Gunnar Lindenblatt, the initiator of The SOS Card Project, recounts:
It all started with toothache somewhere in 2005.
I had already lived in China for several months. I learned, for example, that Chinese ATM provides English as well. Without any problems I could withdraw money from my credit card.
One next day I woke up with toothache. I tried to ignore it. I tried to suppress it with a pain killer. In the end, I had to give in and went to see a dentist
The female dentist I visited was very kind and could speak some English.
Yet this visit will always stick in my mind: trying to cope with English and Chinese (both not my mother tongues; I am German) I completely forgot to tell the dentist that Lidocaine doesn’t work for me!
~~~ How to say “Lidocaine doesn’t work for me” in Chinese? ~~~
Well, the dentist found out by herself1), and I left with a nicely filled teeth.
On the street, I saw an ATM again. Then I thought: “Why there is no international ‘health credit card’ which contains a summary of all important medical information?“
This health card
I discussed this with my medical colleagues (I am a medical physicist) and my local and foreign friends in Hangzhou. What we came up with, you can see on the main page.
The SOS Card shows details to identify the card holder on the front side.
The reverse side gives a list of all important pre-existing conditions and the life supporting medication with it's general dose in English, Spanish, French, Russian, Thai, and Chinese.
Why in these languages?
English is the most popular language, but not necessarily spoken by all rescue workers. English mainly covers North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
Chinese actually is the language with the most speakers in the world. The written language can also be understood by Japanese and Koreans.
Spanish is popular in South America and the south of Europe.
French we can find in Africa and central Europe.
With Russian, we cover the land bridge between East Europe and Asia.
And Thai language covers the south east part of Asia, covering Thailand, and its neighbours Laos, Cambodia, etc., up to the south of China.
The SOS card contains the most important medical information for rescuers and doctors. No fuzzy card reader, not even a computer is needed to access this information.
On the front side there is also an unique user name. Combined with a Card Validation Code, a kind of password, from the reverse side, medical personnel will be able to access a website in even more languages and with more detailed information, including