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Show HN: Emergency Wallet Cards

113 points| wilrnh | 4 years ago |w.hutson.gy

47 comments

order

WalterBright|4 years ago

Eh, I've just written stuff with a pen on a slip of paper and stuffed it in my wallet for the last n decades.

I also do innovative high tech things like tape a piece of paper with my email on it to the back of my kindle. That came in handy when I left it on the airplane, and the airline staff emailed me so I could get it back.

I suppose credit should go to my mom who'd sew a name tag into my clothes before dispatching me off to camp.

advisedwang|4 years ago

The FEMA PDF that the author refers to but does not link to can be found at [1]. Other resources at [2] and [3].

[1] https://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/2021-10/family-com...

[2] https://www.ready.gov/plan

[3] https://www.ready.gov/kids/make-a-plan

wilrnh|4 years ago

Thank you for finding and sharing these links. [1] seems to be an updated version of the PDF. The original inspiration for EWC seems to be gone from ready.gov, but there's a picture of it in my post. If anyone comes across the person/s who designed it, please give them my sincere regards, its genius.

wilrnh|4 years ago

Hey HN, EmergencyWalletCards.com is a website I built with the help of my old friend @oedmarap to help bring Emergency Wallet Cards to everyone by making it super easy for anyone to quickly fill, print and fold a card for their wallet, purse, or anywhere you can slip a credit-card into. Check out the intro blog post, try the app out, and let me know what you think!

csw-001|4 years ago

This is really cool. I've worked in the Emergency Management space for a decade, and this is a clear win - great idea well executed, so kudos. Even if people never look at them, the process of creating them and thinking through personal disaster responses is hugely valuable (plans are nothing, planning is everything). Well done.

It's scope creep for sure, but I'd love have a version of this for international travel that populates local consulate/embassy offices, visa numbers, airline, hotel numbers, and personal emergency medical info in the local language. I had a coworker that would make international travel wallet cards for folks traveling abroad - it was pretty cool.

kwhitefoot|4 years ago

I have a few suggestions that might make this more useful for an international audience.

- I suggest that you offer people the option to use long dates; 7th June 1980. When reading in a hurry a little redundancy can be helpful.

- abbreviations like DOB, ZIP, etc., are not necessarily universally understood.

- the address should be a free text multiline field to allow addresses to be written in the customary form in different countries. Not everyone has a house number or postal code.

As all the information is optional it would probably be useful to include a field for things like national ID numbers, social security numbers, etc. The point is that this number give emergency medical facilities a way to quickly access a person's medical records in some countries.

stevenicr|4 years ago

I like the idea, and appreciate the privacy statement on page. I might add - your info is not sent to our servers / the cloud - it stay in your computer memory..

I feel many people do not understand what stays in your browser does not equal the cloud.. especially since chromebooks became a thing.

Not sure they pay for sales - but a link to have it sent to a printer at the local office max.. not having a printer easily accessible p it's actually convenient to send-rmail-to-print.. I stop by there after picking up coffee and print a few sheets once in a while.. I guess some people would email it to another person for them to print for them..

KennyBlanken|4 years ago

> making it super easy for anyone to quickly fill, print and fold a card for their wallet, purse, or anywhere you can slip a credit-card into

This is functionality that could have been done simply by adding form fields to the PDF.

engagingdata|4 years ago

good idea. And a good reminder to prepare for emergencies.

zengargoyle|4 years ago

I couldn't find a link anywhere to some sort of 'blank' PDF example, or to a fake filled out example. Double sided printing would be nice. So would formatting the output so you could cut/fold/staple it down into a little book.

Cool idea though. At work (back in the day) we had little laminated pieces of paper crammed with important numbers, a new one every year. Came in quite handy. Having the access to the scarily high res Xerox printer I'd print out a little black book of friends phone numbers to always have around.

mleonhard|4 years ago

Making a laminated card is easy with a clothing iron and cheap lamination sheets.

pedantsamaritan|4 years ago

My emergency wallet card also links to a web site with more details (e.g. recent photo of family)

toomuchtodo|4 years ago

Consider adding a QR code for that link.

andreareina|4 years ago

This is a good idea. Unfortunately it doesn't like my 6-digit postal code.

Arch485|4 years ago

I've just submitted a PR for this on GitHub, so hopefully the system will be less American soon.

wilrnh|4 years ago

Yes, EWC needs lots of internationalization love. Please please please open lots of issues and PRs!

amanzi|4 years ago

Doesn't like my 4-digit post code either. Guess this only for American addresses?

cyounkins|4 years ago

I briefly tried to make my own template in Google Drive. In Docs you can set a table's width and minimum height. In Sheets, column width can be set in pixels. Neither seemed great for this purpose.

I think Microsoft Publisher used to be the go-to tool for this type of document. Is there an online alternative that might be usable to make my own? Basically looking for formatting tools that can be used inside a series of rectangles of a constant height and width.

m-p-3|4 years ago

I'd normally go with Inkscape to design that kind of format, but that's just me.

gumby|4 years ago

If you don't carry a wallet or other ID (I rarely do myself):

Tape or p-touch your name to the back of your phone (esp handy for people like me who always have to spell it) and somebody else's phone number (the number of someone who can help if something happens to you).

I include my email address too. Then if someone finds my phone, or me prostrate with my phone, they can get in touch with help.

alx__|4 years ago

I like this idea. But personally I wonder if during an emergency would remember I even had this?

joshka|4 years ago

I'd pay $5-10 for a nice waterproof info dense card with this sort of info on it.

mlac|4 years ago

I would too, but maybe the service with a laminator would do well enough…

Road ID is a good, more expensive option that exists too [1]. It is limited space, but they had (and May still have a URL service or phone where you enter your info online and first responders can get the full picture.

https://www.roadid.com/

OJFord|4 years ago

What about <$1 for exactly this printed and laminated at a library or stationery shop?

If that's not fulfilling 'nice', it's a pretty simple job for someone that can laser engrave, I wonder what Shapeways or similar would charge for a credit card sized sheet of something, engraved with the info for example.