Making Your Emergency Medical Alert Document

   

 If you have an illness or disability that could affect emergency medical care, it's extremely important that you have a document with emergency instructions with you at all times.  (This is in addition to a concise medical history, a clearly visible medical ID bracelet/necklace, and any medications or supplies you may need.) 

    What those emergency instructions look like will depend on your situation, but there are some things that are universally relevant:

    1. Make sure the emergency instructions are easily accessible.  If you are having an emergency, you want to be able to get to them quickly.  If you are incapacitated, you also want someone else, perhaps even a stranger, to know to look for them.  I keep my emergency instructions in my purse in this highly visible pouch (mine is bright red) with my medical history and emergency supplies.  I also have these keychains on my purse and a seat belt sleeve if I'm traveling by car.  I have a second kit for my caregiver to carry with them as a backup.  

    2. Include eye-catching font size and/or a relevant graphic that signifies the document is for emergencies. 

    3. Include your name and emergency contacts.

    4. Include your relevant conditions, what an medical emergency may look like, what precautions you may have, and care instructions.

    5. If your emergency care includes something like giving injections or placing you in the recovery position, you can include a QR code that leads to a video tutorial.  Additionally, print out instructions and keep them with your emergency medical supplies.  

    6. I always find it polite to add a little thank you to the person(s) who are saving your life.  :) 

Here is a template that you can use to create your own emergency medical document.  You can copy and paste this into whatever word processing program you use and then personalize it.  Here's a preview:

If you are wondering what conditions or situations may warrant carrying around a document like this, here is a (non-exhaustive) list with some ideas:

-Diabetes 

-Autism

-Adrenal Insufficiency (Addisons)

-Asthma

-PTSD

-Anxiety Disorders

-Allergies

-Epilepsy

-Narcolepsy

-Dysautonomia

-Dementia

-Hyper/hypo Periodic Paralysis

-Pregnancy (especially if high risk)

-Many Psychiatric Disorders 

-Any condition with range of motion precautions or restrictions

-Any condition that restricts breathing 

-Any condition with a medication pump

-Any condition that requires life sustaining medication

-Anyone with MRI precautions (aneurysm clip, implanted devices, etc.)

-Any condition that required intubation precautions (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Down Syndrome, Hx cervical spinal fusion)

Need help creating a medical history document to go with your emergency instructions?  Check out this post!