Lakeside Emergency Info

There is a group of local expats who have put together forms which may be useful in planning for a personal medical emergency or worse, death. They offer free seminars lakeside to help people fill out the forms and answer questions. This effort was started because: In 2009, with the unexpected illness and death of several Lakeside friends, I saw the need for those left behind to know how to help immediately in an emergency until family could arrive from outside of the country. I thought that a package of information forms might be useful. You can access the forms for Lakeside Personal Emergency Information Kit at this website: http://lakesideemergencyinfo.weebly.com/index.html

This is a list of the forms available:

Form 1. Your Personal Information (1 page)

Form 2. Next of Kin and Local Contacts (2 pages)

Form 3. Pets and Livestock (2 pages)

Form 4. Household Staff Information (2 pages)

Form 5. Real Property and Vehicles (2 pages)

Form 6. Bank, Investment, and Trust Accounts (2 pages)

Form 7. Medical and Health Information (3 pages)

Form 8. Utilities (3 pages)

Form 9. Internet and Electronic Devices (1 page)

Form 10. Emergency Cards (2 pages)

Bob, I'm not sure if this should go under legal or medical. Any thoughts?

We can leave it here under the other emergency info. I made it a sticky.

While the idea is great, like everything else (including my own site), it needs to be reviewed critically before using the information.

One form in particular asks for financial information: account names, account numbers, account pins, account passwords, etc all on one form and given to someone to keep in a 'safe' place, when in reality you have no idea where someone will put that hard copy and who may or may not have access to it. Makes me wonder how well thought-out the information is and information about where/how to store the completed forms.

On chapala.com, one of the organizers mention that with the financial form that a little 'risk' needs to be taken in completing and storing the form with all that information on it. Are you willing to take that risk; I'm not.

The current thinking about account names, account numbers, pins/passwords, social security numbers, etc is that they are not stored together. So, how much homework was done?

They also state that they based these forms on the forms developed for the ExPat network. They give the name of a person who was a participant in the ExPat network but there is a question whether the person was involved in the development? Maybe???? Seems kinda funny that the 3 women who actually publicly are given credit for developing the concept and the forms and implementing the ExPat Network are not even mentioned? So, how much homework was done?

When I went through the forms based on their stated objective of using them in an emergency or for the point of dying/death, I really could not find information that was relevant for helping someone in a real emergency. Stuff like, who can sign the person into a hospital if they cannot (and then the person signing is responsible for the bill....that's part of it), or where does the money come from for the ambulance. Who can make medical decisions for the person if the person is unconscious?

Also on chapala.com, one of the organizers mentioned that a $1000 check, undated, would be left with an attorney to deposit into the bank until a family member from the north could arrive here to deal with the issues.

How many of us have 'planned' emergencies? And, how many of us have families or friends from the north who can respond to an emergency in such a timely manner to deal with things. And, if they do arrive here, how long can they stay?
Again, how much homework was done in thinking through some of their suggestions.

If the forms work for you, that's great. It's an individual decision to apply to our own specific situations.

As typical around here, people are very well intentioned and we want things to run the best they can. But, that does not mean that we should not take a critical look at all of this type of thing that is produced, and as I said, including mine.

Filoli



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All true.
Here's an example of how amok things can be. A friend of mine and her neighbor became close friends. The neighbor became ill and was treated by one of the doctors at the Maskaras Clinic for weeks, but wasn't improving, so my friend encouraged her to go with her to Guad and get some further tests. She offered to drive. After the tests, the neighbor slumped over in the seat unconscious, so she took her to the emergency room at del Carmen and had to sign her in.
The neighbor died in the emergency room. Suddenly, my friend became responsible to the $1000 bill and then, they wouldn't release the body until my friend paid more. She tried to explain that she wasn't a relative and had no extra funds to pay, but no. No help there. Fortunately, she knew a son's number and finally, the son flew down and took it from there.
Just to make matters worse, the neighbor had all of her pertinent information, such as her passport, well hidden......so that was another hassle.
To shorten the story, we should all try to make things a little simpler for the people around us, like those who we are close to us locally and our relatives who are elsewhere. How to accomplish this within the bounds of security? Don't know, truthfully.

There are ways of dealing with emergencies or longer=term health problems.

