card just like his business card except with EMERGENCY CARD printed at the bottom, and then printing on the back what medications he takes on a regular basis and the ones he is allergic to, what types of aides he uses-dentures, hearing aides, cane, etc. I also put an emergency contact number on the back–our cell phone number as well as my brother back home’s address and phone number. Dad now carries this Emergency Card right with his Medicare Card and Insurance card. That way, should he be injured or involved in an accident where he doesn’t know his name or cannot talk, there will be pertinent information available to the emergency personnel.

I have since made up an emergency card for both my husband and myself. We never know when something can happen that we won’t be able to relay necessary emergency information.

In my father’s case, he doesn’t take lots of medications nor is he allergic to many, so there was plenty of room for two emergency contacts. If you take several meds and are allergice to several, just list those.

Hope this is a suggestion that can help someone.

Sharon

Every time I go to a new doctor they have forms to fill out on my medical history. Years ago I began entering each doctor visit in my computer along with the reason for seeing the doctor, and medications prescribed. It is easy to print out the form before heading out to the doctor’s office.

While I do not have any life-threatening medical conditions, a paramedic finding me unconscious doesn’t know that. The EMTs will want to know as much as possible about me, so rather than carrying my medical history on paper, which will be out of sight, I have loaded it onto a USB flash drive. Even the smallest of these drives have enough capacity for a complete novel, and many cost less than ten dollars. Medical people tell me that all emergency rooms have PCs the flash drive can be plugged into for instant access to your critical information. Even in the middlel of the night when your own physician can’t be contacted, EMTs will have the basic information needed to begin sorting out your condition.

Most flash drives come with a lanyard, so they can be worn around the neck or carried in a pocket or purse. However, unlike the MedicAlert bracelet, something out of sight may not be found in time to help.

I found a flash drive with a carabiner ring at a Target store ($14) so I wear it on my belt. A woman can attach it to her purse. In both cases the device is visible to EMTs. WalMart and pet stores have machines to engrave small metal tags, like dog tags, but in different shapes. On mine I etched “Baker, Medical Info”.

A retired navy doctor told me: “Treating an unconscious patient without a medical history is like searching for a single gold coin in a totally dark room. Having a medical history puts your hand on the light switch.”

The most important items include:

Information to identify you. I worry about ID theft, but when your doctor is contacted, he or she will need your date of birth to differentiate you from another patient with the same name. I do not inclued my home address.

Blood type.

Names and phone numbers of your doctors and their specialties.

Names and phone numbers of next of kin.

Medical conditions such as allergies, diabetes, heart problems.

Medications prescribed and dosage–include non prescription drugs you take, also.

Give serious thought and do your research so you can figure out what you should include in your medical history to carry with you.

Jim Baker (Former CPR/First Aid instructor)

Having been on numerous emergency calls over the years where little to none is known about the patient, a wallet card and refrigerator card are great to have.

Another pet-peeve of mine is people who have a DNR, but for aesthetic or personal reasons, and sometimes because family members think the stigma of a bracelet is embarrassing, they don’t wear them!!!

Please, take care of yourselves, do as you’re told by your doctor, call 911 when experiencing ANY medical emergency (we like to keep busy) and keep safe.

Kevin (Paramedic)
EMS & Trauma Coordinator