White Plains Hospital Announces “File of Life” Resource Program

WHITE PLAINS, NY – Emergency Room nurse Sue Cannock, has seen it countless times: an ambulance arrives with a patient in distress who cannot communicate his medical history, which medications he took that day or even an emergency contact number. The Emergency Department staff evaluates and treats the patient with the knowledge available, but sometimes critical information that could influence the course of treatment is unknown.

Cannock, who has worked in the White Plains Hospital Emergency Department for the last 15 years, thinks she has found a solution to this problem, modeled on a program she learned of while speaking with one of her online classmates who works in a Florida hospital. The solution will be called “The File of Life” and will be launched October 1 as a pilot program run in conjunction with Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

The File of Life itself is a magnet with a small, plastic pocket that can be stuck onto one’s refrigerator. In the pocket there is a form where participating members can fill out medication and allergy information, emergency contact numbers and more. A small sticker with the EMS Star of Life will be placed above the doorknob on a participant’s front door, indicating to the Volunteer Corps that the File of Life is on the refrigerator. Should an emergency occur, ambulance personnel will know to find the file and bring it to the hospital. In addition to the window sticker, Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps will input into its computer system that participants have a File of Life so they will be instantaneously alerted to retrieve the file.

To educate the public about this program, the Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps is sending a mailing to 6,500 homes throughout the village. As people respond, members of the Corps will deliver the File of Life to homes personally and even assist residents in filling out the requested information.

“We believe that this will help us serve the community better,” said David Raizen, President of the Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps. “Having a patient’s medical information immediately accessible to us will expedite treatment in the ambulance and at the hospital. We are pleased to partner with White Plains Hospital and hope that if we are successful, other community ambulance agencies and hospitals will adopt the program.”

“The File of Life should help us treat patients appropriately and quickly,” said Cannock. “We believe that this pilot program will show that with more information comes better medical results. We hope to collaborate with EMS agencies in other towns and make this a Westchester-wide program.”

For more information about “File of Life” please contact (914) 722-2288.

About White Plains Hospital

White Plains Hospital (WPH) is a 292-bed voluntary, not-for-profit health care organization with the primary mission of offering high quality, acute health care and preventive medical care to all people who live in, work in or visit Westchester County and its surrounding areas. Centers of Excellence include the Dickstein Cancer Treatment Center, The William & Sylvia Silberstein Neonatal & Maternity Center, The Ruth and Jerome A. Siegel Stroke Center and The Westchester Orthopedic Institute. The Hospital has the busiest Emergency Department in Westchester County, treating nearly 50,000 patients a year. White Plains Hospital is the only hospital in Westchester County licensed to perform emergency & elective angioplasty. The Hospital is a nine-time winner of the Consumer Choice Award, an honor given to the nation’s top hospitals by the National Research Corporation. WPH is a member of the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System and the Stellaris Health Network, Inc. For additional information, visit http://www.wphospital.org.

Contact Information:

Dawn French
White Plains Hospital
41 East Pond Road
White Plains, NY 10601
(914) 681-2380
dfrench@wphospital.org

Caroline Lewittes
Thompson & Bender
(914) 762-1900
caroline@thompson-bender.com

This release was published on openPR.