A Good Idea…
When I was a child, I remember seeing commercials full of old folks who had medic alert bracelets. At the time, I was too young to understand the significance of these, but I wanted one anyway. They were pretty and shiny! I was a young girl! Of course I wanted a pretty new bracelet.
Little did I know that that coveted gold bangle would one day save the life of someone close to me.
When I was 18, I went to college with a girl who was deathly allergic to peanuts. She used to carry a handy epinephrine shot with her everywhere, just in case she accidentally ate one. One day, not long after we met the first time, she started dating a pre-med student. He doted on her, and she ate up every minute of it. For their second month anniversary, he gave her a lovely velvet box, inside of which was a beautiful silver medic alert bracelet. Everyone who saw it laughed, and my friend was hideously embarassed at the gift. But so as not to hurt her boyfriend’s feelings, she wore it whenever they were out.
Of course, you can probably see where this story is going. Within days, my friend was eating at a chinese buffet when she somehow swallowed a nut. The reaction was pretty much instantaneous. Her throat closed off, she couldn’t breathe, and she fell to the floor. No one who was with her knew what to do, and an ambulance was called. It arrived straight away, and within seconds they had given her a shot and loaded her into the truck.
Her life was saved.
When she finally recovered enough, a doctor came in and saw that she had removed her bracelet (as was her habit when her boyfriend wasn’t around). He told her that it was the bracelet which had saved her life. Without it, the EMTs would never have known to give her a shot straight away, and she would have died before reaching the hospital.
To this day, she doesn’t go anywhere without wearing that bracelet. Even though she and the med student eventually parted ways, she thinks of him fondly, as he gave her the gift of life.
Anyway, even though I now have great respect for the functional aspects of these bracelets, I STILL think they are pretty and want one for myself!! :D
I found out that the company who makes them, American Medical ID has now expanded to the UK. They have a million different customisable bracelets in different styles, and they are just as important for those with allergies and/or medical conditions as ever. The site is located here: Medic Alert Bracelet
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And even though the prices are very reasonable, and the bracelets are very pretty… don’t forget that this is one piece of jewelry that will never let you down. That’s all the justification anyone could need!