MedicAlert

MedicAlert is a nonprofit company founded in 1956 by Dr. James Collins. Its headquarters is located in Turlock, California, with nine affiliates overseas. It maintains a database of medical information on its members, which is made available to the authorities in the United States and overseas when there is an emergency. Members of MedicAlert provide information to the organization which then provides them with a distinctive metal bracelet or tag that they wear at all times. It can then be used by emergency medical personnel to obtain access to the member's medical history as well as any special medical needs.

Essentially, the need for MedicAlert arose with people from one medical health authority being involved in an accident in another area, or indeed another country, and crucial medical information is not readily available either because the patient is badly injured and not able to give consent for access to this information, or sometimes because the identity of the patient is not known. There might also be delays in getting hold of this information. When a patient needs immediate medical care, and often may need an operation quickly, the doctors treating the patient would need to know information that may not be obvious. This may include such matters as allergies to particular foods, to latex, to some metals, insects, and even some medicines such as penicillin, as well as any intolerance to particular medications.

It is essential for doctors treating an emergency patient to know whether the person has suffered from, or suffers from, Alzheimer's disease, asthma, autism, diabetes, epilepsy, hemophilia, heart disease, hypertension, or Parkinson's disease, as well as knowing whether the person has any devices or implants such as a pacemaker, artificial heart valves, stents as a result of angioplasty, and so forth. It is also necessary to know whether the patient is taking any medication. The particular importance of MedicAlert in that field is when patients may be admitted to hospitals in such a state that they may not be able to give details of all the medication they are taking.

Traditionally, MedicAlert has used engraved tags or personalized jewelry, depending on the taste of the person, with the use of bracelets and/or necklaces being common. There have also been many people who wear watches from the Citizen Watch Company, which has teamed up with MedicAlert to store information on its watches.

The main problem has been in keeping such information up to date and there have been trials involving the use of electronic storage devices using a universal serial bus (USB) interface. To ensure the widest possible coverage, MedicAlert has established affiliates overseas.