Emergency Information Inside

I am super excited to share this brief post. The ideas here have been brewing in my head for a long time. There is something about knowing we are taking Nathaniel on vacation that has me really focusing on emergency preparedness. Here we have home field advantage. Our first responders know us well. His doctors are familiar with his case. Even their partners. A national ranking Children's Hospital, with detailed records of his medical history, is in this city. I am feeling the heaviness of hitting the road and playing a series of away games. But play is what we want to do on vacation and my hope is that by putting some extra precautions in place now, we can relax and enjoy our trip.

I was encouraged at one of our fire department trainings to put a luggage tag on Nathaniel's airway bag that gave his tracheostomy suction depth.  I purchased this pack of travel accessories from Amazon in red so that it screamed EMERGENCY.

Luggage Tags:

I painted a white cross on the back of each luggage tag and outlined it with a black Sharpie marker. I printed what I felt was the absolutely essential information for someone to know if they were to respond to an emergency and our family was not able to provide any information. Since there is fuller information with Nathaniel's name, our names and address, medications, diagnoses, etc inside Nathaniel's airway bag, I did not waste the space on the tag to give his name. I will put one of these on Nathaniel's airway bag and one on my diaper bag.

Luggage Handle Wraps:

My momma's heart is big. Months ago I heard about a horrific car accident where a car left the road and landed upside down in a stream. The car was not found for hours later. It might have been the better part of a day, I don't remember now. The mother was driving and died in the accident. The only other passenger in the car, a small child held out of the water by the car seat, lived through the ordeal. I could not get this scenario out of my head. My heart ached for the family. And my heart ached thinking what if this level of crises happened to us. First responders would have a huge dilemma on their hands if they walked into a similar tragedy and Nathaniel was the only survivor.

I know. Nobody likes to think of these things. But thankfully, my brain does not often stick in the hopelessness of horribleness. I am a fixer. I wanted a way to get Nathaniel's medical info front and center. Luggage handle wraps seemed like the right product. I called my sweet friend Peggy and asked for help. She is awesome. She embroidered on the outside of the wrap and attached a pocket to the inside. End result: a wrap that holds medical emergency information and attaches to a car seat or stroller strap.

Of course there are many ways to identify medical emergencies. There is a huge variety of medical ID bracelets including some really cute child friendly silicone designs. I love this idea of customized temporary tattoos. There might even be a company that already sells medical info wraps. Probably for $19.99. But if you like DIY projects, have a Peggy to help, and decide to start a project forty-eight hours before a trip, this is a less expensive option. If you don't have a Peggy, you could write on the neoprene luggage handle with a Sharpie marker and hand sew a pocket on the inside. If you want to make friends with MY Peggy to ask about buying one of these wraps from her, email me (kim.m.rankin@gmail.com).