I Should Have Asked

I was having lunch in the cafeteria at work yesterday, when one of the manager's from my department and asked me if I knew a friends contact numbers. I had my computer with me, but wasn't able to access the information in the system. I don't have the right permissions. I followed the manager over to another part of the cafeteria to see my friend surrounded by paramedics. Fortunately the occupational health nurse was there and he was able to use my computer to access my friend's records. There was a number listed so the manager tried to call it.

I have known this friend for almost 15 years and know a bit about his health. My friend was looking really pale gray and sweaty. I thought about asking if they knew he takes insulin for diabetes. But really, he was surrounded by an RN and three well trained paramedics. I thought for sure that they had already checked his blood sugar. Besides, with the way he looked I really thought he might be having a heart attack.

When I got back to my desk I had a voice mail from the manager. He asked if I had a contact number for another friend who has known this friend for a very long time and knew his family. I was able to provide that number for them, but I had to dig for it.

Around 3:00 my friend called me to let me know that they were sending him home, and he was going to be okay. He told me that his blood sugar had gone very low and when the paramedics showed up he wasn't able to communicate with them. I really hadn't gotten close enough in the cafeteria to hear what was being said, but I assume that they did check his blood sugar.

There are simple and easy ways to protect myself from being in my friends situation. I have talked with him about it, and I'm not sure that he hasn't done it. The first and most logical thing is to program in your phone and A-ICE number. Mine is annoying because Mollie will always come up as A-ICE Mollie, but it gives emergency workers a number to reach. The problem with this is that in an emergency like my friend had, no one thought to check his phone for a number. I have to trust that they would, and I don't know how likely it is that they would check.
The second thing I do is sign up for a service called Health Vault which is connected with my health insurance. I place my medical information and my contact information in it so in an emergency there is a place where this information can be found. But emergency workers would have to go into my wallet to find the card with my ID and pin number to get to the information. And I can assure you that they aren't going to do that. They could also call my insurance company who can direct them to my information. But then they would have to look in my wallet to get my insurance card...again, they most likely aren't going to do that. The thing that I do that is most helpful to me is that I keep an Excel worksheet with all of my medical information on it. On this sheet, I have my diagnoses, my doctors and contact numbers, my medications and strengths with when I take them and what for. I have my ICD identification numbers. I have my insurance numbers, my allergies and my pharmacy numbers. But most importantly I have a list of 6 people they can call if I can't communicate with them. This list is updated almost with every doctor visit. It is great when I go into the doctor's office because I don't have to try to remember all that information. But the shortfall again is would an emergency worker look for it? I don't think so. I can give them all the information in the world, but if they don't look for it, it's worthless.

With the emerging health care centers, some but not all of my information can be looked up and seen by anyone in the center who would need to know. This seems like a very logical way to go. But I was sick long before the Affordable Care Act was passed. Not all of my doctors belong to the same centers, and I am not willing to change doctors because they belong with this affiliation and not that. Right now my doctors are spread over 4 affiliations, and they don't communicate with each other.

Mollie knows about the list that I keep and where in my purse they can be found. But I am beginning to think that I may need to go the the Nurse and my supervisor and let them know about the list and my A-ICE number.

On Monday I'm giving my friend a bottle of glucose tabs and a card telling him not to be such a drama king. That's what he said to me last time I had to go on an ambulance.

In all of this I have another lesson in asking the questions even if they seem obvious.