Emergency Information, Medical History, Medical Directives

danemayer

Well-known member
Wednesday morning while at Chatfield State Park outside Denver, my wife woke me at 2AM - she was having a heart attack. This was totally unexpected as she had received a clean bill of health on her heart 3 years ago. The good news is that she was discharged from the hospital this afternoon (Friday) and is expected to have a full recovery. It looks like there was no permanent damage to her heart, even though her left descending artery was completely blocked.

The reason for this post is to pass along something that turned out to be helpful. Before leaving on our 9 week trip, I had prepared an emergency information folder to keep in the glovebox of our truck. As soon as the first responders showed up, I got her medical history so they would have a complete list of medications, past treatment, allergies, etc. At the hospital, this shortened the medical history interview to a few seconds. They copied the card and attached it to her record. It came into play immediately when the ER Doctor ordered Demerol and 2 nurses piped up that she's allergic to Demerol. The Doctor had been told this less than 5 minutes earlier, but apparently forgot.

The kit also had copies of Medical Directives, Medical Power of Attorney, and Durable Power of Attorney which the ER staff copied. Fortunately, those papers didn't come into play.

Anyway, I'm glad I didn't have to try to remember her list of medications, allergies, and history at 3 AM in the middle of an emergency, so I pass this along. Perhaps it'll be a help to others.

Side note: I was very impressed at the response time after I called 911 from my cell phone. A park ranger showed up in less than 5 minutes and the EMS team was less than 5 minutes behind him. A pleasant surprise.
 

SilverRhino

Well-known member
Sorry to hear of your wifes problem, glad that she is ok!

Thanks for sharing the information......I am making up a folder tomorrow to go in the truck. I should have thought of this on my own.......Have always traveled with health papers and medical info on the dogs.......Just not the DW and I.......go figure!
 

TandT

Founding Utah Chapter Leaders-Retired
Glad everything is going to be okay.
Thanks for the good tip. I will try to be more organized, in case the unexpected happens.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Whoa, that's scary. We're glad Ruth Ann is OK. Kinda gets close to home when it's someone you've had the pleasure to chat with at the rally. Give her our regards.
 

2psnapod1

Texas-South Chapter Leader-Retired
Glad to hear things turned out ok. Thank you for the very valuable tip...we will be putting together something similar as well.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Dane,

Sorry to hear what happened and thank you for sharing the story and the tips. Good for everyone to do.

Jim
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
Glad your DW is doing well. I had a concern that if we were involved in an accident the emergency services would not know where we are camping and who all was in our family, DW and Fir Kid.

I started a post with similar information that is used by the emergency facilities called Yellow Dot. Here is the thread.. Yellow dot

Here is what I am doing now. I have spoken with a few Firemen at different fire stations and they thought it would be a good idea.

I have a set of these on our shoulder belts sold by Mac the fire guy.
Seat Belt Straps.jpg

In my Glove box I have an envelope that has ICE on the outside of it.
Inside the strap, there is a form and a slot for it to be inserted, which in addition has a note to look for the ICE envelope in the glovebox. I have some of the same informtion as the OP in the envelope.

A page in the envelope has a photo of DW & I, one of Trevor. It says a map showing where our trailer is parked and a photo of our rig. It gives our doctors names, and number, DOB for both of use, cell phone of our daughter, it has some medical history and medicine that we take.

The reason I did this is, we saw a very bad accident on the highway. If I were in a similar accident and the DW and Trevor was in the trailer they would not know where she was. The only way to contact her would be the ICE Wife on my Cell phone but if the phone signal where she was could not pick up a signal, at least the would know about her and where she might be.

Anyway, it may not be the best way, at least I have a way to pass on emergency information. Yellow Dot on Face Book ADECA

BC
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
A couple of years ago I bought a flashdrive which has a program on it with a form for medical info. Fill out the form and carry the flashdrive. It can be put in any computer and the medical info is accessable. I carry it most of the time. There are also aps available for your smart phone that will do the same thing.
 

Willym

Well-known member
Good post Dan. I'm glad that Ruth is better.

I'm a First Responder at our winter park in Texas. When people sign up to the First Responder system they are given forms to complete for medical history, meds etc. These are kept in red envelopes and are left in a visible location for First Responder use if required, and for accompanying them to hospital.
One has to remember to keep them updated when meds change etc.
 
Top