When you have a chronic condition, medical emergencies can escalate quickly. Having a ready action plan can prevent a manageable crisis from becoming life-threatening.

Create Your Emergency Card (Do This Today)

Make a wallet-sized card with your chronic conditions, current medications and dosages, drug allergies, emergency contact person, preferred hospital, and your doctor’s name and phone number.

Keep copies in your wallet, car, at work, and give to family members. Update when medications change.

Know Your Crisis Warning Signs

Call 911 immediately for specific symptoms your doctor has identified as emergency signs, blood sugar levels outside your safe range, chest pain or breathing problems, or severe symptoms that feel different from your usual flare-ups.

Call your doctor’s after-hours line for concerning symptoms that aren’t immediately life-threatening, questions about medication changes during illness, or early warning signs before they become emergencies.

Medication Emergency Kit

Keep a 3-7 day supply of essential medications, a list of medications you cannot miss versus ones you can skip temporarily, contact info for your pharmacy, and insurance cards with prescription numbers.

Tell EMTs about any medication interactions that could be dangerous with emergency treatments.

Emergency Contacts Action List

Program these numbers in your phone: 911, primary care doctor’s after-hours line, specialist who manages your chronic condition, pharmacy, emergency contact person who knows your medical history, and preferred hospital’s main number.

Hospital Communication Strategy

Always tell ER staff about your chronic condition and current medications, any treatments that have caused problems before, your regular doctors’ names, and any special equipment or accommodations you need.

Bring insurance cards, current medication list, recent test results if relevant, and emergency contact information.

The American Hospital Association provides guidance on patient rights during emergency care.

Designate Your Medical Advocate

Choose someone who understands your condition, can communicate with medical staff, knows your treatment preferences, and has access to your medical information.

Make sure they know the location of important documents, your insurance information, which treatments you want or don’t want, and how to contact your regular doctors.

Quick Tech Setup

Set up emergency medical ID on your smartphone (accessible from lock screen), store photos of medication bottles, save emergency contacts with “ICE” labels, and back up medical documents to cloud storage.

Consider a medical alert bracelet, emergency medical app with your information, or medication reminder app with crisis protocols.

Monthly Review and Practice

Update your emergency card information, medication lists, emergency contact numbers, hospital preferences, and crisis warning signs as your condition changes.

Practice explaining your condition in 30 seconds or less, know the route to your preferred emergency room, and test your emergency communication plan.

Crisis Day Checklist

Before calling 911, stay calm and assess symptoms against your warning signs, take medications as prescribed for emergency situations, and call your emergency contact to let them know what’s happening.

When EMTs arrive, give them your emergency card, explain current symptoms clearly, mention your chronic condition immediately, and ask to go to your preferred hospital if medically appropriate.

At the hospital, provide your complete medication list, ask how treatments will affect your chronic condition, contact your regular doctors to coordinate care, and have your advocate join you as soon as possible.

Emergency planning for chronic conditions means being prepared when you’re healthy so you can get appropriate care quickly when your health changes. Start with creating your emergency card today – everything else can be built from there.