How can you join MedicAlert®?

A wide variety of Emblems are available and membership to the service – including a tailor-made Emblem – starts at just £19.95 plus the first year’s Annual Subscription at £15.  As a registered charity, MedicAlert® can also provide free or subsidized membership to individuals on a limited income. To find out more, call freephone 0800 581420, email: info@medicalert.org.uk or visit the website at www.medicalert.org.uk 

SOS Talisman

This jewellery also has a reasonably high recognition factor and is the one that you would be offered if you enquired at various high street chemists, including Boots. The main part of it is a watertight screw topped capsule, about the size of a pound coin, which contains a paper strip, folded concertina-wise on which you can put full details of your medical condition, medication, blood group, next-of-kin, emergency medical insurance number etc. Replacement strips can be purchased at the same time as you buy the jewellery or can be ordered separately at any point. You can read more about this option by visiting the website on www.sostalisman.com

ADSHG members who travel extensively consider that the SOS capsule has certain advantages, especially if you are travelling overseas to anywhere other than so-called ‘developed world’ countries and cannot guarantee easy access to home country phone numbers or internet access. This is because all the crucial information is in the capsule, on your person. They also point out that it doesn’t rely on medical staff recognising the brand and knowing how to make the system work. This can be helpful in off-the-beaten-track contexts.

However, MedicAlert®  remains the brand that most doctors and hospital staff feel happy with, even if paramedics may prefer an SOS for its immediacy when dealing with the initial stages of an emergency, or where communications are difficult. Globe-trotting members might well be advised to have both.

Whatever option you choose, take advice from your consultant or G.P. about the most appropriate wording for your specific condition(s), as the different choices will mean that the information has to be formulated differently.