Emergency Medical Information Book
.The Emergency Medical Information Book project, which has been
running nationally for a number of years, continues to prove
an effective and potentially life saving project and one
every Rotary club should consider being involved with. These
booklets contain all your information and medical records
which are needed if or when an ambulance is called, and you
need to be transported to a hospital. This project is also
supported by the ambulance service in each state.
Recently, the President of the Rotary Club of Tamar Sunrise (Launceston, Tasmania), Meg Lee, received a big thank you from a member of the public who endorsed just how effective these booklets are. Read their story below.
My daughter Katie arrived at our house waving two little booklets she had picked up from her doctor’s surgery.
“Here you go guys”, she said, “Fill these in and keep them on your fridge”.
Hmm I thought. I don’t take any medication except for short term antibiotics and so on, but my husband Dick has high blood pressure and so takes regular medication. I was aware that I would look awfully silly if he was rushed off to hospital if I couldn’t remember the names of his medication, and I had tried to remember them from time to time, but couldn’t remember those difficult and unfamiliar brand names. So I put his booklet on his desk and asked him to fill it in. Which he did on June 6th. On September 2nd without any warning, he suffered a heart attack. I immediately rang an ambulance and they arrived quickly. As they came in the door I grabbed the booklet from the fridge and gave it to one of the ambo’s.
“You little ripper”, he said, and armed with the knowledge of Dick’s medication and the times at which it was taken, the team did their brilliant best to ease his pain and to administer the necessary drugs to keep him going until they got to the Emergency Ward at the Launceston General Hospital. As I waited with Dick in the Emergency Ward I noticed that a nurse came in and gave the booklet to one of the ambo’s who then gave it back to me. As I was waiting while Dick was in the Operating Theatre one of the ambo’s talked to me about what was happening and he told me how very useful the booklet was as they need to know just what medication the patient is taking and when it was last taken, as their work can, in the absence of full knowledge, be most difficult in case they repeat some already taken medication. I was so glad that we had that little booklet! But – what I came to realise that when the ambo’s gave the booklet to the nurse, she had all of the information about the patient’s name; his address and contact information; his doctor’s name and contact information; his Medicare information and Private Health Insurance and the history of his previous illnesses.
I had been to hospital with Dick before
– when he had a broken wrist, and appendicitis and I
remembered at those times, when all I really wanted to do
was to be with him, I was sidelined by the nursing staff to
give all of that information that they so properly need.
This time however, I was asked nothing except to sign one
form giving permission to admit Dick as a private patient.
All of my time was spent with Dick until he was whisked away
for surgery. It was all so stress free this time! I was so
impressed with the booklet and its purpose that I came home
and filled in mine too, if only with the information of who
I was and my contact numbers and those other general things,
so that if I was suddenly taken ill, then Dick too could be
stress free and be with me. Since then I have gained two of
the booklets for two of my older friends who live alone and
have rung them to ensure that they are filling them with the
so important information. So thank you Rotary and the
Tasmanian Ambulance Service for such a brilliant community
service. We both are so impressed!
Thank you so much.
Dick and Maggie James
For more information contact Rodney Spinks at
rspinks@stlukes.com.au
(District
9830 EMIB Program Coordinator)