Our school is very active and always looking to improve the lives of the students. The first in our area to have a ‘friendship bench’ where kids without any friends sit on and others know to come play with them. We were also the first to have an outdoor garden and are working on an outdoor classroom this year too. It was no surprise when they sent out the forms for the Medic Alert No Child Without program. The MedicAlert® Foundation of Canada charitable organization provides MedicAlert memberships to students (age 4 to 14) at select schools. To date the program is available across over 200 school boards in over 6,000 schools in Canada.
It was a surprise when I saw that parents or guardians should consider getting their child a MedicAlert bracelet if they have ADHD. Like many people I thought MedicAlert bracelets were only for people with chronic, serious/life threatening illnesses. My best friend wears on due to an allergy and heart condition. So if something happens and she is unable to speak, medical professionals will know and it could save her life.
I had to figure this out more. I found that many people thought it was so that in case of an emergency, personnel would be able to understand any behavioral problems and would also be able to contact the parents quicker.
The reality is medical ID jewelry is for the unknown situations, things we cannot plan for. They allow first responders to treat us and potentially save our lives. I get that kids don’t carry wallets and purses with I.D. like drivers licenses, but even if your child is taking meds for ADHD, as far as I know there are very few life-threatening potential interactions with other meds.
I found a great article about medical ID jewelry and ADHD kids that made some good points. Most notably that ADHD kids tend to be forgetful at times. Meaning they are less likely to remember your phone number or address, especially in times of stress. My 9 year old son still relies on his sister (7 years old) for that information. Forgetfulness can also mean they forget the name of the medication they are taking, any allergies and like my son have no idea about the dosage.
ADHD kids also have what I refer to as a ‘lack of inhibitors’ or what others call lower levels of danger awareness. Basically for my son (without his ADHD medication) there are no inhibitions when doing any activity. ALL activities are a good idea to him, even if they could put him or others at risk. This, coupled with his hyperactivity, has led him to be in a lot of accidents and a few ambulance rides at a very young age.
ADHD kids also have trouble paying attention… ‘attention deficit’ is in the title after all! This means they are more prone to get lost, and as mentioned earlier they likely cannot recall emergency contact information. This lack of attention also means they lose things ALL THE TIME. This includes backpacks or cards with detailed information…. or like my son the entire backpack and lunch box! The bracelet is something that they don’t take off, so it’s a little harder for them to lose. Although I’m sure my son will be up to the challenge!
To find out if your school is part of the MedicAlert Foundation No Child Without program visit: http://www.nochildwithout.ca/ .
