Driver Lifestyles

Lifesaving Info: Medical ID

Jeff Jensen, Editor


Here's an all-too-possible scenario: You're on a layover in a truck stop 1,000 miles from home. You're relaxing in the truck
when you begin to experience shortness of breath accompanied by cold sweats and chest pains - the classic symptoms of a heart attack.

Luckily, your cell phone is in reach, so you dial 911 and paramedics are dispatched. When they arrive, you're able to do little more than answer a few basic questions. To give them a detailed medical history would be impossible.

This is one time when having your medical file on hand could save your life.

It would seem that many drivers take to the road without the data that is of utmost importance when time and accuracy are on the line: their personal medical information.

Such information can be particularly hard to retrieve for professional drivers, who can need help far from home and whose records might be scattered among health providers in different cities.

In a survey of a dozen expedited owner-operators and drivers, we found only one driver who carried his medical records with him and that was due to his history of high blood pressure and non-insulin dependent diabetes.

ìIt is extremely helpful if someone has their medical history and medications list handy,î says one first responder. "In an emergency, people often find it difficult to remember past medical procedures and the names and doses of their medications."

More than 95 percent of emergency responders look for a medical ID; more than 75 percent check for a medical ID immediately upon assessing the patient.

According to a published study, half of all medical errors occur because of mistakes made upon admission or discharge from the hospital. Wearing a medical ID protects against potentially harmful medical errors.

In an emergency, when you might not be able to speak for yourself, a medical ID bracelet, necklace or wallet ID card speaks for you.

Prompt diagnosis is critical to effective treatment. A brief description of vital medical facts engraved on your medical ID ensures appropriate and timely medical care. If you have ongoing medical conditions, drug or food allergies, or are taking multiple medicines, you should wear a medical ID alert.

Todayís options for storing medical information range from simple wallet cards and medical jewelry to a tiny USB drive that plugs into most computers.

You can even get a radio frequency identification microchip placed under your skin, which is used to access your medical information in a database.

“Medical IDs are critical for anyone who suffers from chronic conditions like heart conditions, diabetes or asthma, or anyone with food, drug or insect allergies,î says Dirk Van Slyke, Vice President, Sales & Marketing for the Houston-based American Medical ID, a top supplier of medical ID bracelets. "Someone taking blood thinner for a heart condition, for example, could be seriously harmed if given additional blood thinner."

"A medical ID can also help prevent a misdiagnosis," says Van Slyke . "Another example would be that of a diabetic with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) who might appear to be intoxicated."

One can even simply write or type something that includes a general medical history and a list of all medications and allergies. A driver can keep it in the cab or in his wallet, right behind his driverís license. Several websites also offer free downloadable and printable wallet cards.

The most common form of medical ID is jewelry which provides a logo or inscription indicating a particular medical condition. These medical identification tags can be made out of surgical stainless steel, sterling silver or gold.

American Medical ID gives a free wallet card to anyone who orders from its line of medical jewelry. The card provides more information than can fit on the jewelry, and it allows patients to change information.

Van Slyke states that some states prohibit even medical personnel from searching wallets for a medical ID card, and offers the idea that people have the phrase, ìSee wallet cardî engraved on their medical jewelry.

Van Slyke says that his company provides a number of large corporations, including trucking fleets, with medical information
equipment. Some of these companies send their employees overseas, including some that have employees deployed in Iraq.

"They see the value in medical ID, because if you're in Iraq, but not a member of the military, you don't wear dog tags for identification," he says.

A different approach to the wallet card concept is the Scroll ID.
This consists of a color photo of the person along with important medical information that is printed on a strip of waterproof, tear-proof paper rolled up inside a small metal tube that can be clipped to a key chain.

A new type of medic identification alert is the USB medical alert tag. This is essentially a USB flash drive that contains an individuals emergency information. Because of the memory on the flash drive these USB medical alert tags are capable of carrying much more information than the conventional medical ID bracelet.

Ideally, emergency personnel can instantly access the information with any available computer, but as American Medical ID's Van Slyke notes, will the first responders always have access to that computer at the scene?

Another type of medical ID jewelry indicates membership in a medical information organization such as the MedicAlert Foundation. Such medical ID jewelry includes a member identification number and a toll-free number for medical emergency personnel to contact the organization and obtain full information about the wearer's medical conditions, treatment, and history.

These organizations maintain a database of medical information on their members and can provide it to medical personnel when requested.

Regardless of the type of medical ID chosen, the professional driver is wise to display this life-saving medical information in a way that can speak for him when he can't.


For more information, visit these web locations:

Scroll ID
www.scrollid.com

American Medical ID
www.americanmedical-id.com/index.php

VeriChip Corporation
www.verichipcorp.com

Medic Alert
www.medicalert.org/Home/homegradient.aspx

MedicTag
www.medictag.com/index.htm