How do you prepare for emergency situations?
I am the closest person to our LO that my significant other and I care for. I work legit 3 minutes away from our home and my SO is all over the valley sometimes almost an hour away depending on traffic. He works with his father and all of his other family is 30-50 minutes away.
Because of this I will be the first person to act on an emergency situation and we've all made note of that. They've all told me it will be okay because the hospital isn't far away but even then I will still be the only one at the hospital.
What can/do I need to do to prepared myself? Is there an emergency bag I can prepare? Videos? I really have no idea what I'm doing. I know I won't have a panic melt down or anything like that but I would like to be somewhat prepared for anything and everything possible.
https://www.agingcare.com/articles/the-emergency-medical-file-every-caregiver-should-create-428239.htm
Then put some money for parking, going to get a coffee etc for yourself - add a light book [short stories or such] that doesn't need concentration - an empty water bottle for yourself & maybe a granola bar [don't feed a hospital patient without permission] - if your LO is aware then take cards to play a game to take their mind off being there - if unaware put in a crossword book [or such sort of thing] for yourself because sitting at a hospital with someone who doesn't communicate is draining on your strength [been there] because doing games on cell phone drains the battery
Put in pad & paper to take notes of every items done along with the dr's name & contact info then you can give it to P.O.A. when they get there - if you take regular meds yourself then put only the essentials 'just in case'
If you have anything that keeps cell battery up put that in too - then take all of it & put in a bright bag [easy to find] & put it on shelf in front closet - tape notes [bring cell phone, take meds, etc] to it for things you need to add at last minute otherwise in a crisis they will be forgotten - then sit back & relax knowing that you have done what you can for now - on the law of perversity, by doing it then you won't need it but if you don't then you will - hope this helps
You also need a POLST form completed by patient and/or family and signed by the physician. POLST stands for Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment. That is one of the first questions the EMTs will ask. They recommend that these forms be placed on the refrigerator. They will also need to know a brief medical history and what meds he is on. Has he had heart attacks? Is he on blood thinners? Does he have and hardware, stents ports, etc in his body? Does he use inhalers? etc.
They will ask for POA name & contact numbers, Insurance cards & ID card.
Always keep hallways clear enough to pass a gurney through easily. In a life-threatening time, you do not want to have to move furniture for EMTs to get in or out!
Just curious, where are this man's children?
HIPPA laws limit what information a doctor can give you. Legally, you are no different than a neighbor or someone who found him on the street.
I always take a book, and cell phone charger. One great thing about my two hospitals is, they have plenty of electric outlets. If you have time, grab something to drink and maybe a nutrition bar for yourself. Remember, don't give the patient any food or liquid in case they want to do surgery. Where I live the hospitals are great on furnishing blankets, pillows, etc for me and hubby. If he is sick enough to be in the hospital, he probably doesn't want to do anything except lay there and maybe watch TV.
My SO's family is incredibly grateful for me moving in. It had been the two boys for many years and you could tell they needed help. My SO was also so young and his grandfather didn't need our assistance until this past year after his grandmother died and his health severly declined. Our POA just thinks that we are immature and don't understand what's going on but we are trying to learn , prepare, and coordinate so that we have a better understanding. She keeps not only me but also my SO out of the loop on everything even though we are the ONLY ones handling his day to day living, helping him take his meds, and making sure he eats healthy/at all. He gets confused more and more lately. He can't even make a sandwhich because he can't find the silverware that have been in the same place for 15 years.
She says I shouldn't need access to any of this stuff becaus she and other family will arrive shortly after me(minimal 40 minutes). I'm just trying to plan for worst case senarios and she's not helping me at all. Our LO is going to talk to her about it but he doesn't think anything bad will happen to him either.
He even laughed at me for being concerned about him falling and hitting his head. He said oh I'll be fine I'm tough. Like omg.. I'm scared one of these days I'm going to get home after work or during lunch and find him... I've even began to soften all of the hard corners in our house because I'm so stressed. My SO understands why I'm so paranoid but he thinks I'm overboard with the corners which I probably am but geeze.. This is more stress than I've ever had to deal with before.
This is my family now and I'm struggling to take care of it. My SO is burnout my LO keeps falling, and I'm in no control of anything.
My SO & LO are helping me get all of the information we need for the emergency bag and I'm so thankful you all have helped me with what needs to go in it.
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