The Mexicans typically have backed all of these decisions and issues into their family situations and their families. Most of us here, have little or no family. Friends and relationships come and go. We also live in an aging community and friends and relationship dissolve because people die, people are no longer physically or mentally able to help anyone else or they move back north because they families cannot cope with them being here for all sorts of reasons.

For those of us that want to stay here for the duration, the choice is working with legal stuff and building a long-term emergency contact network.

There are ways to do this that combines, legally, the systems from the north and here. I've got one article on durable powers of attorney in Mexico coming out in the Lake Chapala Review in the next issue and there's lots of short posts on durable powers of attorney and more on my blog which is www.lifeplanninginjalisco.wordpress.com

There's one post on developing a emergency contact 'system'.

I do have a publication for sale from which I'm pulling the information. If anyone wants to take a look at that, hard copies are available at La Bella Vida, which is between LCS and Colon streets in Ajijic. Only a few pages are available to review on-line because of unhappy past experiences.

I've had two really good professionals helping me with the background research, and a whole host of people I've interviewed and quotes I've documented, etc. To the extent possible, everything is documented, referenced, resourced, and legal citations are provided where appropriate.

Filoli

Sounds like sour grapes to me. I've looked at the site and it's well planned and executed. When planning for the unexpected you have to decide who to trust. If you trust no one but your spouse or partner then so be it. However, you may create a situation for your survivors that can be close to impossible for them to unravel.

Filoli is giving us a sales pitch. I always get suspicious when you have to read to the end of anything to find how much it’s going to cost. In this case, it’s 200 pesos. My father-in-law always said when things don’t seem to make sense, look for the money trail.

David, The issue about sharing information is, of course, important that it is shared outside the household. 'How and in what form' is the discussion. I must not have been clear on that because it appears that you may have missed my point. If you want to fill out a hard copy form with all of your financial information, pins, passwords, etc. and distribute it in any manner you see fit, that's your business and your personal decision. Putting that suggestion out to the general public is a different discussion, but apparently that point got lost in the wash.

For some folks, free forms and a little information works great. When you and Parker complete the forms and attend the seminar, or attend the seminar and then complete the forms, maybe you can report back here and comment about how great it went. It sounds like it will be useful.

And, here goes one more shameful advertisement, if you need something more indepth, with lots of supported research, check other resources available.

Filoli

Filoli, there is nothing wrong with pushing an agenda. It’s how you did it that’s somewhat offensive to me. Many here are capably of thinking for themselves and making decisions. There are just a lot of others that are of kind heart, with the know-how, willing to help without charging. I just happen to admire these people.

filoli wrote:David, The issue about sharing information is, of course, important that it is shared outside the household. 'How and in what form' is the discussion. I must not have been clear on that because it appears that you may have missed my point. If you want to fill out a hard copy form with all of your financial information, pins, passwords, etc. and distribute it in any manner you see fit, that's your business and your personal decision. Putting that suggestion out to the general public is a different discussion, but apparently that point got lost in the wash.

For some folks, free forms and a little information works great. When you and Parker complete the forms and attend the seminar, or attend the seminar and then complete the forms, maybe you can report back here and comment about how great it went. It sounds like it will be useful.

And, here goes one more shameful advertisement, if you need something more indepth, with lots of supported research, check other resources available.

Filoli

Go do your competitive research on your own. You're not getting any help from me.

I got the forms from a friend and got all of our information together in a usable format for my sister. It took me several days to get it all together and it needs to be updated on a regular basis. It was a job..
I am glad I did it and now someone I trust in my family has the information needed to take over. I feel better about it but boy that was a lot of work...
These forms were a catalyst for us to think about all the information needed to have an easy time to take care of everything, made us review the wills, power of attorney in France US and here and so on.. a real pain but a necesary one.
I do not believe there isone perfect format orone single form that fits all but it is a good starter to go on to what you really need.

LCS has their Post Life Program on hold to new applications until August, pending revisions in the program:

http://www.lakechapalasociety.org/website/PostLife/pl_05_post_life_planning_review.php

How, pray tell, is death revised?

angela04101 wrote:LCS has their Post Life Program on hold to new applications until August, pending revisions in the program:

http://www.lakechapalasociety.org/website/PostLife/pl_05_post_life_planning_review.php

Here is the updated link: https://lakechapalasociety.com/public/post-life--emergency-planning.php

this can be done under the emergency of doctors staff