General Health Topic - Are You Ready for An Emergency?

Hello Everyone,

I was reading and have been hearing on the news about the ice storms that are gripping the Midwest USA. Snow storms are raging in the northeast and power is out in thousands of homes across the country.

For those out there that have a serious medical condition or if you have a family member with a medical condition we have to be thinking about our emergency plan.

If you have to be in frequent contact with your physician, what will you do if your phone or the Dr's phones are not working? Do you have a plan? Does your Doctor have a plan?

If you are on a medical device that requires electricity to operate, do you have a plan if your power is out for more than just a few minutes?

If your doctors office has a fire, how will you replace your medical records. Do you have a copy of your medical records. Does your doctor and pharmacist have a plan in place to replace the records if they are destroyed for any reason.

After Hurricane Katrina, thousands of people were left without any records of any kind. Their medical records were destroyed, lost and inaccessible. After evacuating, hundreds of cancer chemotherapy patients were hard pressed to tell their new doctors what kind of medications they were receiving for their cancer treatments.

Hopefully you get the point. With natural disasters, you have to be prepared and find out what kind of preparations your health care providers have in place.

Consider the area where you reside. Are you on or near the gulf coast where hurricanes are a threat. Do you live in an area where earthquakes are possible. Are wildfires a constant threat in your neighborhood. Does your area flood every time it rains. What will happen if there is a really big storm.

Please don't take for granted that someone else is going to do the planning for you. Please read or re-read my earlier post from Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Identify Yourself and your Medical Conditions

If you take care of an elderly parent or sick child, you have to plan for yourself and the person you take care of.

I know this is not necessarily a pleasant topic to have to think about. However, if you don't and something does happen, that is even worse. Many of us make New Year's Resolutions to try to better ourselves. Why don't we make a resolution to get our medical records in order and have an emergency plan. I can help you do that if needed. Email me for information.

Wishing you the best.

Dr. Paul