How to organize medical documents for an emergency

A family's checklist

Seven steps to a single emergency folder

1. Pick one spot in the house that everyone knows.

   The front of the refrigerator, a kitchen drawer near the entry, or a hall closet on the main floor all work. Avoid a safe nobody can open under stress and avoid a spare-bedroom file cabinet. The Wishkeeper Emergency Packet mirrors this idea: one QR code in one obvious place that a hurried family member or visiting caregiver can find without asking.

2. Gather the five document categories.

   Medications and doses, signed advance directives, insurance cards, a photo ID, and emergency contacts. Those five cover almost every ambulance ride and every ER intake. Add the primary care doctor's name and phone, the pharmacy phone, and a one-page medical history (allergies, recent surgeries, implanted devices) so the same questions don't have to be answered twice.

3. Use a binder with labeled dividers — one tab per category.

   A single three-ring binder in a known spot is far easier to flip through in a crisis than a stack of loose paper or a manila envelope. Label the dividers clearly — Medications, Advance Directives, Insurance, ID, Contacts — so a family member or a caregiver can pull out the one tab they need without rummaging.

4. Add a laminated medication card at the front of the binder.

   One laminated page that lists every medication, dose, frequency, the prescribing doctor, and the reason it was prescribed. EMTs will read this in the first ninety seconds. Reprint or relaminate after every doctor visit and every pharmacy change so the page in the binder is never more than a few weeks old. Wishkeeper's per-user medication list and dose fields keep the same information current digitally.

5. Include the emergency contacts sheet — names, numbers, and roles.

   The primary contact, the adult children, the durable power of attorney, the faith leader, the neighbor with a spare key. Put each name on its own line with a phone number, a relationship, and a one-word note about what that person needs to be told. The same names sit in Wishkeeper's emergency-contacts list, ready to share in a single tap.

6. Add the original DNR or POLST — paper copy required for legal validity.

   Signed DNR, living will, healthcare proxy, and POLST/MOLST forms are the documents EMTs are required to honor. In most states the paper original on the fridge, the bedside table, or the binder is the one that counts at the moment EMS arrives. Wishkeeper stores an uploaded copy for quick reference but does not create, validate, or replace legally required DNR, DNRO, POLST, MOLST, advance directive, or medical order forms — keep the official signed form or your state's valid copy in an easily accessible location alongside everything else.

7. Mirror it digitally so anyone in the family can open it from their phone.

   A photo of each page in the binder, saved to a shared album or a vault, lets a daughter at work, a son driving in from out of town, or a weekend caregiver open the same list in under a minute. Updates made at home — a new medication, a changed phone number — show up on everyone's phone immediately. The Wishkeeper Emergency Packet is built around that exact idea.