Military Special Needs Network
Proudly Supporting all Military Families with a Special Needs Dependent
Traveling With Medical Records
During the school year, we put a lot of miles on our van, but it doesn’t compare to the amount we put on the van in the summer. My family is constantly packing up and heading out on a spur of the moment trip to the mountains, a trip to the zoo and this summer we are going to brave a trip halfway across the country to see family. With all this travel time, for my peace of mind, I keep a summary of medical records on all the kids in the car at all times.
On each of the car seats there is an Emergency information sheet. The ID is on the door side of the car seat that is in the middle row of our van. On the third row car seats, the ID tags face the center. This makes it so they are easily visible in the event of an emergency.
On the cards, it has a brief list of allergies, medical conditions and important phone numbers. You can do an internet search for “Car seat emergency tag” and find one that fits your needs.
On the emergency information tag, there is a note to emergency personnel to look behind the driver’s seat. That is where I keep a medical binder.
I made sure that my binder was pretty looking. I have to see it every single time I get my kids in and out of the car, I thought it was important that it looked nice. This is my condensed medical binder. At home, I keep EVERYTHING in my binder, even denial letters from Tricare. In the event of an emergency, the information need to be easily accessible without having to sift through page after page of other information.
I have the write ups from the neurologist and the most recent swallow studies. Plus images from scopes/procedures (I spared you that visual).
All of the social security numbers have been blocked out on all the papers in our books. My kids don’t see military doctors, so I leave the names of the doctors and the patient ID number.
My hope is that we will never need to use the emergency information tags or the binder, but this is one of those things I would prefer to over prepare for.
Do you keep medical records on hand in the car? What are your tips?
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