gauvins

sloar Thanks. One more thing -- you think this is really useful, or mostly a fad?

sloar 

I wear my Road ID every time I go for a ride. Do you really want to be in a hospital laid out without your family knowing or maybe you’re allergic to something the medics or doctors give you. I don’t think it’s a fad.

gauvins

I've settled on military type dog tags (i.e. necklace) with (1) full name (2) city, country, ZIP (3) ICE phone number (4) ALT phone number (5) phone number (Europe has more digits so I couldn't fit a label on the line).

I had considered RoadID tags mounted on a watch bracelet, but they are four+ times the price of what I've found here, and perhaps a metal plate on a bracelet isn't such a great idea anyway.

sloar 

You can go to Pets Mart and have a dog tag made for a decent price. I used one of those before I got the Road ID.

JohnJ80

Very true, my experience as well. I am a long time ski patroller so it is a combined rescue/medical role.

With RoadID, you can update the website anytime you want - like when you're traveling for example.

It's an excellent idea.

I can't tell you how many times I've put people in an ambulance who were unconscious and in tough shape and I had no idea who they were. It often becomes a group effort between us (ski patrol), EMS, and the ER to get all that put together. The bad part of this for the patient is that their family isn't notified until somebody figures that out. If we have something like a RoadID, we'll take the information off of that, pass it on to EMS and as soon as they roll out, we'll call the next of kin listed and let them know what happened and where the patient is going. I don't often see the other end in the ER, but I'd guess that since it takes all of us some time to figure that out, it's going to add a lot of time for the patient's family to get plugged into the patient's care. Obviously, if they have information on the patient's conditions - medical conditions, medications, etc... that can have a big impact on care and can be vital.

staehpj1

A ruggedized usb key worn on a lanyard could be an addition to the dog tag and include more medical and personal details. Would the EMS or ER folks actually see and use the info on a USB key worn this way?

sloar 

Personally I don’t think I’d see it or use it. Something about sticking an unknown memory stick in my computer.

tcs

Either your wife's phone number or your mistress's phone number, but not both (unless you want to entertain the emergency room staff).

staehpj1

It does happen. I knew a guy who told his wife he went for long bike rides. He actually went for short rides to his girl friends house. I forget the details of his heart attack, but do recall that he woke up to find both the wife and girl friend in the hospital room. Some how he eventually managed to get back into the good graces of both.

drlogik 

I've been riding with a "Road ID" for a number of years now. I would not necessarily put any non-public information on it (i.e. SSN, driver's license #, etc).

I have this on mine:

• My name and DOB
• Wife contact telnum
• Son 1 telnum
• Son 2 Telnum
• Med info (i.e. NKA, med 1, med 2)

JohnJ80

No. Wouldn’t use it as a first responder. No time. No computer. Besides that, RoadID and other similar services provide all of that faster, safer and can be done with a smart phone.

staehpj1

That makes sense. I was thinking more of the ER using it than the first responder, but it is still probably not a great idea.

The road id offers either just a tag or a service that you can update data on. The thing is I am not thrilled about getting more and more things that have an ongoing charge. I have gotten to where I just say no to them. I don't have a InReach Mini, gave up on mapmyride, strava, and a lot of other stuff for that reason. I get it they want ongoing profits, but I am not interested in ongoing costs. I may splurge on a one time cost, but hate these annoying ongoing costs. They seem small, but little by little they add up. They tend to be forgotton and go on forever even if you no longer need them.

