Medic alert jewelry – pros and cons

In my previous blog about whether to wear medic alert jewelry, I said the pros and cons were for another blog. 

As with any jewelry, you should consider your lifestyle and how often you have accidents with your jewelry. Medic Alert jewelry fits the same criteria. Find something that is practical and fits with your lifestyle.

Bracelets
– pros – can be worn on either arm, some even wear them as ankle bracelets. Some models are very stylish while others can be over the top depending on your budget.
- cons – people do catch them on things and they do come off at inopportune
times.

Necklaces or Dog tags
– pros – many men find necklaces more acceptable as they are covered by clothing and for some dog tags fit the bill.
- cons – while most will break if caught on something, but they can leave nasty scars.

Cards
– pros – easy to carry, can easily be updated.
- cons – easily lost, misplaced, stolen.

Shoe tags
- pros – may not be as noticeable, pant cuffs may cover.
- cons – can easily be lost, removed, or stolen.

Sports bands
- pros – see bracelets for pros and cons.

Watches
- pros - are practical and many of us do wear them.
- cons – are more expensive than many of us can afford to wear.

The above are just six of the possibilities. With Medic Alert, a card comes with any piece of jewelry so it makes sense to use them both.

One caution for those wearing necklaces – they must be removed by personnel administering a defibrillator. This must be done to prevent burns as well as other metal worn as part of clothing. Yes, women, I am talking about under-wire bras.

Other than those that believe big brother is watching and will never use an medical microchip, they could become a good thing for people with chronic diseases. The information could be stored and retrieved by readers. One problem is that many companies will want a piece of the action and their microchips will be encoded slightly different from another company so they can also sell their microchip readers. This will need federal regulation to prevent this from happening. Imagine a person from the East traveling to the Southwest part of the US and needing medical assistance, but the reader used there does not read to microchip from the East. Not good.

I personally would not like to see federal regulation, but our companies have a big habit of trying to be competitive and want to dominate the market and not cooperate when it comes to health care or assisting people with chronic illnesses. If they could cooperate, it could be good for all parties.

Another idea I mentioned is a sticker that could be displayed in a vehicle window or have a symbol on the license plate. This could be a large help to our police in knowing that something could be wrong.

An idea that I want to explore is a decal or sticker that could be placed where it would not be missed just inside the apartment and or the same for the main entrance to a house.