Important Information

Recently while we were traveling about 200 miles from home, my DH became ill and had to be transported by ambulance to the ER. One of the first questions they asked when we arrived there was did we have such things as a Living Will, a directive on health issues, and power of attorney.
Gee whiz, we do, BUT they are back home! So that taught me a lesson, anytime we are traveling, I have made copies of these important papers and they are going with us, JUST IN CASE. I do not want to be caught without the ability to make these decisions until I can get home to get the paperwork. They assured me if I had copies, they would honor them. So, I am passing this information on so that others will think of these things and carry this important information along.
I also will carry along the latest blood tests and other pertinent health information as the hospital could not get a response from DH's doctors and the hospital did not answer their request for his records in the 5 days we were there. So, if you have any health issues, you might also want to be sure you have as much information with you as you can. I always carried a list of our doctors, their phone and fax numbers, a list of medications being taken and of hospitalizations and health conditions but I am finding I need to be sure I carry even more because you cannot depend on everyone responding and it might be the difference between getting the care you need immediately.
I hope this will help some of you avoid the problems that we encountered. We were extremely lucky that the hospital DH was taken to took a proactive approach and I had enough information to help them a lot but if I had had his last bloodwork, they would have had something to compare his current test results with.
I truly hope you never need any of this, but it is always best to be prepared and not need it than wishing you were prepared.