Do your family a favor and organize your important info

If you’ve been putting off the task of creating and organizing important information and documents you will eventually need, consider doing it now. You will have greater peace of mind and have given your loved ones a wonderful gift.

What do I mean by important? I’m talking about information that, properly compiled and made available, can save precious seconds in an emergency and answer questions that your family didn’t even know they had, in case you are unable to answer them yourself.

As a nurse and patient advocate, I’ve seen families thrown into turmoil, emotional as well logistical, when they realize they have to make some decisions and start taking care of mom’s or dad’s accounts and details.

That’s why I’m once again letting you know about my Emergency Life File, which I offer as a free service to my readers. To request an electronic version, of which you can make multiple copies, visit www.NurseAdvocateEntrepreneur.com.

Since I first offered the Emergency Life File last year, readers have good things to say about it.

“What I like about it is that it’s so comprehensive,” said Life File user Shelley Levine. “It's a good feeling to know that all my important personal information is in one place and I can feel confident everything is in order. It's exactly what I'd want to have documented in the event of an emergency.”

I’m always advocating for making sure first responders have immediate access to the patient’s medical information, including health history, medications, surgeries, insurance information and phone number for the primary health care provider. A good place to put it is on the refrigerator, where an EMT or paramedic is most likely to look. It’s also easy to grab if you have to take yourself or a loved one to the emergency room.

The Emergency Life File goes way beyond that.

This is not the same as the information you keep on the fridge or something you would tuck into a suitcase before a trip. It contains personal identifiable information (PII) that you want to keep in a secured location, one only your family, attorney or financial adviser has access to.

Let’s walk through the Emergency Life File. You might be surprised at the level of detail it asks for — things you might not even have thought of.

The first few pages are just what you expect: Name, address, date of birth, gender, ethnicity. There’s space for a Social Security number, but if you’re not comfortable including it, you can use the last 4 digits format.

You may include login information for banks, investment accounts, credit cards and real property so your family can access them if you become incapacitated. As a reminder, keep this information in a secure location, but tell your family how to access it.

The next page provides insurance information, including Medicare and Medicaid ID numbers, and contact info for your doctors and patient advocate. After that comes information on any life insurance or long-term care policies you are carrying.

There are pages devoted to your online and social media accounts, including passwords, so these can be disabled or deleted if you become incapacitated. Also a list of friends and relations who should be notified of your hospitalization or death.

As a dog mom to three King Charles spaniels, I would worry more about their care than about myself in an emergency. So there are pages devoted to them: names, feeding and walking schedules, medications, vet’s name and microchip numbers.

There are also pages where you can list important documents and where to find them, such as advance medical directive (AMD), health care and financial powers of attorney (POA), estate and trust information and will.

You can note your end-of-life instructions and preferences for a funeral or celebration of life — for example, whether you want hospital chaplains to visit and pray with you, whether you want family members nearby when death is imminent, even whether you’ve arranged for an anatomical gift to a medical school.

I’m so pleased to provide this service, and I don’t want you to wait too long to complete it. Compile this information while you’re cognitively able to do it and ensure family members know where it is and what’s in it.

Again, visit my website to request your copy. I hope you will find it to be useful, and that you will let me know what you think.

• Teri (Dreher) Frykenberg, a registered nurse, board-certified patient advocate, is the founder of www.NurseAdvocateEntrepreneur.com, which trains medical professionals to become successful private patient advocates. She is the author of “How to Be a Healthcare Advocate for Yourself & Your Loved Ones,” available on Amazon. Frykenberg offers a free phone consultation to readers. Contact her at Teri@NurseAdvocateEntrepreneur.com.