House Call: Medical Needs When Preparing for Natural Disasters

From OncoLog, February 2009, Vol. 54, No. 2

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Think About Your Medical Needs When Preparing for Natural Disasters

Having a medical-needs plan can ensure that you receive consistent care, even if it’s not from your regular doctor.

Natural disasters can strike at any time and with little warning. That’s why everyone should have a “disaster survival kit” that includes an evacuation plan, emergency supplies, and important items that you want to save. If you have a serious medical condition like cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, you should have a medical-needs plan as well.

In the event of an evacuation, you may receive care from a physician who is not familiar with your condition. Without information about your medical history, that physician might have only a best guess for how to treat you. A medical-needs plan can ensure that you receive consistent care, even if it’s not from your regular doctor.

Write it down

To organize the information, create a medical information list for each member of your household. Update the information regularly and store the lists in a waterproof container in your disaster survival kit. You might also choose to save the lists in a file on your laptop computer—just remember to take it with you in an evacuation.

Start each list by recording basic information—name, address, and birthdate and the name and phone number of an emergency contact (preferably someone who lives more than 100 miles away, since it’s usually easier to connect with a number that isn’t in the disaster area). Follow this with the name and phone number of your pharmacy, your insurance policy number, and the name, address, and phone number of your primary physician. Attach a copy of your health insurance card.

Next, create the following sections:

Illnesses or Chronic Conditions. Include your diagnosis, the date of the diagnosis, and the name of the doctor who made the diagnosis.
Prescription Medications. List the dosage and how often you need to take each of your medicines.
Health Care Team. Include the name, address, and phone number for each of your doctors.
Surgeries. Describe every surgery you’ve had, including the type, the date, the hospital or clinic where it was performed, and why it was performed.
Food or Drug Allergies, Immunizations, Dietary Needs, Advance Directives, and Organ Donation Preferences, if applicable.

Special considerations

If you are a cancer patient, the medical information list should also include your current cancer stage and the stage at the time of your diagnosis. Describe the treatments you’ve received, along with the dates of those treatments and the name of the hospital or clinic where you received them.

If you have a disability, it is especially important that you prepare for a natural disaster. The American Red Cross advises making a disaster emergency information list that will tell others whom to call if you are unconscious or unable to speak. Be sure the list mentions any adaptive equipment you use, such as a wheelchair or oxygen system.

Try to keep at least a 7-day supply of any essential medications on hand. It’s also a good idea to talk with your pharmacist about the shelf life of your medications and ask what you should do if you don’t have enough medicine after a disaster.

A little advance preparation can do a lot to keep you healthy following a natural disaster.

— K. Stuyck

For more information on this topic or for questions about M. D. Anderson’s treatments, programs, or services, call askMDAnderson at (877) MDA-6789.

Other articles in OncoLog, February 2009 issue:

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