It seems that everyone has abandoned the old faithful 3.5 inch floppy disk for the high capacity flash drive. These tiny devices plug into the USB port of your computer and can be easily read just like a disk drive. Unlike floppies, flash drives can store tremendous amounts of information, documents, photographs and video. Why not put your medical history on a flash drive?
Most police officers have laptops in their squad cars; Emergency Medical workers have computers in their ambulances and Emergency Rooms are now connected to hospitals around the world through the Internet. It seems computers are everywhere. If you are in an accident, or have a medical emergency an emergency worker can take your flash drive and have instant access to your medical information. Information that can save your life!
Why would anyone want to go to all the work and effort to put their medical history on a flash drive? Do you wear a medic alert bracelet to alert First Responders to your medical conditions? Do you have allergies, take prescriptions medicines, and have a critical family medical history? A flash drive can provide more valuable information than a simple bracelet. Think of a flash drive as a medic alert bracelet in steroids!
A medical alert flash drive can save time at the doctor’s office. It’s often difficult to remember all the information the office requires for even a simple office visit. Just remember to safe guard this information to protect against identity theft.
Med Flash is a commercial product* that offers a bright red flash drive and special software that makes the task of entering your information easy. But you don’t have to use a commercial product. Microsoft Word and Excel are common software packages on most computers. You can put your information into a word processor document or spreadsheet. Create one document with vital emergency information and a description of your flash drive’s contents. Name it “Emergency Information” This along with ICE for your cell phone are two simple ways to give emergency responders the information they need .
*(The St. Clair County Sheriff's Department does not endorse any commercial product or service.)
