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Vial of Life Project Information
NAVIGATION |
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General Information
The Vial of Life or Vial of L.I.F.E. (Lifesaving Information For Emergencies) is a program which allows individuals to provide medical information in advance that can be used by emergency personnel in the case of an emergency. Vial of Life programs are usually sponsored and promoted by Senior citizen's organizations, local Fire Departments, or hospitals, although it may be utilized by anyone. The materials required are usually available for free and some may be downloaded and produced by the individual.
--Wikipedia.com article on the Vial of Life
What the Vial of Life Program Consist of
The Vial of Life program consists of alerting emergency medical technicians, firefighters, policemen, babysitters, etc. of the ailments and medical record of a single resident (one bag per resident, but only one sticker is necessary for the front door). On the front door, at eye level, a red sticker (self designed, but easily recognized) will be placed alerting officials that the residents are participating in the Vial of Life. Inside the house/apartment, on the upper-right hand corner of the refrigerator/freezer closest to the kitchen, a bag, labeled with the same insignia and have the name of the designated person. Other places you could keep the medical form are in your walet, purse, or child's backpack.
In this Ziploc bag will be numerous forms containing vital information including, but not limited to, the vial of life general form (self-designed with the advice of doctors), DNR information, a current picture, organ transplant/donation forms, a copy of a living will, and any other pertinent medical information.
My Inspiration
Every year, one in every nineteen Americans experience an injury in one’s household. Although usually minor, over fifty thousand of these injuries are fatal. Fifteen million of those who are lucky, and are not killed, experience injuries that will cripple them for the rest of their lives ["Report on Injuries in America, 2003." 15 Apr. 2005. National Safety Council. 24 Feb. 2006 <http://www.nsc.org/nsm/research.htm>]. Each year, these statistics are rising at an astonishing rate.
Although it is virtually impossible to prevent all household accidents, many lives can be saved with immediate medical care. However, in many cases, especially in the cases of young children and senior citizens, vital information may not be able to be communicated, or found by emergency personnel. The Vial of Life program is a project aimed at lowering the statistic stated in the opening, and providing emergency medical information to those who need it most.
My Project
The Vial of Life project that I want to undertake is one aimed at aiding my immediate town, East Meadow, and surrounding neighborhoods. It is open to anybody anywhere, but is sponsored by the East Meadow Fire Department. Although open to anybody, the project will focus primarily on the elderly (sixty five and older), then a portion of the general public, then young children (eight and younger), older adolescents (eight to eighteen), and finally the general public, especially in the East Meadow vicinity. The elderly are most susceptible to injury in a situation where there is nobody around to relay important information; also, an injury to a senior citizen is more likely to be life threatening. Young children are equally susceptible to injury, and they too cannot relay information; however, more often than not, a child is in the presence of a responsible guardian. These age groups would benefit from the program the most, thus solving a major epidemic plaguing the community.
My Project Outline
This Vial of Life project consists of four major parts: elderly, community, young children, and the extended community.
The elderly aspect of the program will consist of me and my troop of scouts going to different meetings and giving speeches pertaining to the program. Also, in the short time allotted, we will distribute and help fill out forms and bags. This aspect must be done in a short time, requiring intensive leadership and organization. The services that will be contacted will include, but are not limited to, AARP meetings, VFW meetings and Kiwanis Meetings. The second aspect, community, consists of holding one day at the fire department open to anyone in the community who wishes to come; at this event, the largest group of scouts will be included at any given point, working as efficiently as possible. The third aspect, young children, consists of educating select pediatricians, and spending a day or two at a pediatrician’s office filling out forms for everyone who comes. The doctors will be provided with information for future visitors, as explained in the extended community section.
The final, and most important aspect (other than the initial education), is the extended community step. This will consist of the designing and advertising of a website, open to the entire world – of which I already got permission from existing sites. On this website will be all of the forms and instructions, as well as insignias and useful links. The most important aspect of the website will be a question and comment page, open for all users. This important feature is accessible to any person around the globe. It will have an area that anybody can contact me, through e-mail, with any questions, comments or concerns that he or she has. My hope is that for every person that are educated and informed at meetings, offices and in the community, they will tell two people, thus starting a revolution of safety. Any person who is told of this service can easily download one’s own form and insignias. Also, if a person moves, or if an insignia fades or rips, a new one can easily be replaced via this method. In addition to passing by word of mouth, the website will be posted on signs and the insignia on the front door, and a person can read about the project and participate in it without direct contact. This website will be: http://www.VialOfLife.ly2.com. This will be a redirection to the website: http://www.angelfire.com/planet/vialoflife/, which you can also go to directly. Although the insignia should only be used by local residents under the East Meadow Fire Department and local EMS, it can be used to be brought to other departments across the nation to start a new program, and will have a place to search for a program near them. If the information gets destroyed, or if there has been a major change, a new form can be printed, and it can replace the old one. Similarly, a new set of instructions can be printed. On the instructions form, it will list this as important to do every year or so. Finally, the website will have a set of links that can help propagate scouting, as well as other substantial vial of life programs.
Additional Information
My BSA Eagle Proposal
