For Clinicians | The Family Emergency Plan Checklist

The Medical Layer Most Plans Miss

By Dr. Jamie Wilkey, PharmD — Director of Clinical Strategy, Jase
Medically reviewed and edited by Aaron Asay, PA-C, DMSc, FIBODM, FAWM

When disaster strikes, medical personnel in a busy ER often make critical treatment decisions with limited information about their patients.  Sometimes these decisions can potentially cause harm or delay care. An example of this is a delirious victim of a car accident presenting to an emergency department with no obvious injury but cannot inform providers that they are on blood thinners from a previous stroke. Clinicians sometimes care for patients whose emergency is made worse because critical information isn’t available. A missing medication list. An unknown medical history. No advance directive. The questions that really matter simply go unanswered while care moves forward. Many of these problems are preventable with a little preparation before the crisis ever begins. This article is written for clinicians but designed to be shared with patients and families. Use it as a conversation starter during routine visits or simply hand it to patients as a practical guide to building the medical layer of a family emergency plan.

Most plans get the basics right: a contact list, a meeting place, and a go-bag with flashlights and granola bars. What they often miss is the information clinicians need when a patient cannot speak for themselves: a current medication list that travels with the patient, an Emergency Information Form for children with complex medical needs, a healthcare proxy designated before it is ever needed, and copies of these documents stored where a single fire or flood cannot destroy them all.

For example, an elderly parent gets evacuated from her assisted living facility, and staff are unable to tell the family where she went. A child with a complex diagnosis ends up in an unfamiliar ER away from his regular specialists, and the physician on call has little information to form a treatment plan. A house fire, destroys the only copies of every important document because they are sitting in a binder on the burning shelf inside.

Three different families, three different emergencies, and the same failure underneath all of them: a plan that never accounted for the medical layer and redundancy.

None of this takes a lawyer or a lot of time. It takes a checklist, built once and occasionally reviewed, so nobody’s improvising it under stress, when the documents are hardest to find and the stakes are highest. Here’s what it contains: emergency contacts, medical documents, advance directives, the family members and pets who need their own line item, and if other information is stored digitally, the web address, usernames and passwords to access those sites.

Contacts and Communication

Many families already have a contact list with important emergency information. A complete list should include more than just phone numbers. Record contact information for every household member. Add one or two trusted local relatives, friends, or neighbors who can help if family members become separated. Include your primary care clinician, pediatrician, important specialists, pharmacy, schools or daycare, employers, caregivers, and veterinarian if you have pets. Add your family’s home address, and local emergency and utility numbers. This is a critical piece of the plan and not to be skipped.

In addition to the above, pick one out-of-town contact, someone far enough away that a local disaster won’t hit their phone lines too.¹ Local circuits jam first in an emergency; a long-distance call often goes through when a call across town won’t. Every family member calls that one person to check in, so nobody is trying to reach five people directly.

Put the actual list in writing, and store in more than one place: a card in every wallet, a copy on the fridge, a copy saved on every phone. FEMA’s fillable Family Emergency Communication Plan and the Red Cross Family Disaster Plan template both do this well.2 Save this list in everyone’s online password manager as well and on the Notes section of your cellphone so you always have it with you and easy to access. This is also an excellent place to store a current picture of each family member since it gets reviewed periodically.  At each review, update the photo. It is especially important for small children whose appearance changes significantly from year to year.

Pick two meeting places, not one: one nearby for a sudden emergency like a fire, one outside the neighborhood entirely for anything that requires evacuation.3

Review it twice a year, or after any move, new phone number, new school, or job change.⁴

The Medical Documents Layer

Two documents belong here, and most families are missing at least one of them.

The first is a written medication list, current, legible, and physically with the family, not just in a portal login nobody can reach mid-evacuation. We’ve already built out the full framework for this, chronic medications and contingency medications both, in Family Disaster Preparation. Don’t rebuild it here; go read that one and bring the actual list to this checklist.

