The Williams Lake and District Seniors Activity Centre is launching a new Blue Bottle Program in Williams Lake this month aimed at helping seniors help themselves prepare in the event of a medical emergency.
The program, which has already proven successful in Salmon Arm and Prince George, will encourage seniors to become more proactive about their own health and wellness by providing critical medical information to medical personnel prior to an emergency.
Blue Bottle Kits contain an instruction sheet, a personal medical form (one form per family member residing in the home) and a blue prescription bottle labelled “IN CASE OF EMERGENCY”. Individuals complete the medical information form with details, their name, Doctors name, emergency contact, existing medical conditions or allergies, current medications and care card number. The completed form(s) are then folded and placed in the Blue Bottle which is then placed in the freezer section of their fridge. The kit also includes a magnet for the fridge door and a sticker for the individuals main entrance door to alert emergency personnel.
The program is critical in providing emergency personnel information in cases where someone is unable to answer for themselves, for instance if someone were unconscious or was having a stroke. The Blue Bottle Program is particularly important for seniors living alone.
When emergency personnel are called to a home of a senior needing help, they are often delayed by not having valuable about the person. With the contents of a Blue Bottle, emergency personnel would be able to retrieve the required information to help them assess the situation/condition more quickly.
There is no cost for these kits which will be handed out by the Williams Lake Seniors Activity Centre Monday betweeen 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Do you have a comment about this story? email:
editor@wltribune.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.