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VIAL OF LIFE
What is it?
The Vial of Life is a small plastic container that contains a printed form with places to record vital medical information. This information can be very important to ambulance personnel that respond to your home to take care of you in an emergency.
How does it work?
Fill out the medical information on the form as completely as possible. If you don’t know the answer to a medical question, contact your doctor or leave that area blank. Try to fill in as many areas as possible so that ambulance personnel will have all the information that they need to give you the best possible care.
Roll the form up and place it into the Vial of Life with the lid secured. Place the vial in an obvious place in your refrigerator, such as the crisper or dairy product drawer.
Place the enclosed sticker on the front top left corner of your refrigerator. This will alert the ambulance personnel that you are a member of the Vial of Life program in case you are unconscious or unable to speak.
Why the refrigerator?
Because almost every home has one. By asking everyone to keep their Vial of Life in their refrigerator, ambulance personnel would need to only check one place for this life-saving medical information. This saves time when you are seriously ill
or injured.
Other questions?
If you have any other questions, please contact the local Fire/EMS Department or Paul B Lorenzetti (717) 304-9524.
*Don’t forget to update your Vial of Life information sheet as your medical information changes.
Explanation of the Vial of Life form
Name, Address, Birthdate, Gender, and Family Physician –
Self-explanatory
Location of Living Will or DNR
A Living Will and a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order are legal documents that allow a person to pre-determine the type of care they wish to receive in the event of a sudden or chronic terminal condition. These forms are available at all physicians’ offices. A DNR order allows the patient to decide if they want CPR if they go into cardiac arrest, and allows the patient to decide if they want a breathing tube inserted into their airway if they should develop a severe respiratory problem. Most patients that have these forms keep them with their important papers. In order for emergency personnel to honor the patient’s wishes, these forms MUST be accessible at the time of the emergency.
Normal Blood pressure – is the blood pressure that is normal for you. Usually the average of the patient’s blood pressure after it has been taken 3 times.
Medications and Dosages – the dosage is helpful information, but the names of the medications are most important. A number of patients keep their medications in weekly, daily, or monthly pillboxes. We cannot identify medications accurately by sight. We must know the names of the medications.
Where Medications are Kept – the names of medications often tell emergency medical personnel a wealth of information. If we know the names of your medications, we can usually paint an accurate picture of your health history if you are unable to. For example: the kitchen cabinet by the microwave, the medicine cabinet in the hall bath, or on the dresser in the master bedroom.
Allergies to Medications – the paramedics carry a multitude of medications that are derivatives of other medications. We need to know if you are allergic to any medicine at all.
Hospital preference – we try to comply with your wishes, however, at times we may have to transport you to an alternate hospital. Some examples of when we may do this includes; unstable patient condition, transport delays due to road construction, traffic accidents, or sudden vehicle problems.
Person to call if you are ill or injured – a person or persons that we refer to as “emergency contacts.” We just need the name and phone number of that person, not an address. It is helpful to provide at least two different numbers or two different people.
Other special health information – this is an area for other critical information such as bypass surgery, dialysis shunt (and where it is), blindness, low blood pressure, etc.
Copies of the Vial of Life Information Form will be posted along with copies of these instructions on www.pa55living.com Look for the VoL button and logo.
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