You can also put this list in your computer, or
PDA so you have it with you in an emergency.
Don't forget to ask the people you want to use
as contacts, for their permission to use them. Some
people might not feel comfortable having to be relied
upon in an emergency and it’s better to know that
now!
Every six months put a reminder in your calendar
to review and update all of your emergency plans.
Once you get your own contacts in order, book some
time with your parents, kids and the other people
that you love, to make sure, in case of a medical
emergency involving them, that a hospital knows
how to contact you.
Home/Cell Phone
Clearly indicate your emergency contacts on your
main telephone speed dial. Don’t use the person's
name, use their relationship to you, ie. "parents",
"sister", "husband", "work". Then do the same thing
on your cell phone. After the London bombings a
paramedic came up with the idea of putting "ICE"
(in case of emergency) on your cell phone, with
the number of your emergency contact. You can do
that on your cell or simply put in "husband" or
"home" like you did above. Make sure you do the
same thing on your PDA, laptop or anything else
you usually carry.
Protecting Children
In the days after 9/11, 2,100 children were left
in daycare because their parents had never indicated
on their daycare emergency cards, who should be
called, if the parents were unable to get to them
to pick them up.
Choose someone you would want them to be with,
until you can get to them and make sure that information
is on the child’s emergency list and on his school’s
emergency contact card. Since children don't carry
wallets or drivers licenses, make sure that you
put Shoewallets on younger children (see information
later in this article) and that older children have
emergency information in their backpack, on their
cell phone or anything else they carry with them.
Emergency Plan
Make sure each member of the family knows what
to do in an emergency, especially if you can't get
back home, or if your home is uninhabitable.
Appoint a special place for everyone to meet away
from home, and make sure everyone knows who your
out of state point of contact is, in case you need
to relay messages to each other. Keep that plan
with the emergency lists, in an easy-to-find place.
Some families have even put their emergency plans
on wallet-sized cards, one for each member of the
family.
Safeguarding Copies of Vital Information
As victims of Hurricane Katrina found, when you
have to function after a major disaster, being without
your driver's license, birth certificate, social
security card or bank account numbers can be a huge
problem.
Make a copy of all of your and your children's
vital records and put them in bank safe deposit
box or other secure place, preferably in two different
locations. One of them should be in another city
or state if possible.
If you’re concerned about the security of hard
copy documents, scan them onto a password protected
CD, and store those instead of the hard copies.
Away From Home
Thousands of people a year end up as trauma patients
in the emergency room after being hit by a car while
crossing the street near their home or while jogging.
So carrying contact information with you while you’re
walking or jogging isn’t just a good idea, it’s
as necessary as your running shoes! Most accidents
happen just a few blocks from home, just where people
feel comfortable doing errands or going out for
a run without their driver's license or other ID.
A Shoewallet, a small lightweight wallet you attach
to your shoes, holds an emergency contact card,
and a license/credit card/key, guaranteeing your
info is always right where you need it. www.shoewallet.com/nokep
If you have a company ID badge, slip an emergency
contact card into it for those quick runs out of
the office for meetings or a snack.
Another way to make sure hospitals and emergency
personnel can find your next of kin in an emergency,
is to register your contact information free of
charge at the Next of Kin Registry. NOKR is an internationally
recognized resource designed to put you and your
family together in case you are unconscious or unable
to speak or give consent for treatment. www.nokr.org
Special Needs
If you or your family members have chronic medical
conditions, you need to make your medical history
and records easy to find in an emergency. OnFile.com
is a service that, for a yearly fee, gives you a
secure, password-protected cards that can supply
any hospital with all of your medical records in
seconds, allowing any physician to treat you with
your medical history and special needs in mind,
even if you're away from home. www.onfile.com
Cap Med's Personal Health Key is a flash drive
specifically designed to hold your entire medical
record, allowing it to be viewed in a hospital or
doctor's office. This is great for people who see
many doctors and can help keep everything in sync
among all your care providers. It also keeps patients
from having to tote around their records or explain
the same points over and over again.
For the seniors in your life, make a plan for you
and your relatives to take turns checking in with
them every other day, to make sure everything is
all right. It might also be a good idea to invest
in an emergency monitoring system with a button
they can press in case of a fall or other emergency.
For Alzheimer's patients, those with dementia or
the mentally disabled you might have to use a combination
of these tips. A Shoewallet would provide emergency
ID in a place the patient won't be able to disturb.
The Alzheimer's Association has a wonderful program
called "Safe Return, which provides a bracelet and
special tips in protecting patients who wander.
And signing the person up on the Next of Kin Registry,
gives an extra layer of protection in case they
become lost or hurt.
Making Hospitals Safer
As much as they try, hospital emergency rooms don't
always have time to call unconscious patient's next
of kin as quickly as they’d like. For hospitals
and emergency department personnel, there's a great
tool to use, to help them find emergency contact
information and make notification calls quickly
and easily – in seven steps. The Seven Steps to
Successful Notification Kit. It's being distributed
free of charge to health care professionals. To
help the effort financially, or to purchase Seven
Steps products please visit the web site: http://clik.to/7steps
.
A piece of healthcare legislation called the Next
of Kin bill (HR 2560) has just been introduced into
Congress, that will ensure hospitals will make a
reasonable effort to contact unconscious patient's
next of kin within 24 hours. For ways you can help
make this bill a law, go to http://clik.to/nok .
Laura and Janet Greenwald, are the founders of
The Next of Kin Education Project
To download a free copy of these Emergency Tips
or for more information go to: http://nokep.tripod.com/fmp.htm.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Laura_Greenwald