I wonder if adding a url to my dog tag is maybe an answer. It could link to a Google doc or a personal web page with the appropriate data. A possible alternative might be a laminated card with a QR code on a lanrard around the neck. Some care about what was shared that way would be required, but I'd be cautious about the same with sites like road id as well.

sloar 

I think people over think this. As long as the hospital has your name and a contact number, the rest can be figured out. Just make sure your contact person knows all your important info and everything will be fine.

indyfabz

Some of us take drugs and/or have medical conditions that EMTs and the hospital would want to know ASAP.

sloar 

I agree, as I mentioned earlier in the thread. I just didn’t go full detail on my last post.

pdlamb

With a bit of luck you can buy another ID next year without the meds. :/

Tourist in MSN

Yeah, for some people listing serious medical issues would be much more important. I mentioned above that everyone I know that wears such an ID uses insulin. And if an EMT encounters someone unconscious on the side of the road, that would be a very important thing for them to be aware of because that tells them what the first test should be. I also mentioned above that I used to camp with a friend that had a severe bee sting allergy, a bad sting could kill him, thus that allergy would be something to list on an ID.

I have some medical issues too, but none of them would put me in a life threatening condition and if I missed my prescription meds for a few days, it would not cause any real harm. I ordered an ID yesterday, decided to only list name, birthdate, and emergency contact phone number. I included the acronym USA with my contact phone number so the ID would still function as desired if I was outside of North America.

Or more simply, put on it what an ambulance crew or emergency room staff need to know, everything else is a distraction in an emergency.

When I ordered one yesterday, in my search I found a few that could include a QR scannable code. If you had more info that they need to know, I have no clue if an ambulance crew can read something like that but I assume an emergency room does. That might be worth researching. Here is where I saw the QR Code.
https://shop.getmyid.com/collections...id-sticker-kit

Or, if more info in written format is sought, this was an option I also saw yesterday:
https://www.vitalid.com/product/medical-id-bracelets/

The one I bought yesterday is one that you should be able to run a dog collar through, I hope if fits well on my watch band. If not, it was cheap and I can buy something else.

If I buy another, it would probably be a neck dog tag type one but I am not sure if I would remember to use it when I go for bike rides so that was not my first choice.

gauvins

Tourist in MSN Interesting links. Thanks.

Tourist in MSN

Gauvins, thanks for starting this thread. I had never really thought about getting one, but after reading some of the comments I decided I should. And it arrived today in the mail. Hopefully I will never need anyone to look at it, but that is why we buy insurance.

Tourist in MSN

Yesterday I was out for an exercise ride. I stayed upright but someone else did not.

To make a really long story as short as I can, a gal was on on her road bike fitted with aero bars (time trial bars? triathlon bars?) and crashed. A pedestrian that observed it from a distance said her bike was shaking side to side and then she crashed. Sounded like high speed shimmy to me, and she was on a straight segment of the bike trail so I suspect but do not know that she was using the aero bars at the time.

When I arrived, the pedestrian couple and someone on an e-trike had already stopped, started first aid, 911 was already called and someone was on a cell with her family, so she was sufficiently aware to give someone a phone number to call. Ambulance arrived a few minutes later, her first question to the ambulance crew was - am I going to die? She was really scrapped up but I saw no evidence of broken bones, I assume she had been wearing her helmet that appeared to be intact. One of the aero bars on her bike was bent, I suspected that the bike landed on the bar and bent it.

And my first thought was that I was really happy to have a tag on my wrist watch band with my name with middle initial, birthdate, and in-case-of-emergency phone number.

Seeing that yesterday reminded me that about a decade ago I had been out on an exercise ride, a gal on a road bike had crashed. I was not the first one there, 911 had been called already, the victim was still unconscious. It was on a seldom used road, a few cars stopped after I got there, and I picked up her bike to move it out of the middle of the intersection so the ambulance would have room when it arrived. The bike would not roll. She had hung a pair of tennis shoes from the handlebar by the laces and one shoe got caught in the spokes and locked up her front wheel. I have no idea what speed she was going on her skinny tire road bike, but I suspect it was pretty fast before she went over the handlebars.

These things happen. @gauvins, thanks again for starting this thread. I had never thought of getting an ID to carry on my person when biking, but this thread convinced me it was a good idea, which I was reminded of again yesterday. Yesterday the victim was conscious, but that is not always the case.

gauvins

Glad this thread has been useful. Mixed feelings WRT the circumstances -- never pleasant to witness a bad crash.

Take care