In Case of An Emergency

We never know when an emergency situation might happen. Because of this, it is important for every person to carry emergency contact information in a wallet or purse.

If a person has a cell phone, then it’s easy to list people one would like to have contacted in the event of an emergency. Many people indicate their emergency contact information under the entry “ICE” (an acronym for “In Case of Emergency”) and then list the person’s name and telephone number. This is an excellent idea, and every cell phone user should identify the user’s emergency contacts. This is important because an individual could, for example, have an elderly parent’s phone number in the contact list for convenience, but the individual would not want the parent to be the first one contacted in the event of an emergency. An e-mail circulated a few years ago reported that that using the ICE entry could result in viruses being passed to cell phones or premium charges being billed to the phone; this was proven to be a hoax.

Many people, however, do not have cell phones, particularly the elderly. Further, cell phones can be lost, damaged, or emergency medical personnel may not have the time or the ability to access the contact list. As a result, everyone should have an up-to-date listing of the emergency contact numbers in their wallet or purse. This is why Oast & Hook provides every client who executes an Advance Medical Directive (AMD) with a wallet card that includes the telephone numbers of the agents under the AMD. This also serves as an emergency notification card.

An advance medical directive (AMD) is a healthcare power of attorney and a living will. Why should you to register your AMD? Research has found that 75% of the time you need your AMD, it is not available, for example, when you are in a hospital emergency room. Oast & Hook can register your AMD with DocuBank, a company that ensures that your AMD is available worldwide, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.