I never like to think of the worst happening, as I’m sure we all don’t – but the fact is that sometimes it does, and we should always be prepared for it. I wanted to share an emergency card idea (and enhance it more) that I found recently, all about how to get help to others that rely on you should you be taken ill while out and about.
Over the summer, I shared a picture on Facebook that sparked a great discussion, and it centred around how to get help to your pet should you ever be taken ill or have an accident when you are out of the house.
The basic idea was to carry around in your purse, along with your usual ID, a card saying that you have a pet at home relying on you – and to have a number of a friend/family member to call if you are unable to make the call yourself.
Unfortunately I can’t find that article now, but have found a similar site showing this idea off HERE. I’ve also found a link where you can print one off yourself and fill in.
This is a fantastic idea as having a pet at home alone with no-one knowing would be terrible.
And this got me thinking…
There are so many more uses for a card such as this – indeed if most of us were to have an accident and get rushed to hospital, then probably at least one of the following scenarios would need to be considered, especially if you were unable to tell anyone yourself:-
- Pets when you live by yourself
- If you live alone, who to contact in an emergency so that your home can be looked after
- If you have younger children who are expecting you to be at school pickup, or older children expecting you to be home when they get back
- If you are a carer for someone (whether they live in your home or elsewhere)
- If your partner lives away from home and there is no one to look after the house
I’m sure you can think of loads of circumstances where you have people depending on you, or a home that would need to be looked after etc….
So – what I would suggest is to not limit this card to just pets, but to have a very specific EMERGENCY CARD in your purse or wallet that simply has something like the following written on it:-
If I become ill or am injured I have people relying on me – please get in touch with my emergency contact on the back of this card.
and also
If lost, please call me on ………………….
NOTE – Be careful about what information you have in your purse i.e. addresses etc… – nowadays our driving license has our address on it so you probably have this information in your purse already, but I would always suggest caution and simply leave a name and number to contact so that it keeps it fairly anonymous.
Printable Emergency Card
To help you out – I’ve included my own template for you so you can download and print it off right now (it prints off on an A4 sheet of paper that you simply cut to size, and fold in half so that the contact details will be on the back, when folded it is slightly smaller than a credit card and should fit into your purse easily):-
Want a copy?
It’s available in the OMH Printables Library – the place where all free printables from the site are kept. Just click on the button below to get access…
I don’t know, but when I lost my purse a few months ago, maybe having this in it would have enabled someone to get in touch and get it back to me, and I know that I would feel better if I had set this up should I not be able to get to school to pick my daughter up.
How could it help you?
Next steps…
Once you’ve created your own card, or printed off the one above, you need to ensure that whoever you put as your contact is someone who can help out, and someone who is aware of the fact you have put them down as your chosen contact.
They need to be happy with the fact that you have their name and number on the card, and that they could help in an emergency.
Think about adding their name to a list of people able to pick up your child from school (and let your child know), ensure they have keys to your home and details of what to do i.e. alarm code, what and how to feed any animals, who else to contact for you etc….
Basically, this may seem like overkill, and most of the time any emergency preparedness that you do will seem that way – but it will be a life saver should the worst happen.
Why not create your own card right now without delay, you’ll thank yourself once it’s done…
P.S. Don’t forget to download it from the Free Printables Library (and you’ll get access to over 50 other fantastic printables at the same time!
