In Case of Emergency
/Long, long ago I created an IN CASE OF EMERGENCY paper my husband and I carry in our wallets in front of our driver’s licenses. It includes information on our medical conditions, the medications we take on a routine basis, our allergies, as well as contact information for our primary care physician and one of our daughters. I did this in response to a trip to the emergency room where I realized I couldn’t answer the hospital personnel’s questions in some of these areas. In 2014, that paper was a godsend. We were in the emergency room as my husband was having a stroke. I was able to turn over that paper to the nurse and continue to focus my attention on my husband rather than try to remember such important information in a time of crisis…which is nearly impossible!
Over the years, I have updated the paper to keep the information current, although I pray we never have to use it again.
As I’ve gotten older and taken on caregiver responsibilities for elderly family members, I’ve found that long-ago lesson applies to the caregiver role as well. Helping to care for an aunt and, most recently, my father-in-law, it didn’t take long to realize I needed to prepare the same type of sheet. In fact, it became even more important because there were various family members providing care and multiple doctors because of complex medical conditions. In this case, I added the names of all the doctors to the paper with the doctor’s specialty and contact information. Taking an extra copy of the paper to each doctor appointment always made things easier on the patient and the caregiver, and the doctor’s office appreciated the organized information as well.
If you do not already have a medical inventory with contact information, I encourage you to make one and keep it updated. Speaking from experience, having easy access to this information during an emergency can be a huge relief.
- Juli Erhart-Graves, CFP®, Worley Erhart-Graves Financial Advisors
This article was included in the Worley Erhart-Graves Quarterly Newsletter. Download the printable version here.
