By Ailsa Young of Bradley Stoke Lions Club.
You may have seen some of our Lions Club members at the Willow Brook Centre this Easter handing out our Lions’ ‘Message in a Bottle’. This is a small white and green plastic bottle which contains a form which someone on constant medication for any reason can fill in with their personal details, their medical condition, what medication they are on, any allergies, their doctor’s details and any health visitor’s details, plus a few other pieces of relevant information.
This essential information would then be readily available to the emergency services should the person suffer an accident or sudden illness at home and be unable to communicate with the ambulance personnel.
To ensure the emergency services know this information is on hand, the bottle is then placed in the fridge, a green label is put on the outside of the fridge and another label is stuck on the inside of the front door, at eye level, to ensure that any emergency services personnel are made aware the person has the bottle. This ensures that they can render safer and speedier first aid by short cutting time-consuming fact-finding enquiries about the patient.
Having this information available could be a life saver, particularly for someone who is frail or elderly, or for someone whose first language is not English.
This is a service the Lions provide free of charge in the hope that lives can be saved by having a simple little bottle of information in a fridge!
If you do not already have a Message in a Bottle and feel that you need one or know of anyone whom you feel may need one, then please get in touch with the Bradley Stoke Lions on 0845 8336745 or 07737 106836.
The Lions’ Message in a Bottle is supported by the ambulance, police, fire & rescue services, emergency doctors and NHS primary care trusts.
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This article originally appeared in the June 2019 issue of the Bradley Stoke Journal magazine (on page 22). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH (except August), to ALL 8,700 homes in Bradley Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
