UKH

We had a terrible tragedy at out local Park Run today. Whilst it is on my mind I just wanted to remind everyone of what you all know already, but if you're like me probably don't do!

Please, when you're out running, take details of someone who could be called in case of an emergency.

Many people take their phones, but these are often locked, therefore useless to someone trying to contact your next of kin.

There are plenty of websites offering bands etc, but you could always go and get a dog tag or a key tag engraved and attach it to your laces as a cheap and effective option, around £5.

Or if you're a Park Run regular you can get one of their tags which has your name and ICE information on it (unfortunately this runner did not have this information).

Safe running x

In reply to Uluru: sorry to hear about that. FYI my wife's samsung (android jellybean) allows contacts nominated as ICE to be called from the lock screen. This isn't possible on an iPhone though

This doesn't replace taking responsibility for yourself and carrying contact details.

In reply to Uluru:

I wear a RoadID avail from the US after attending a REC first aid course where we were encouraged to actively look for such a thing. Laser engraving and 6 lines on a bracelet allows for oodles of useful info, such as NOK/ICE contacts, address, medical history etc etc etc.. I wear mine just for piece of mind should the worst happen when out fellrunning.

In reply to Uluru:

That's brilliant that you both take the appropriate information with you. I did see the Road ID when I was Googling after todays event. It looks like a great product.

Good tip Loughan. My Samsung must be able to do the same. I'll check and see.

In reply to Uluru:

I'm very sorry to hear about the tragedy that happened, very sad indeed.

I'm a little curious as to how carrying an ice would have made a difference to the outcome? I don't have anyone I'd like to be contacted ice. I'd just like treatment as required and those that are close to me will find out whatever's happened in due course but there's no one person I'd like to receive a call about me.

I don't think I'm alone in that view? Also parkrun registration asks for ice details so they should have been able to retrieve them.

As I said at the start, very sad though.

In reply to Loughan:


There's several free apps that do enable it, though.

In reply to Uluru:
Kind-of depends on whether you would want someone calling there and then. I would prefer to end up care of the NHS to fix anything they possibly can. Then we can worry about my parents or sister travelling 200+ miles to see me (be I dead or alive) - if they are phoned straight away, there might be another casualty on the motorway as a result.

I imagine I should probably just carry ID, this being the case. Or maybe an instruction to this end.

Neil

In reply to Neil Williams:

I guess it's not just contacts, but medical info?

In reply to Neil Williams:

There was a recent video that went viral about a girl being stopped for id running in TX.. I never carry id and do worry a bit about it in the US as I run on the roads and will cross anywhere so there's a chance I'll be id'd but as I understand in my state there is no requirement to carry id.

Road id is a nice idea, but I dont.

Medical info is different but I have no allergies, medical ailments.

Its probably just as important to carry id when out hiking or scrambling alone but most of us don't.

In reply to Wonrek:

You dont need that on you for the actual parkrun do you?

I thought you can leave all that in the car and get your bar code scanned after, so if at a different park run to usual people may not know who you are.

In reply to IainRUK:

Yes you could.

Neil

In reply to andy:

If I had any. (Gluten intolerance is unlikely to be of interest). But won't people with such info be likely to have medic alert bracelets anyway?

Neil

In reply to Neil Williams:


That's fine if you have a minor accident, but what if it's something more serious? What if there is a requirement for next of kin to make a treatment decision on your behalf? What if the worst happened and it took a while for someone to find out who you are? If nothing else, I would like my family to be able to give the go ahead for organ donation in those circumstances...

I carry an ICE card in my purse. I run, cycle and hill walk on my own a lot and it's often the case that my partner is working away and doesn't know I am out. Even when he's home, he doesn't always know where I have gone as I often run or cycle ad hoc routes anyway (this is not the case for hill walking where I do tend to leave a route card). I have been considering a dogtag as a more robust solution for a while as a card is a pain to carry , but the Road ID bands look good too.

