I have carried around different emergency information for years on Emily in the event of...and just a couple of years ago one of our hospitals that we frequent came out with an “emergency information form” for children with special health-care needs that essentially touched on everything I carried with me for years, but it’s done for you and it’s proven very helpful when visiting all the different specialists and doctors and in different emergency or crisis situations.
I thought this could be helpful for other people and not only for your children but for yourselves, for your family members-whether they have special health-care needs or not. It’s a good practice because you never know what situations might arise in your lives and also it is a conversation to start to have with your family so in the event of an emergency or a crisis situation everyone knows the game plan. (With the holiday season approaching this can be a great time at family gatherings to make sure all these things are in place)
Here are my top tips:
1: ask your hospital if they have an emergency information form to plug your information into!
(Info such as: name- date of birth -primary language -male or female -your home address -parent or guardian and your primary care team and phone numbers -closest emergency room and hospital -any allergies medical or otherwise- any medications that you take -any diagnosis or baseline physical exams -And finally any emergency management things like problems or treatment considerations and dates - Be sure to have signatures on the forms!)
This is something you can easily type up for yourselves to carry with you but it is nice to have it documented for you or a loved one’s care management plan in your medical records.
2: have that conversation about being a donor for eye, tissue, and organs & also what to do in event of an emergency.
3:Know your Blood Type ( Again your primary care team can most likely provide this for you or if you are a regular donor you may already know what your type is our friends over at NCBB in Nebraska can easily help you figure out what your blood type is)
All of these may be challenging and difficult conversations to have with families, however; it’s a lot easier to do so in a non-crisis situation than it is to do at that point and hopefully you won’t have to use it, but it is something that you can carry with you.
4: my last step is to make multiple copies in a bright color and keep it on your person either laminated or in a ziplock with your child, at their school, at the facility and anyone else that might care for them so everyone has the same information.
Again this has proven to be helpful countless times for us as a family and so much easier to hand over in any situation rather than having to come up with or remember all of this on your own.
