By Kevin Veale, DO, FACEP

    We hate to think about it, but health emergencies do happen. You or your loved ones may be injured unexpectedly or become ill. When that happens, it’s hard to remember health history details or prescription drug names and dosages.

    Medical crises can reduce your ability to communicate as well. You may be unconscious, too hurt to talk or too distressed to remember the vital information that emergency medical personnel need. When a patient is unconscious, medical personnel often must go through personal belongings looking for your health and contact information. 

 

We frequently start with cell phones and look for the In Case of Emergency (I.C.E.) number. Some cell phones have this automatically on the contact list, but you easily can add this to your contact list. Most people do not carry around their medical history, which can be critical, especially for people who take daily medication or have chronic or fragile conditions.

    To help the community we serve be better prepared, John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital created the I.C.E. card, the In Case of Emergency card. You can request this free of charge at www.JCL.com/ICE or by calling 800-999-6266.

    The card lists all your important information, including physician, emergency contacts, allergies and current medications. It fits into a protective sleeve so that it can be carried in a wallet, purse, backpack or sport bag.

It’s important to keep the current list of medications updated because we don’t want to give you something that will cause a bad interaction.

    In an emergency, you may be taken to the closest hospital, but it’s also good to know the hospital where you’ve been treated previously, especially if you have a complex medical history. It’s quicker to get information from another hospital at 2 a.m. than from a physician’s office.

    And one last bit of advice: If you’re the person calling 9-1-1 or accompanying someone to the emergency room, stay calm. It’s difficult when you are worried or scared, but when you are calm, you can listen to any specific emergency instructions from the 9-1-1 operator that can help save a life. Then, you can be supportive instead of becoming the “second patient” when medical personnel arrive.

Dr. Kevin Veale is an emergency physician at John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital and Trauma Center. Learn more at JCL.com. The information in “To Your Health” is provided by the John C. Lincoln Healthcare Network as general information only. For medical advice, consult your physician.