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Tab 2

In an Emergency

This is the tab your family will reach for first in a real emergency. Four parts: the front-page contact sheet, the detailed medical summary behind it, a pocket-sized wallet card, and a summary of your insurance coverage. Most people finish the whole tab in under an hour, spread across however many sittings feel right. Nothing here needs a lawyer or a password.

This is the front page of the whole folder. Whoever opens it reads this one first. Sometimes it is the only one they read.

Who you are

Use the name on your ID. Add a nickname in parentheses if people call you something different.

Edit this until it sounds like you.

Call in this order

Slot 1 is your top person, usually whoever is also your Healthcare Proxy or Power of Attorney. Add up to eight people; fewer is fine. What matters most is that the order is right, since someone in a panic calls from the top down.

Important

Just names, phones, and a one-line note. No addresses, no Social Security numbers. Nothing you would not want a paramedic to see.

1

Usually your Healthcare Proxy or POA. If you have not set one up yet, just pick who you would want called first.

Practical only. “Lives 20 minutes away”, “has a key”. Nothing personal.

2

Your backup, ideally someone farther away, so whatever happened to you did not also happen to them.

Practical only. “Lives 20 minutes away”, “has a key”. Nothing personal.

3

Consider a nearby neighbor. Ask them before you add them.

Practical only. “Lives 20 minutes away”, “has a key”. Nothing personal.

Tell the paramedics

Five facts. A paramedic reads this and decides what to do in the next thirty seconds.

If you do not know it, ask at your next appointment. Many labs test for free.

Drug allergies matter most. “Penicillin, hives”. Skip the minor ones.

Just three or four medication names. The paramedic needs to know what NOT to give you. Full detail goes in Part Two.

Yes, see Tab 4, or not yet. Not having one is not a failure, it is just a next step.

If you have one. Leave blank if not.

My doctors

Name, practice, office phone. Add an after-hours line if there is one.

Where things are

Be specific. “Front hall closet, top shelf, labeled box”. Somewhere family could find it without asking you.

Include where food and vet info are kept.

The one sentence

The pattern that works: “Please call [name] first. They know what I want.” This tells the panicked person which name matters most, and gives that person permission to speak for you.
Your work saves as you type.