Hands Across Humanity

A trip to the emergency room can be a stressful experience for anybody, let alone somebody with a disability or chronic health conditions. Caught in the whirlwind of overwhelming symptoms, chronic fatigue and surging adrenaline, expressing personalized needs, preferred communication methods and other desires to facilitate a safe visit, is often complicated.

It’s not only the patients who experience these frustrations, it’s also doctors like Dr. Ben Isakson, MD, ER physician. We discussed the infrastructure of the emergency room environment that can make it challenging from his standpoint to build rapport. Recognizing an intricate system of complexities, he suggested a simplistic but, in my opinion, powerful solution.

And Care Cards were created. We discussed, from both his perspective as a provider and my perspective as a patient, what the most important facts, needs, desires, dos and don’ts are to facilitate the best possible experience in the emergency room department.

We believe Care Cards’ applicability extends beyond the reaches beyond the hospital and into our communities. Whether at work, play, therapy, school or any other social event, sharing a card can open up a pathway for self-advocacy, community, teamwork and inclusion.

We’ve organized these into 3×3 printable cards, with prompts intended to assist patients in communicating their needs to medical professionals and ultimately, in building a bridge to our collective humanity.

Please print the featured downloadable file and cut Care Cards according to your needs. We provide both cards featuring open-ended questions for you to fill out and two Cards featuring examples from Dr. Isakson.

Oodles of gratitude for the collective creativity, collaboration and HEART that made Care Cards possible!