Today’s Hint: The Medical Emergency Response Reminder Card

One of the scariest moments of my life was when my then 15-month-old daughter had a febrile seizure last December.

Since then, I’ve tried to commit to memory the doctor’s advice for handling any future fever-related seizures, but I fear that I’ll blank on his tips if I’m faced with another similar scary scenario.

This is why I so love a trick for remembering important medical emergency instructions I recently learned from some clever friends. They created, what I’m calling, “an emergency response reminder card” that they attached to their 22-month-old daughter’s diaper bag, an approach that is today’s hint.

My friends’ daughter has also had a febrile seizure – in fact, she’s had a few of them. And the last time she had one, my friend says he and his wife “blanked” and completely forget what they were supposed to be doing in response to the seizure.

Not only did they fear that they again wouldn’t remember what to do if another febrile seizure occurred, but they also were worried that their child’s daycare caregivers might not know the right way to handle such a situation.

So, they typed up the instructions for how to handle a febrile seizure (based on articles they’ve read on the subject), printed the instructions on heavy card stock paper and then inserted the paper into a ripped out page from a $2 photo album they got at Target. Finally, they punched  a hole into their DIY emergency response card and attached it to their daughter’s diaper bag with a loop of string.

This brilliant idea doesn’t just work for febrile seizure instructions. You could create your own with an infant CPR how-to or instructions for what to do if your baby is choking – basically, you can customize your emergency response card based on what instructions you fear you’ll blank on. You also could make multiple versions, and multiple copies of such cards, to handle different medical emergencies and place them in different locations, such as in your house and car.

Now, I’ve got to get to work creating my cards.

What are your tips for remembering how to handle medical emergencies in the event that they do occur?

Follow Hint Mama on Facebook and Twitter, and read more about her and her disclosures.