By Lois M. Collins, Deseret News
Original publication date: Dec. 11 

Salt Lake City — Brooke Macias has no problem describing two troubling scenes from memory because she’s seen them numerous times as a paramedic with Gold Cross Services. In one, there’s a man lying on the floor unconscious and there’s no one around to tell her his medical history as she struggles to save him. In the other, a teenager is being hauled off the mountain at a ski resort, injured, and she has no idea how to reach the girl’s parents.

Utah-based Gold Cross is introducing a virtual medical identification card that could help in both situations. The “invisible Bracelet” (iB) allows individuals and families to provide information through a secure online web service in case of an emergency. And besides providing access to medical information, it also lets subscribers designate up to 10 friends or relatives who will be notified if the ambulance company has to take them to a hospital.

Macias, who is also a Gold Cross spokeswoman, demonstrated the iB Thursday morning at the company headquarters in Salt Lake City. When someone subscribes — it’s normally $10 a year but until Dec. 31 there’s a two-for-one sale — he has mailed a wallet card, a key fob and several ID stickers that can be placed in spots where emergency crews look for information, such as a wallet. The Gold Cross can log in on the secure iB site, type in the account number on the sticker and call up information the individual has made available, such as name, age, allergies, medical conditions and many other details, clear down to health insurance number. You have to be 18 or older to subscribe, so parents must subscribe for minors.

The card not only has potential to save time, but also money. For instance, if the iB shows that an unconscious victim has asthma, medical crews look at that first, instead of exploring first whether the victim is in diabetic shock. And it also avoids a painful situation in which family members call dispatch to find out where the patient is being taken, only to be informed that under federal patient privacy rules, the ambulance dispatcher can’t say. The alerts take care of that, automatically informing anyone the subscriber has designated to know, either by e-mail or text or both.

The program has been endorsed by the American Ambulance Association. Right now, only Gold Cross uses it locally, but Macias says she expects — and hopes — that will change. Gold Cross is the 911 emergency responder for Salt Lake City and Uintah County. The Utah-based company also transfers patients between facilities in Utah and Washington counties and provides backup to other ambulance services.

There are a number of tricks and tools to help emergency responders find information about patients who are unable to answer questions, Macias says. They look on the refrigerator and in the freezer for the Vial of Life containing information. They check cell phones under an ICE (in case of emergency) listing of who to contact. They seek insight from medic-alert bracelets. And there are common spots they check for clues, such as on the car safety seat of infants, a key fob, in the wallet behind the driver license, on backpacks and, especially for teens, on cell phones, among others. Those are also good places to put the iB sticker. More information is online at www.invisiblebracelet.org. e-mail: [email protected].

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