Medic Alert symbol

Hello, friends,
I made a research but couldn't come to a conclusion. Is the medic alert symbol and international one? I live in Brazil and I confess that I have never seen anywhere the symbol of the red cross with a snake intended to be an alert for health care providers. Of course that the snake is the symbol for medice. While searching the symbols on the internet, I saw many different ones, including different colours (green and light blue). I know that certain symbols are very widely recognisable such as Lions Club. My question is due to the fact that I travelled to another country and I was oriented to have copies of medical documents in my handbag and luggage but I was never (and never heard of holding any special symbol in case of emergency).
I would like not to be fool in asking something obvious, but suppose any American or Canadian comes to my country, be it on business of vacation, would the local health care providers and emgergency professionals recognise the symbol?
I've seen the card shown on this site which is the "pacemaker recipient" card. It could be nice if below the English expression we could also have the same words in our mother tongue.
Lucio Castro (LuCas)

3 Comments

Germany

by golden_snitch - 2013-07-22 03:07:14

Hi!

In Germany it's just a symbol for all kinds of institutions that offer medical help, and people who work for them. But we also use a simple red cross, probably even more often than that star. If you'd wear this symbol people would interpret this as you are working for such an institution, not that you have a medical issue yourself. These medical alert bracelets that are a topic in our forum again and again are not known in Germany. No one would look for it, if you had an accident. I carry my pacemaker identification card and my anticoagulation card in my wallet, next to my personal identification card. So, I guess, if I'd have an accident, people will find it, because they will look for my personal I.D.

Best wishes
Inga

I believe it is international

by Grateful Heart - 2013-07-22 12:07:04

No question is foolish. Here is a link to a website to read more.
http://www.ems.gov/star.htm

I copied and pasted the main info.

The Star of Life

It is appropriate that Emergency Medical Services (EMS) be distinctively identified for the benefit of not only EMS providers but also their patients and the general public. Recognizing the need for a symbol that would represent this critical public service and be easily recognized by all, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) created the "Star of Life" and holds priority rights to the use of this registered certification mark.

Adapted from the personal Medical Identification Symbol of the American Medical Association, each bar on the "Star of Life" represents one of six EMS functions. The functions include:

1. Detection,
2. Reporting,
3. Response
4. On-Scene Care,
5. Care in Transit,
6. Transfer to Definitive Care.

The serpent and staff in the symbol portray the staff of Asclepius, an ancient Greek physician deified as the god of medicine. Overall, the staff represents medicine and healing, with the skin-shedding serpent being indicative of renewal.

The "Star of Life" has become synonymous with emergency medical care around the globe. This symbol can be seen as a means of identification on ambulances, emergency medical equipment, patches or apparel worn by EMS providers and materials such as books, pamphlets, manuals, reports, and publications that either have a direct application to EMS or were generated by an EMS organization. It can also be found on road maps and highway signs indicating the location of or access to qualified emergency medical care.

Good question Lucio.

Grateful Heart

In my country, it's red cross

by LuCas - 2013-07-23 04:07:02

Hello friends,

Thanks for taking your time in making comments.
Well, as I can see, opinions vary. Well, I'm from Brazil, I live in Brazil. In fact, I was looking for texts on the Internet. I was imagining emergency situations and I remembered the ambulance pictures. I had forgotten that. In my Portuguese language, we write AMBULANCIA. If you go to google or other search engine, the pictures of different vehicles will be there.
In fact, it is possible to see that not all ambulances carry the symbol. On the other hand, some new ones have the symbol in blue or red, the Star of Life. Most of our ambulances hold the red cross, which would mean medical services, since it is a universally recogniseable symbol.
I also saw that private emergency services (probably the ones which would take care of foreign citizens on vacation or business) hold the star of life symbol.
Usual medical services widely use the red cross. So, the conclusion that I now make is that the symbol is becoming international, which is good.
It is a nice and important discussion. Thanks again.
Lucio (LuCas)

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