Our Family Organization Notebook III
This week, we are dealing with our family’s health and health insurance information. This is going to be a lot of information to gather, and we acknowledge that, but on the flip side, it is information we always end up needing at some point or other, so why not get it together now? Now is as good a time as any, and now is a better time than in an emergency. This is the point of the organization notebook. So, prepare for a little more detail work than previous weeks and let’s just get it done. Ready? Here we go.
In review, our family organization notebook is simply a three ring binder that we purchased and decorated so it is pretty and fun and engaging and we love it. This is important because we want to USE this notebook. What is the use of putting all this information together if we don’t use it? As a reminder, here are the eight sections of the Family Organization Notebook that we are going to put together:
- the basics of your family
- an emergency plan for your family
- health/health insurance information
- insurance as it pertains to your possessions, life and such
- your money matter locations and such
- information for an attorney/preparation for legal issues
- information for caregivers, be they taking care of your home, pet, children, parents or what have you
- finally, information on your house itself and what is in it
Remember that you want to create a page for each individual family member, including your pets (yes, I know it seems silly to some people, but you have to keep their immunization records up to date too, especially in the extreme case of evacuations or the simple case if you want to kennel them). So let’s start:
Basic information:
-
Famly member Name:
Family member blood type:
Individual family member medical information:
-
Primary physician name:
Primary physician phone number:
Other physician (specialty)
name:
phone
Repeat for as many additional specialty physicians as necessary and PLEASE update each time you add a new specialty physican to the group. It WILL make your life easier.
Surgeries:
-
type
date
physician
diagnosis
surgery location
test result
Again, repeat this information for as many surgeries as each individual family member has had. As you well know, each time you visit a doctor, the office seems to ask this information over and over, so if you are in the habit of updating this information regularly, you can simply highlight this information in your family organization notebook, print it out and take it to your doctor’s office. No more having to remember the details for each office appointment! You have done all your research and can simply hand off your hard work and reap the benefits! Moving on to the next section.
Allergies: (list any allergies)
-
food
medicine
other
Immunizations:
-
type
last booster
date
repeat for all immunization information
Medications/Supplements: (this particular part of your notebook is vital to keep updated as this part will be frequently accessed and even taken to every doctors appointment you every attend. If you are ever in an emergency situation, the information below is the main information emergency assistance will need to know so keeping this up to date is vital).
-
Name of medicine
dosage
prescribing doctor & rx number (while this is not necessary, we find for maintenance prescriptions, it makes life so much easier)
Health insurance information
Primary Health Insurance
-
Name of Insurance company
Full Address
Phone
Secondary Insurance Company
-
Name of Insurance company
Full Address
Phone
Pharmacy contact
-
Name of Pharmacy:
Phone:
And finally, answer questions for each family member:
Is this family member an organ donor?
Location of this family member’s living will?
Location of this family member’s power of attorney?
