Prepared for a Medical Emergency?

Great advice! In Texas, with everyone far from loved ones & away from their customary doctors, we share this recommendation with all newcomers in case of emergency. And there has been occasion to use it. Full-time RV'ers who belong to any of the road life groups already know this - and even include the telephone numbers of their permanent doctors.
Please remember to update annually or whenever there are changes - especially meds, doctors and insurance info. One more bit of advice - if you do this make 2 copies (or save one in your computer) - if EMS takes the info along, chances are it will not come home with you - that happened when my Mom was transported for a stroke. Here in MN EMS workers are taught to look for this information on the refrigerator door, and many people post the list there with a note that the Vial of Life is in the freezer.
Sue

@fiesty76. I agreed. I have typed an emergency information with my daily meds, my children's phone numbers and my doctors business cards stapled together in my wallet. It had come in handy. My children all have copies of my advance directives and POA, and they know where the originals are.

I used to work in a bank and have seen children at a loss of what to do when their parents were suddenly incapacitated. If they were not given POA, or have joint accounts with their parents, financial institutions cannot, by law, release any funds or give them any information about their parents accounts. This include safe deposit boxes. If the children are not named beneficiaries of the account, we cannot release the funds to them should their parents passed away. It would be a good idea to check with your parents banks on these policies so everyone is aware.

@fiesty76- Sue, I agree, what great advice. I've never heard of Vial of life, am going to look into this for sure. I also advise everyone to make copies of DNR's and if you are hospitalized with something grave, make sure someone gives each head nurse (or whatever they are called notw) gets a copy. Not all records are transported with the patient. This happened to my twin sister, who was resucitated after a heart attack because her DNR wasn't with her. Not a very pleasant thing for her or us, her family.

Here is another thought that isn't exactly the same, but in the same vein. We have a number of bank, investment, insurance & retirement accounts, not all local. My husband takes care of some, I take care of others. Also many bills are paid automatically out of one or another of the accounts.

We have started a single email account where we direct all "paperless" statements and notices for these accounts and both of us have access. We also have a list of all passwords in our safe (& try to keep it updated.) Our daughters know the location of the information & the combination to the safe (a number meaningful to all of us.) This way, should anything happen to either or both of us, there is a way to retrieve the needed financial information. Our wills, living wills, etc are in the same place, along with car titles & real estate info. As we eventually make final arrangements & create durable powers of attorney we will include that information as well. It was simple to deal with my Mom's final dispositions as she had done all of it in advance, and I want to do the same for my kids.

Sue

@sueinmn, Thanks Sue. Yes, I keep a handy list of docs &, emerg. contacts with numbers & locations as well as a dated list of all meds, along with health &other ins. cards in billfold as well. Although, my daughter has a copy of what I first posted, I appreciate the tip to make a couple of other filled out copies to have on hand "just in case". I made extra blank copies of the first two docs referred to above to share with others.

Additionally, a couple of years ago, I compiled a comprehensive notebook for myself and a duplicate for my daughter: "URGENT INFORMATION" listing all insurance, banking,investment, utilities, automatic bank pmts for accounts, vet & emerg. vet clinic, credit cards, qtrly tax dates and sources requiring taxes, sources of income, doctors/specialty, prescriptions & otc, property, car and personal maintenance & service people as well as friends, neighbors and online groups and people I corrspd. with regularly. These have acct numbers, locations,phone numbers, etc. Also included is who has keys to my home.

This expandable folder is first in my file cabinet and also contains Estate, Will, legal, medical, POAs and Directives for medical as well as for state banks and investment firms. A last inclusion is a list of what is held in my bank safety deposit box. It took some time to compile this but I set the date of April 15th to update it each year. At least once/yr., if not before, everything gets updated.

@mayofeb2020, Thank you and I so agree that keeping the info you mention in the wallet is helpful. As my list of meds/scripts and docs grows, I have relied particularly on the list of meds at doc appts and those I do work to keep updated as changes occur.

Also a big thumbs up for your banking work. This may be a story you can relate to as well. As POA for mom, who resided out-of-town, it became necessary for me to establish a new bank account in my city to manage her legal, medical, home health, house maintenance & repair as well as pay home health care wages and social security taxes, her property and income taxes, etc. When I presented my POA to the bank where I had accounts, I was told that changes in the Texas law had changed and that I would have to have an updated POA for her even though we were both residents of TX. Thankfully for us and our longtime family atty., she was alert and capable of signing the updated POA and I was able to establish the new account for her.

Another important point you encourage is for parents to set up joint accounts and to name their beneficiaries and do the same for their safety deposit boxes as well as for their investment accounts. My best friend's daughter created holy mayham over some jointly held financial accounts held by my friend and her guy. When my friend died, the daughter, as Executrix of her mom's estate, continued to create terrible banking, investment and other legal difficulties for my friend's partner of many years.

Too often people don't think think ahead or prepare for the complexities that those left behind will have great difficulty in accessing or managing.

@sueinmn, Yes! My best friends did much the same and set up individual as well as joint accounts which worked beautifully for them until my friend became incapacitated.

Once living together, they also made separate wills which clearly spelled out their intentions ( he has 5 children; she, one) and also had drawn up separate burial and funeral arrangements at a local cemetery. The problem came when they didn't put original wills and burial plans in a bank safety deposit. Instead, they held those in a home safe which the daughter gained access to. The daughter refused my friend access to her mother's will and final plans and as a result sheer bedlam ensued. Luckily, he had given one daughter a set of both documents of his but the unnecessary stress and grief caused by this disruptive mom's daughter has been a constant nightmare that hasn't stopped yet.

Years ago, I attended a seminar for caregivers put on by our hospital. It was truly helpful and I found it a source of encouragement and information I needed. However, I was utterly shocked at how many attendees there had not given thought to taking actions now that could save them a great deal of time and prevent a great deal of difficulty and stress later. Many found it difficult talking to spouse, parent, children about declining health and end of life plans. I hope these posts will alert others who may have been putting plans off for "someday" to reconsider how much easier taking action now can save in grief for those you love later. Best to all.

@merpreb, I am so sorry that happened to your twin and family. Great point and one I would never have thought of. I need to make additional copies of both Physician's Directives and the DNR instructions and hope they get to each person in charge of making the life or death decisions that the patient wants.

@merpreb Here are out building the firemen came to talk with us and gave each of us a vial of life I put all my information in it and in fridge all firemen know to look in the fridge A note in on the door of fridge also they gave us . So call you local fire station or red cross they will be able to help you out . .

Might I add every person, regardless of age, should take some time to prepare. Many don't because they (especially when younger) assume an air of invincibility, that "it can't happen to me" mentality. I buried my 45-year old husband, and even though fairly prepared (he had cancer), it was so hard emotionally and would have been even more difficult if I didn't know many of these things, like passwords, location of important papers, location of accounts, life insurance policies, etc. Also, if you have minor children, make sure they are protected too. This means doing a will, naming guardians for them until they reach majority age, having adequate life insurance to ensure their lives will be disrupted as little as possible (sadly I did all this 2 months after my husband died, all to protect our then 4-year old son, who tragically died of an undiagnosed rare disease just months later). As "hard" as it may to think of your own mortality, everyone should be prepared, it does make it gentler for those you leave behind. That's my 2 cents worth for the day - take it or leave it.