I started by asking what info would people need to know and how should I design it
so it can be kept handy. I ended up designing a card that would fit where I decided
to keep it, printing it on orange paper, laminating it, keeping it in the left breast
pocket of my Aerostich, and printing a label (Brother P-Touch from work ;) that states
in capital letters, "EMERGENCY INFO IN LEFT BREAST POCKET" and placing
it on both the chin bar of my helmet and on the back as well.
Sounds easy, right? Well actually it is :)
DESIGNING THE CARD
What info do you want on this card? Well, first and foremost, what info is an EMT
going to need to know right away if you can't tell him or her? I decided my name,
age, allergies, blood type, medical conditions, organ donor status & name and
number of my Doctor. Second, someone will need to contact your family — I decided
my Father's name and various numbers, and a backup if he cannot be reached. That
pretty much filled up one side of the card. On the other side, I put all my own information,
including my full name, my social security number, my health insurance company and
account number, the make, year, model, and license plate number of the bike, my vehicle
insurance company and account number, and the number of my bike dealer (your dealer
can be amazingly helpful when it counts, but make sure you discuss beforehand what
things you can expect from him.) Here is a
link to my card template in the MS Word format.
CREATING THE CARD
I made great use of small fonts to cram all the information in. It really needed
to be printed by a laser printer at the inkjet just made it too hard to read. Personally,
I tried to do this at my office and simply ended up taking the .doc file on a 3.5"
disk to a local Kinko's and had them print it out on thick orange/yellow stock paper.
They then laminated it for me for a few dollars more. It took all of about 10 minutes,
and I had them make a second that I put in my other riding jacket so I wouldn't have
to swap them back and forth.
You could easily write out the info on a file card freehand, but do you really want
someone trying to figure out whether it is a "7" or a "1" in
a situation when the card is really needed?
PLACING THE CARD
I decided that the easiest place, and the place many folks would first look anyway,
was the left front breast pocket. I never use the pocket anyway as it is NOT waterproof
on the Aerostich and anything in there will get soaked in a rain storm. Pick your
own pocket if you will, just make sure that it is easy to get to from the perspective
of someone who knows nothing about motorcycling, much less that 24 or so pockets
in the Aerostich Roadcrafter.
Lastly, tell people where to find it. I always wear a helmet and as that is the first
place EMT's usually attend to, I put the label front and back just to make sure.
I used a labelmaker from the office, but true to form, Kinko's has those too for
a decent price (and you can get different color label tape…)
MY EXPERIENCE
In July of 1999 I was involved in a serious motorcycle accident. The EMT's immediately
found my emergency card (allergy info sure came in handy!) and copied down the needed
info, then passed it along to the investigating officer who used it to notify my
family, then along to the folks at the hospital. Without exception, everyone who
used it remarked how helpful it was (unfortunately even the Hospital billing administrator
:)
(Thanks to some Frank for this one :))
This and other articles are reprinted in the UTMC with the permission of Ted Virrill.
Ted Virrill aka 2TruckTed used to ride a killer black BMW K1100RS until July of 1999
when he got smacked down by two...yes two big trucks. Not this pansy chevy silverado
fluff I whine about, real 18 wheeler sorta pain!. He's still recuperating and is
currently on the hunt for a restorable R60/2 or R27 and you can read more on his
webpage here: http://www.verrill.com/moto/moto.htm.
He's also a member of and deeply connected in several BMW Motorcycle organizations,
including the local BMW organization - the BMWBMW,
two National organizations - the BMWMOA
& The BMW RA, the Internet BMW
Riders - the IBMWR, and the Internet
Rec.Moto group - the DoD.
He is also a past board member, webmaster, and newsletter editor of BMWBMW. Is it
just me or does this guy get allot done eh? |