The second is the one most parents have never heard exists, and most clinicians rarely mention it: the Emergency Information Form, built jointly by the AAP and ACEP specifically for children with complex health needs.⁵ It’s a one-page clinical summary, diagnoses, medications, baseline status, specialists, the works, designed for exactly the scenario in this article’s second story: a child in an unfamiliar ER, hours from his regular team, with a physician on call who has little information to go on.

 A simulation study putting 24 providers through the same emergency scenario, with and without the form, found a substantial difference: a median 84.2% critical-action score with the EIF versus 12.5% without one, and a 30% complication rate versus 100%.⁶ That is a huge improvement in outcome over not having the form in an emergency setting. If a child in the family has a complex or chronic diagnosis, this form is worth the twenty minutes it takes to fill out, and worth handing a copy to the pediatrician to keep on file too.

A Healthcare Proxy, on Paper, Before Anyone Needs One

This one gets skipped because it sounds like it’s only for the elderly. It isn’t. Any adult, at any age, can end up unable to speak for themselves. A car accident leading to a sedated stay in the ICU is a good example of why it’s a good idea for everyone to have someone trusted who can make decisions on their behalf.

A healthcare proxy is named through a variety of ways that differ from state to state. Generally this is accomplished through a durable power of attorney for health care, or the equivalent per the state. This then becomes one of the two documents that make up an advance directive, alongside a living will.⁷ The proxy has to be 18 or older (19 in Alabama and Nebraska) and of sound mind, and the National Institute on Aging’s own guidance says not to name your own doctor or their staff, someone who already has a clinical relationship with you isn’t the right fit for this role.⁸

Once signed, it only works if the people making decisions for you actually have it. Give a copy to the proxy themselves, and give your medical provider the proxy’s name and contact information as well.⁹ Put a date on the calendar to review it once a year, or sooner if there’s been a divorce, a move, or a significant change in health.¹⁰

Elderly Relatives and Pets: Two Line Items People Forget

For a relative in assisted living or a nursing home, don’t wait for an emergency to discover the facility’s evacuation plan. Ask now: who calls the family, and when, if residents are moved. Medicare- and Medicaid-certified facilities are required to maintain emergency preparedness and communication plans, although exactly how families are notified varies by facility, so keep a copy of your relative’s own medication list and care needs with a family member too, not only on file at the facility.¹¹

For pets, the ASPCA’s list is short: a current microchip with up-to-date registration, up to two weeks of any pet medication in a waterproof container, and a copy of vaccination and vet records in a waterproof bag.¹² Some states don’t allow you to maintain pet medication so make sure you know your state laws. Decide the pet-friendly evacuation option before there’s an emergency; not every shelter takes animals, so a boarding kennel, pet-friendly hotel, or a friend’s home should already be on the list as well as an alternative location.

Storage: Redundancy Beats a Binder

A single binder on a shelf is what burned down with the house in the opening story. The fix isn’t a disaster-proof binder, though that’s not a bad idea, it’s not relying on a single copy of  your information to be available when you need it. 

Keep a physical copy somewhere secure that isn’t your house: with the out-of-town contact from section one, in a safe deposit box, or with a relative in another state. Keep a digital copy too, in a password manager or a shared cloud folder the whole family can reach from a phone. This could be the same place the contact list already lives if you followed that step.

And remember storage isn’t only about drawers. Some of these documents are already supposed to be safely stored with other people: the healthcare proxy holds a copy of the advance directive, the pediatrician holds a copy of the Emergency Information Form. If you have assessed the threats to your home and person, you should also consider threats to your information. A quick note about security, all of this information is very valuable to criminals. That factor makes the decision about where and how you store this information a high priority. If you need to consult a security expert for advice there are many choices available with a simple google search.

Quick Reference: The Family Emergency Plan Checklist

Contacts: One out-of-town contact everyone calls. Two meeting places, one nearby, one out of the neighborhood. Written list in every wallet, on the fridge, saved on every phone. Reviewed twice a year with updated photographs of each family member.

Medical documents: A current medication list that travels with the family including chronic, over-the-counter, and contingency meds. This is also a good place to record any drug allergies. An Emergency Information Form on file for any child with a complex or chronic diagnosis, and leave a copy with their pediatrician.

