As I get older, I’ve found myself shedding more and more of the “invincible” mindset or the “it won’t happen to me” attitude that I once had.
One such instance of this is wanting to carry emergency contact information with me when I’m off on a run or working out away from home. I’m a minimalist when it comes to these activities and have tried running with my driver’s license, which is bulky and too important to accidentally lose. I’ve also tried taking my phone, which is even more bulky and due to a passcode lock, wouldn’t help a first responder to know who I am anyway.
Yes, there’s always putting that information on a lock screen background, but I feel that’s giving away too much in the situation where I might lose my phone. Plus, there’s always the possibility of the battery dying or electronics failing when you need them the most.
There’s quite a few things I’ve seen to help with storing emergency contact information, such as bracelets and dog tags; neither of which appeal to me. Namely because I’ve been enjoying tracking my activity with a Fitbit and wear a watch on the opposite wrist. A necklace to hold a dog tag is also just one more thing I have to worry about.
GO>ID
A few months back, I came across the GO>ID Personal Emergency ID Kit and was impressed with the versatility it provided to store emergency contact information.
The concept is a metal tab that can be worn underneath a watch, on your shoe, hanging on a backpack or keychain, or even clipped to a zipper pull. This is made possible through a hook and loop interface between the metal tab and the underside of your watch, or through an included silicone protective sleeve if worn on a shoe, pack, keychain or zipper pull.
What I like about the GO>ID is that it includes printable adhesive-backed discs that can be printed at home with emergency contact information, which make it easy to make changes if necessary. With an engraved bracelet or dog tag, you’d have to purchase a new one if your contact information changed.
Another benefit of the GO>ID is that the small adhesive disc can fit up to 250 characters. I chose to have my name, birthday, blood type, allergies, insurance carrier/policy number and ICE (In Case of Emergency) contact phone number.
The printing process is extremely simple, once you learn how. The ID Making Kit that comes with each GO>ID includes printable discs for both inkjet and laser printers. My first inclination was to use the laser version of the disc to not have to deal with smudging or ink bleeding from sweat, but the kit also comes with clear adhesive discs to put over the printed area for just that issue.
GO>ID has an online portal that will walk you through the template process to print your contact information. You’ll need to create a login to access it, which didn’t make much sense to me, as it doesn’t save your previously created contact information. That would be a nice feature to have in the future.
Carrying emergency contact information is all well and good, but it has to be seen for an emergency responder to know it’s there. The metal tab is reversible both inside the carrier and on your watch (depending on which side you stick the adhesive loop disc to). One side features an engraved medical Star of Life logo showing and the other has a large “ID-PULL” engraved.
The silicone cover also features the Star of Life logo on one side and the GO>ID logo on the other. There’s even different colors available in the metal tab and the silicone cover, like red and green to help it stand out better.
Attachment of the cover to a shoe can be achieved by running your shoelace through the two holes on the cover, using those same holes to add a safety pin, or just using the included clip like I’ve done. I used the clip because my Salomon Speedcross 3 shoes have non-removable shoelaces.
Three sizes of the GO>ID are available; small, medium and large. Small is a good diameter for ladies watches, or if you just plan to hang it off a zipper pull. Medium is what I purchased and is good for most watches and general overall use. Large is for bigger GPS watches and as you can see in the photo below, the Medium size is probably a bit small for the back of my G-Shock watch.
Experience
I’ve been extremely happy with the GO>ID I purchased and haven’t had any issues with metal tab falling out of the silicone cover, even while running; it’s a very solid interface. I also haven’t had any of the aforementioned bleeding of the text or sweat compromising the printed disc.
By leaving the GO>ID attached to my running/workout shoes, it’s always there, giving me peace of mind in knowing my emergency contact information is always with me.
If you need another reason to pick one up, GO>ID also donates 25% of their profits to First Responder organizations that provide life-saving emergency care, especially those lacking basic equipment to serve their communities. There’s even a link for First Responders to learn more about the GO>ID and how to recognize them. Grab yours from www.go-id.org