Ever wondered for whose benefit it is that we sometimes sugar coat serious topics? Avoiding the cold hard facts of an issue may make it easier to deal with but in the long run it does not teach you the truth of things nor prepare you to deal with them, and, can only serve to harm us by keeping us blissfully ignorant of that truth. I have a deep love for you my Brothers and Sisters and so have sucked the sugar coating off my topic and am prepared to get down to the real and sometimes gruesome truth.

I want to talk about an aspect of personal preparedness I hadn’t given much thought too until now. Identification. In our 72-hour packs we are asked to have copies of our birth certificates and other documents, but what about in every day life, in the car for instance? Do you have any form of photo identification in your car? What would happen if you and your family were off somewhere in the car and were involved in a serious car accident? Would you get out of the car scratching your head saying ‘man how did that happen’ and walk home? Maybe, maybe not, if it was a serious accident there would be injuries, maybe even fatal injuries. The ambulance would come cart you off to the hospital… then what? What of the rest of the family, were they all injured, those that weren’t, where are they to go, and who do they contact to come pick them up? How will you be identified? By your drivers license? But what about the kids?

The gruesome facts are these: in the event of a serious car accident your photo may be what the surgeons use to put your face back together again. I am serious; an emergency room nurse whose experience and opinion I respect has said that sometimes a person is so messed up that their drivers license is the only thing the doctors have to go on. The other ugly but true fact is: sometimes fatalities happen and sorting out who belongs to which car and who is who is a hard and sorrowful task.

So what can you do?

Take a leaf from the emergency preparedness plan and have a family photo taken. On the computer or by other means have everyone’s names added to the photo so it is clear who is who. On the back of the photo list each persons details. Their full name, date of birth, blood group, any relevant medical history, religious persuasion, next of kin and several emergency contact numbers for who is to take the children in case of an accident leaving the parents in hospital. Have the photo laminated and keep it in your wallet or handbag. Keep it right next to your drivers’ license so if the police need to identify you they can see the family photo and details too. Or have a smaller copy made and attached to your key chain.

Being prepared and knowing the ugly truth of things is not inviting an accident to happen, it is being sensible and acknowledging that sometimes accidents do happen. I pray we none of us ever need to be identified by such a means as a photo from our handbag or wallet. But the head in the sand mentality won’t help those whose job it is to help you.

Until next week remember it is good to be an identifiable, contactable, next of kin naming, prepared for anything Latter Day Saint.

Yours in preparedness

Georgia