In reply to Wonrek:

Unfortunately his Park Run details were not up to date. The paramedics wanted to call someone to ask about the large scar on his chest, whilst still working on him then obviously to tell them the very sad news.

It was very stressful for all the volunteers at the Park Run not being able to call someone close to him. We should think about the impact it has on others as well.

In reply to kathrync:
I would personally consider a doctor is far more qualified to make a treatment decision on my behalf than a non medically qualified family member overcome by emotion. And I am on the donor register.

Edit: and I wouldn't expect Parkrun volunteers to be having to make calls like that, they do enough as it is. That's for the Police or people in the NHS trained for it.

Worth noting though that I am single and live a long way from family. That's not the same as if I had a partner.

Neil

In reply to Uluru:

That's very sad news but of course if you organise events (even non-athletic ones) involving thousands of people every week then sometimes bad things will happen. It doesn't make it any less bad for the individuals involved though, including the event organisers and the other participants who help.

And that's the most important reason to take ID, people trying to help you will be under a lot more stress if they can't find out who you are, decisions they need to take will be more difficult and they'll feel (even more) helpless.

I keep my Parkrun barcode with my GPS logging phone and it's my ID whenever I run.

In reply to Neil Williams:


In most cases, absolutely - but if, for example, it's a call between an aggressive treatment that can keep you alive but with a high possibility of permanent brain damage or letting nature take its course, then doctors do like to give the family a choice.

Regarding organ donation, signing the register is not legally binding and permission still has to be obtained from next of kin. Being on the register or carrying a card merely acts as an expression of wish for your next of kin if you have not had the discussion with them.

In reply to kathrync:
An interesting point...what if you don't have any next of kin? There are people in that position. I haven't got any kids - if my sister also didn't have any (she does) I would imagine I could have ended up in that position had I outlived her.

I think I'd still rather have a doctor make the appropriate decision based on their professional judgement than to put that emotionally destroying decision on my parents/sister/her kids. I should perhaps carry a card saying that!

"Regarding organ donation, signing the register is not legally binding and permission still has to be obtained from next of kin."

I couldn't possibly object more to that situation. It is my decision[1], not anyone else's. It should be legally binding.

[1] And my decision is that you can use what you like for whatever purpose you like, I'm dead, it's no use to me. Not always the call that seriously upset relatives will make, which is why they are utterly the wrong people to make it.

Neil

In reply to Neil Williams:




I agree entirely - but sadly that's not the way it is at the moment. Thankfully my family are all quite aggressively pro-donation as my Mum and my partner's late wife are/were both transplant recipients so it's not something that I personally have to worry about.

In reply to Neil Williams:

This will always be the case - the docs will make the best choices based on the information available to them. Giving them more information allows them to make better decisions.

This topic comes up a lot - I've thought about it more and more and am actually considering one of these RoadID bracelets after a lot of initial scepticism - for two reasons.

1. I run a lot in the mountains on my own - most days when I'm at home. Only last week a neighbour's dog was killed after unearthing a viper nest and being bitten a couple of times on trails that I run on. I have no known allergies but listing these on a band could definitely help some people too when they're not in a position to give advice to first responders.

2. I travel a lot for work - most weeks to various foreign cities and go running whenever I'm there. I don't take ID or wallet out with me for obvious reasons but if I was ever mugged or something happened again it wouldn't hurt to have some contact info to get back to my wife.

Quite frankly I've been quite resistant to the idea as one of the things I love about running is the freedom to go where I want as the urge takes me - but the wristband idea seems quite unobtrusive and quite easy to remember - so I'm a bit more open minded now.

I'm a bit slack about all this, you've just reminded me to add my ICE number again after my phone was wiped. We had a guy found collapsed on the hill a couple of years ago - in a coma for a few days and then died before being IDed. Sad. http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/police-exhaust...

Thinking about getting a pile of these for the club: http://www.toetagz.co.uk/

In reply to SteveRi:



Toetagz look like another great idea. Thanks for posting it.