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PostPosted: 12/22/09 3:59 am • # 1 
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We were talking about the great value of medical ID bracelets in chat last night ~ this goes further, and sounds like a great idea ~ in the meantime, hopefully those of you who carry cellphones know about "ICE" ~ in your cellphone's phone book, under "ICE", list who to contact in case of emergency ~ all police, firemen, paramedics, and ambulance services know to check there ~ Sooz


'Invisible bracelet' for emergency health alerts?

Associated Press


WASHINGTON - Emergency health alerts for the Facebook generation? The nation's ambulance crews are pushing a virtual medical ID system to rapidly learn a patient's health history during a crisis - and which can immediately text-message loved ones that the person is headed for a hospital.

The Web-based registry, invisibleBracelet.org, started in Oklahoma and got a boost this fall when the state's government made the program an optional health benefit for its own employees.

Now the iBracelet attempts to go nationwide as the American Ambulance Association next month begins training its medics, who in turn will urge people in their communities to sign up.

For $5 a year, basic health information and up to 10 emergency contacts are stored under a computer-assigned PIN number that's kept on a wallet card with your driver's license, a key fob or a sticker on an insurance card.

It's a complement to the medical alert jewelry that people with diabetes, asthma and a host of other conditions have used for decades to signal their needs in an emergency.

And it comes as the American College of Emergency Physicians is trying to determine just what information is the most critical for medics and ER doctors to find when you're too ill or injured to answer questions, so that competing emergency-alert technologies don't miss any of the essentials.

"Too many times, we don't have the information to help us treat the patients correctly," says James Finger, president of the American Ambulance Association, the largest network of emergency medical service providers.

Not everyone who should wear a medical alert bracelet does, costing EMS workers precious minutes determining, for example, if someone's incoherent because he's having a stroke or because he's a diabetic with dangerously low blood sugar.

Even someone too healthy for those bracelets may have some condition that could help emergency workers make a faster diagnosis, avoid a medication reaction - or track down their next-of-kin faster.

The question is how to make sensitive medical data easily accessible to emergency workers without violating federal health-privacy laws. Options range from simple bracelets to pricier key-chain flash drives, implanted microchips - and call-centers that relay stored health records and notify relatives when an alarm or medic's phone call activates the system.

Rapid family notification is crucial, says Stephen Williamson, president of Oklahoma's Emergency Medical Services Authority - and one reason his EMS provider recently trained to use the new Invisible Bracelet.

A medical alarm necklace Williamson bought for his mother promptly called an ambulance when she fell, but didn't alert him as promised until 11 hours after he learned of her hospitalization on his own.

And when his wife suffered a brain aneurysm a year ago, Williamson called 911 and got her in the ambulance - only to freeze, unable to remember how to contact their daughters.

"I'm in the business of emergencies. ... But I just stared at my phone. I couldn't figure out for, honest to God, five minutes it seemed like, 'What do I do?'" Williamson recalls. "I'd much rather have known that's being handled and left for the hospital."

Enter the iBracelet. Only authorized medics can access a Web site that reads the PIN and opens the health info they use to treat. Then, with a push of a button, the medic chooses an area hospital for transport. Simultaneously, the up to 10 people listed to be notified by text or e-mail get that message.

EMS providers couldn't show data yet on how well it works. But nearly 100,000 people have enrolled since the service opened in Oklahoma in April, says Noah Roberts of the Tulsa-based Docvia health software company, and the University of Oklahoma is preparing to use it for a campus registry.

The ultimate goal is an electronic medical record for everyone, available no matter where they are, says Dr. Andrew I. Bern, an ACEP board member and emergency physician in south Florida.

That's years away. Until then, ACEP is preparing recommendations for the most important information to overcome what Bern calls "the limited real estate" on emergency bracelets and wallet cards, and the problem of outdated information when people forget to update their records.

No one's immune: 120 million people needed emergency care last year, Bern notes. So in choosing whichever of today's emergency-information systems most fits your lifestyle, he stresses to keep it up to date.

"You have to be a partner in this whole process, gathering the information," he says. "If it's not current, it's not that useful."

