The MedicAlert Foundation is the only registered charity providing life-saving medical identification for people with hidden medical conditions. This includes people with diabetes, epilepsy, allergies, cardiac implants or other hidden medical conditions, as well as those who have advance decisions and organ donation wishes.
Over the past 45 years, more than 300 000 people in the UK and Ireland have benefited from the reassurance and protection that MedicAlert provides 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
MedicAlert holds medical records for all individuals, which can then be accessed by emergency personnel via a 24 hour emergency line.
The MedicAlert emergency line is based at the London Ambulance Service Headquarters and accepts reverse charge calls worldwide. Information stored at MedicAlert can include next of kin contact details, past medical history and current drug treatment. MedicAlert employs a full-time doctor and a team of nurses who ensure all records are accurate and are held in an internationally recognized format.
Recognize, react and recommend
MedicAlert's service relies on the knowledge and quick-thinking of all emergency services professionals. MedicAlert only provide emblems which are worn on pulse points, namely the wrist and neck. This ensures that the emblem is most likely to be spotted by emergency personnel.
The emblem is easily recognized as having the international symbol of medicine on the front. It can then be flipped to reveal the vital information engraved on the disc such as medical conditions, allergies and advance decision or organ donation wishes. The emblem also holds the 24 hour emergency line phone number and the member's unique membership number.
‘MedicAlert's service relies on the knowledge and quick-thinking of all emergency services professionals'
MedicAlert can also be used worldwide and offers a translation in over 100 languages.
The information recorded on a MedicAlert emblem and in a member's personal record will help you if:
MedicAlert's new initiatives
Mental health
MedicAlert has recently been working on a number of initiatives concerning those with mental health conditions. The charity have developed excellent links with regional Alzheimer's Society branches to support service users and carers who may benefit from MedicAlert.
Jemma Hough at Southwark Alzheimer's Society comments:
‘MedicAlert can give people with dementia the confidence to remain active and independent. In addition, our branch often hears from carers worried that if they were to pop to the shops and had an accident, the person that they care for could be left unable to care for themselves. MedicAlert can minimize these feelings by notifying professionals that they are a carer. I feel this is an invaluable service to people living with dementia and their carers.’
Autism
MedicAlert has also begun to work more closely with schools and groups supporting those with autism. Children with autism have a social communication condition and by wearing the band, the first response team can identify quickly that this child has autism and contact the child's parents immediately.
The idea of MedicAlert is that the bracelet speaks for you, when you can't. MedicAlert provides a service that enables medical staff to gain access to an individual's medical records or next of kin details.
This ensures that the right treatment is given when seconds count, and the service can also help reunite children with family members or carers, should they go missing.
London Olympics 2012
During the Olympics in 2012, many visitors are expected to arrive from around the world. MedicAlert has already developed excellent relationships with those responsible for medical and emergency planning activity at the games.
The charity have secured an inclusion in the games handbook for healthcare and emergency staff. MedicAlert will also feature in the training for volunteers and games makers patrolling the Olympic venues.
It is the frontline staff who the charity relies on to help its members in an emergency, so if you are part of the paramedic team for London 2012, please look out for those wearing a MedicAlert emblem.
‘In 2010, 23% of calls made to the emergency line were enquiries made by the ambulance service
MedicAlert emergency line service
The MedicAlert emergency line is operated by the emergency bed service (EBS) based at London Ambulance Service. The EBS team of NHS healthcare professionals find hospital beds for seriously-ill patients. They arrange for approximately 10 000 patients to be admitted to hospital or transferred between hospitals every year.
EBS staff also provide a number of other services, including manning MedicAlert's 24 hour emergency line. They keep the records of all MedicAlert patients in the UK. In the event of an emergency, a healthcare professional ringing the number on the patient's bracelet or necklace will come through to EBS, who will be able to provide details about the patient's health background, allergies, condition and emergency contacts.
Desmond's story
MedicAlert member Desmond suffers from epilepsy. ‘My epilepsy has never really stopped me doing anything' he said. ‘And my MedicAlert membership has meant I can get on with my life and not even think about my condition.’
Desmond was diagnosed as epileptic when he was approximately three years old. In his teens, his father was concerned that Desmond would be out on his own more and no one would know he was epileptic and asthmatic, particularly in case of emergency.
On the advice of his family, Desmond decided to wear a MedicAlert bracelet, which states his medical condition, medication and a 24/7 emergency number which, if called, will provide full medical history and next of kin details immediately and educate the caller on how to treat him correctly.
Desmond wore his MedicAlert bracelet every day for approximately 15 years and fortunately never needed to access MedicAlert's emergency services. That was until one weekend in September when Desmond's parents were due to meet his new fiancée's mother for the first time—Desmond never made it to his parent's house. He lost control of his car, which flipped over and skidded along the road. He was driving alone and suffered a seizure due to the accident. Fortunately, a motorist travelling behind Desmond called the emergency services, who arrived on the scene to cut him out of his car.
The paramedics spotted Desmond's MedicAlert emblem on his wrist and were able to find out that he suffers from epilepsy, what medication he was on and what medications to avoid. Desmond's family were quickly contacted using next of kin details from his MedicAlert records, and they arrived at the hospital ahead of him in the ambulance.
Thanks to his MedicAlert emblem, the paramedics arrived at the hospital with more information than even his mother had expected, and were able to hand over his MedicAlert bracelet and relay important medical information to the accident and emergency doctors.
Desmond feels enormous relief and gratitude for his MedicAlert membership. ‘Thankfully I have managed to walk away from a serious accident with few injuries. I believe that if it was not for MedicAlert, no one in my family would have known about the accident for several hours. Saying thank you seems so insignificant when I look back on it.
It was a real comfort to know that things worked so smoothly. My MedicAlert emblem gives an extra measure of reassurance that at the end of the phone someone knows about me.’
Desmond continues to lead a full life, knowing that his MedicAlert emblem will assist him in an emergency. Workmates and friends know about his condition and what to do if Desmond could not speak for himself.
People are always interested in his bracelet and want to know all about it when they notice the emblem with the medical symbol, and he is more than happy to spread the word about the charity. ‘At the end of the day, it was absolutely a miracle that everything ran so smoothly' he said. ‘MedicAlert truly is a life saver.’
Do you need free resources?
As well as running an emergency line to provide access to MedicAlert members details, the charity have an ongoing education campaign aimed at emergency service professionals.
This programme aims to ensure that all relevant professionals know how MedicAlert can help them to save lives. MedicAlert is continuing to contact ambulance stations, accident and emergency units, doctors surgeries, police stations, fire stations and other relevant organizations to offer free leaflets, sample emblems and posters which explain clearly how the emblem works.
How to contact us
For free copies of the new MedicAlert education poster and other education resources please contact James Phillips, Education and Policy Manager by email: jphillips@medicalert.org. uk or Tel: 0800 581 420. Literature and resources can also be ordered through the website. Please go to the Healthcare Professionals section: www.medicalert.org.uk.