MedicAlert Awareness Month

A national movement to promote MedicAlert Awareness began in 1978. President Jimmy Carter honored MedicAlert Foundation for our contributions to public health by declaring the first National MedicAlert Week.
In 1996, in recognition of the Foundation’s 40th anniversary, California Governor Pete Wilson – along with Governors from 24 other states – proclaimed August as National MedicAlert Awareness Month.⁠
⁠This honor acknowledges MedicAlert Foundation’s innovation and dedication to protecting and saving lives, MedicAlert’s service providing help for people with unseen or special medical needs, and the importance of medical identification in improving public health.
MedicAlert Foundation is proud that in our 69 years of service, we’ve helped save over 4 million lives. Now more than ever, we’re continuing to be a leader in public health.
How? We keep innovating. Did you know that MedicAlert offers the largest selection anywhere of QR code enabled ID products? When a first responder gets the health information they need with a quick QR code scan, it empowers them to deliver optimal care even faster.
We’re committed to protecting vulnerable populations. MedicAlert provides the only services focusing on protecting people with autism or Alzheimer’s if they wander from safety – a common and dangerous behavior for people with cognitive disabilities. A wandering incident that isn’t resolved in a few hours can result in injury or even death. Our Safe & Found™️ specialists work with local authorities to expand the search for wanderers, and ensure their safe return home.
In collaboration with the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, we created a program using QR code medical IDs to improve the emergency room experience for people with sickle cell diseasewhen they seek care for a sickle cell pain crisis. Sickle cell patients face a lot of hurdles to getting fast and effective care during a pain crisis – an excruciating experience that one participant said “feels like broken glass moving through my veins.” We’re proud to provide resources to help this underserved community get better, faster care.
Every day, we partner with community organizations to offer MedicAlert protection to people living with life-threatening illness – covering everything from asthma to von Willebrand disease. And we’re collaborating with other non-profits to pilot programs to improve quality of life for people living with chronic disease.