Advance directives: A healthcare proxy named on paper for every adult, not just the elderly members. Copies are left with the proxy and the provider. These should be reviewed annually or after a major life change.

Elderly relatives: Know the facility’s evacuation and family-notification plan in advance. Keep a copy of their medication list and care needs outside the facility as well.

Pets: Current microchip registration. Two weeks of pet medication in a waterproof container. Vet records and a photo in a waterproof bag. A pet-friendly evacuation option decided in advance.

Storage: A copy somewhere that isn’t the house, both physical and digital. These can be with the proxy, pediatrician, and/or the out-of-town contact.

The Bottom Line

None of the three families in the opening stories needed a lawyer, a weekend, or a lucky break. They needed the medical layer built before the emergency: a contact list, a medication list that is always accessible, a form for the child with complex needs, a healthcare proxy on paper, and none of it trapped in one place where a single fire or flood could destroy.

Most of the checklist takes an afternoon. The Emergency Information Form and the advance directive take a little longer, but both are the kind of document that only has to be built once and reviewed, not rebuilt from scratch every time life changes.

Build it calmly, before the crisis occurs. This is what makes the  difference between a family that’s ready and one that finds itself improvising in the moment it matters most.

Sources

1. Red Cross / FEMA guidance on out-of-town emergency contacts: local phone lines can jam in a disaster, so a long-distance contact everyone checks in with is more likely to get through: https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/make-a-plan.html
2. Red Cross guidance on emergency meeting places: pick two, one near home for a sudden emergency, one outside the neighborhood for anything requiring evacuation: https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/make-a-plan.html
3. FEMA’s fillable Family Emergency Communication Plan and the Red Cross Family Disaster Plan Template: https://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/2025-06/family-communication-plan_fillable-card.pdf and https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/atg/PDF_s/Preparedness___Disaster_Recovery/General_Preparedness___Recovery/Home/ARC_Family_Disaster_Plan_Template_r083012.pdf
4. Red Cross recommendation to review the family disaster plan with household members every six months: https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/make-a-plan.html
5. ACEP/AAP, Emergency Information Form for Children With Special Health Care Needs: a one-page clinical summary built to make a complex child’s medical history available when neither parent nor regular physician is reachable: https://www.acep.org/by-medical-focus/pediatrics/medical-forms/emergency-information-form-for-children-with-special-health-care-needs
6. Abraham et al. (or listed authors), Emergency Information Forms for Children With Medical Complexity: A Simulation Study: median critical-action score 84.2% with EIF access versus 12.5% without (p<.001); complication rate 30% versus 100%: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5603153/
7. National Institute on Aging, Advance Care Planning: Advance Directives for Health Care: the two most common advance directives are a living will and a durable power of attorney for health care, which names a health care proxy: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/advance-care-planning/advance-care-planning-advance-directives-health-care 
8. National Institute on Aging, Choosing a Health Care Proxy: proxy must generally be 18 or older (19 in Alabama and Nebraska) and of sound mind; recommends against naming your own health care provider or their staff: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/advance-care-planning/choosing-health-care-proxy
9. National Institute on Aging, Choosing a Health Care Proxy: give the signed durable power of attorney and living will to the proxy, and make sure your provider has the proxy’s name and contact information: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/advance-care-planning/choosing-health-care-proxy
10. National Institute on Aging, Advance Care Planning: review the plan at least once a year and after any major life event such as divorce, a move, or a major change in health: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/advance-care-planning
11. State long-term care emergency preparedness regulations generally require facilities to have a family-notification plan for evacuations, though implementation varies by state and facility: https://cdphe.colorado.gov/emergency-preparedness-rules-and-resources-for-nursing-homes-and-assisted-living-residences
12. ASPCA, Disaster Preparedness: keep a two-week supply of any pet medication in a waterproof container, rotated periodically so it doesn’t expire; identify pet-friendly hotels, boarding kennels, or an out-of-area friend or relative before an emergency, since not all shelters accept animals: https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/disaster-preparedness