I have Crohn’s Disease. I’ve been hospitalized twice in two different cities that are not where I’m living, so tracking down my medical records has always been an issue.

I’m on the right medication now, and I haven’t had any issues for over a year, but the lack of warning symptoms always worries me that I could have a flare up any time, any place.

So far Haiti I made a digital dog tag. Basically it’s a USB drive with emergency information, medical records, and other important data.

Here’s what’s on it:

• Emergency Text File – This file, named !Emergency so it stays at the top, has all my personal information (full legal name, date of birth, current address), illnesses I have, medications I’m on, and a few emergency contacts with “In case of emergency, contact” in a few different languages. I also have a printed copy.
• Passport Image – A scan of my passport
• Medical Records – I asked my doctor’s office to make me a copy of everything they have. I ran it all through my Canon Pixma all-in-one (much cheaper than a ScanSnap) and saved it as one big PDF.

I like to play worst case scenarios in my mind, and of course the obvious one is what happens if I lose the drive or it gets stolen. Identity security versus medical safety.

I decided to take the risk and not password protect my records because I’d rather be a healthy victim of identity theft than something worse.

I’ve put the drive on a metal chain which I’ll wear around my neck, so it should be very secure.

Any ideas for anything else that should go on the drive?

I’m leaving early tomorrow morning. Follow me to see how things go.

Photo by bruckerrib

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