EDITOR's NOTE - Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091221/ap_ ... e_bracelet



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PostPosted: 12/22/09 5:19 am • # 2 
Until something is widely available, something everyone can do that's simple and will even help during routine doctor visits is to write a list of current prescription medications you're taking and stick it in your wallet. If you stop taking a prescription, cross it off. Even your next of kin/emergency contact person may not know enough of your medical history or current medications to be helpful in an emergency situation (or they may know but run into a mental block trying to recall it all when they find out you're in the hospital unable to communicate for yourself). And, as people get older and that list gets longer, it's also easy to just forget something you're taking. If you regularly take a particular non-prescription medication, add that to the list too. This will allow someone to check quickly for drug interactions if they're about to treat you, and also should give a good picture of the current conditions you have. It's low-tech, but effective, and you can immediately update it when needed.

But, I'm glad you posted this thread. It reminded me that I need to update the info in my wallet. My bf changed jobs and cell phones recently, so I need to change those numbers. He knows how to contact my next-of-kin, but I want him to be first contacted to make any emergency decisions on my behalf before they figure out how to reach the dippy next-of-kin. I still need to sit down with a lawyer and get a medical power of atty assigned to him in case of emergencies, because I REALLY don't want the dippy relatives making any medical decisions on my behalf should the need arise. They mean well, but are not very bright.


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PostPosted: 12/22/09 6:16 am • # 3 
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Calluna, you don't need an attorney to draft the POA ~ if you go to any large office supply/stationary store, it should have preprinted, fill-in-the-blanks POAs for health care ~ I'm most familiar with Cole Legal Forms, but there might be others as well ~ it's very important you get the form that is explicitly for your state, as there are differences state-to-state ~ be sure you read it carefully and then just follow the directions ~ i.e., if it calls for a notary or witnesses, be sure you sign the form in front of whoever ~ once the form is filled in, signed by you, and notarized or witnessed as required, be sure you give a copy to whomever you are giving the power to ~ you should give a copy to your primary care physician for your permanent record, and take a copy with you if you enter the hospital for any reason ~ it's a good idea to talk to an attorney if there is something specific you want to add ~ I think, at a minimum, your bf [or whomever] and your primary care physician should get original signed copies ~ I'll try to confirm that with someone in my former office ~ POAs have replaced living wills in many states ~ and you can also pick up preprinted, fill-in-the-blanks POAs for personal possessions if you don't have a regular will or estate plan ~

Sooz


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PostPosted: 12/22/09 10:51 am • # 4 
In NZ you because we have Universal health system for all we are given a number that relates to you alone and can be acessed any where in the country and it comes up with your medical history your own Doctor blood group next of kin etc. You do have to make sure that you carry the number with you at all times,you can still be found through name and address but would take a bit longer to do that.

I think in Holland you are given a number at birth and stays with you for every goverment thing you need taxes,passports, etc.


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PostPosted: 12/22/09 11:22 am • # 5 
sooz08 wrote:
Calluna, you don't need an attorney to draft the POA ~ if you go to any large office supply/stationary store, it should have preprinted, fill-in-the-blanks POAs for health care ~ I'm most familiar with Cole Legal Forms, but there might be others as well ~ it's very important you get the form that is explicitly for your state, as there are differences state-to-state ~ be sure you read it carefully and then just follow the directions ~ i.e., if it calls for a notary or witnesses, be sure you sign the form in front of whoever ~ once the form is filled in, signed by you, and notarized or witnessed as required, be sure you give a copy to whomever you are giving the power to ~ you should give a copy to your primary care physician for your permanent record, and take a copy with you if you enter the hospital for any reason ~ it's a good idea to talk to an attorney if there is something specific you want to add ~ I think, at a minimum, your bf [or whomever] and your primary care physician should get original signed copies ~ I'll try to confirm that with someone in my former office ~ POAs have replaced living wills in many states ~ and you can also pick up preprinted, fill-in-the-blanks POAs for personal possessions if you don't have a regular will or estate plan ~

Sooz

I don't trust those generic documents from office supply stores to be truly legally binding and written right (I've seen a lot of landlords use the generic leases and they have a bunch of problems with them, and I think this is more important than a lease). WV has weird laws when it comes to wills, estates, etc., so I definitely want an attorney's advice to make sure I get what I really want. Especially since I want to take away the authority from next of kin and give it to a boyfriend, I want to be sure it's something that'll really stick. Though, I'm sure that once the next of kin realize this has nothing to do with wills and estates, they won't care so much...they can have their cat fights over "stuff" they just can't make decisions about ME. [img]/domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/happy.gif[/img]


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