7 ms·

Show HN: Emergency Wallet Cards

113 points by wilrnh 5y ago

wilrnh 5y ago
Hey HN, EmergencyWalletCards.com is a website I built with the help of my old friend @oedmarap to help bring Emergency Wallet Cards to everyone by making it super easy for anyone to quickly fill, print and fold a card for their wallet, purse, or anywhere you can slip a credit-card into. Check out the intro blog post, try the app out, and let me know what you think!
- csw-001 5y ago
  This is really cool. I've worked in the Emergency Management space for a decade, and this is a clear win - great idea well executed, so kudos. Even if people never look at them, the process of creating them and thinking through personal disaster responses is hugely valuable (plans are nothing, planning is everything). Well done. It's scope creep for sure, but I'd love have a version of this for international travel that populates local consulate/embassy offices, visa numbers, airline, hotel numbers, and personal emergency medical info in the local language. I had a coworker that would make international travel wallet cards for folks traveling abroad - it was pretty cool.
  - cbhl 5y ago
    International travel strikes me as the sort of thing where you'd want a paid enterprise subscription instead of an offline JS app, since you'd want numbers kept up-to-date. (Just look at all the airlines integrating entry/exit test/quarantine requirement iframes.) $dayjob gives us a mobile app from International SOS, although certainly I think there's room to make the app prettier / faster / more tolerant of spotty internet.
  - sliken 5y ago
    I've been surprised how many people don't know the number of their doctor, lawyer, siblings, even partners. So even a minor problem like a dead/broken phone becomes a much bigger problem. While not a real emergency the EWC can help, there's extra fields for whatever.
    - dhosek 5y ago
      A few years ago, I borrowed a combination lock from my wife while I went to the Y to work out in the pool. When I finished my swim, I realized I'd forgotten the combination. I called her from the pool office phone. It took several calls and a couple messages for her to pick up and answer. I too will often not answer the phone if it's an unfamiliar number, but I do answer if it's the local area code which is not the area code of my wife's and my phone numbers since I figure it's more likely to be something legitimate like a call from a school or a local business where maybe I've forgotten I had placed an order or left dry cleaning and my stuff is now ready. If she had this policy, I would have spent less time waiting to get the combination.
      - gurjeet 5y ago
        My policy for calls from unknown numbers: 1 call: very likely spam; let it go to voicemail. 2 calls: Someone genuine is trying to reach me; let it go to voicemail. Listen to voicemail as soon as it arrives. 3 calls: emergency, pick up right away. Exception: PagerDuty calls; pick up on first ring. My wife is aware of this policy of mine. And I store kids’ school numbers in contacts.
    - 5555624 5y ago
      Because no one dials the numbers anymore -- they just select the entry in their contacts list. And the contact's name (and possibly picture) is displayed more prominently than the phone number.
    - randmeerkat 5y ago
      > I've been surprised how many people don't know the number of their doctor, lawyer, siblings, even partners. How many people… a.) Have a personal lawyer? b.) Need to have said lawyer on speed dial? c.) Also need to have the lawyer’s phone number memorized in case they don’t have some way to look up the number?
      - ISL 5y ago
        Re: c). You only get one phone call, right?
  - wilrnh 5y ago
    Thank you :) And this is a great idea (please consider adding an issue on GH); I think many will benefit from EWC using them in unfamiliar conditions such as traveling. I wonder what would be a good way to remind users to print an updated EWC before traveling.
- engagingdata 5y ago
  good idea. And a good reminder to prepare for emergencies.
- KennyBlanken 5y ago
  > making it super easy for anyone to quickly fill, print and fold a card for their wallet, purse, or anywhere you can slip a credit-card into This is functionality that could have been done simply by adding form fields to the PDF.
  - enobrev 5y ago
    This app allows optional sections which are only included if they're filled out, which wouldn't quite work with just a PDF form
- kwhitefoot 5y ago
  I have a few suggestions that might make this more useful for an international audience. - I suggest that you offer people the option to use long dates; 7th June 1980. When reading in a hurry a little redundancy can be helpful. - abbreviations like DOB, ZIP, etc., are not necessarily universally understood. - the address should be a free text multiline field to allow addresses to be written in the customary form in different countries. Not everyone has a house number or postal code. As all the information is optional it would probably be useful to include a field for things like national ID numbers, social security numbers, etc. The point is that this number give emergency medical facilities a way to quickly access a person's medical records in some countries.
  - wilrnh 5y ago
    Agreed: this first release was focused on mirroring the original FEMA PDF. I would love to see the card evolve to be much more internationalized. In fact, one of the reasons I chose to build an app around the PDF, instead of simply using PDF form fields, was to open up the possibility of rich customization. Maybe something like detecting locality preferences of the browser to customize the EWC form might be interesting. (Also these are great suggestions, please feel free to open GH issues for them!)
    - kwhitefoot 5y ago
      > Maybe something like detecting locality preferences of the browser to customize the EWC form might be interesting. So long as the user can override them. My browser language preference is en-gb but that does not mean that I want to use dd/mm/yyyy date formats. Also someone with a non-English browser preference might nonetheless prefer to use English as the language of the form if they travel outside their home country. > feel free to open GH issues for them! Curses, now I have to do some work! :-)
- stevenicr 5y ago
  I like the idea, and appreciate the privacy statement on page. I might add - your info is not sent to our servers / the cloud - it stay in your computer memory.. I feel many people do not understand what stays in your browser does not equal the cloud.. especially since chromebooks became a thing. Not sure they pay for sales - but a link to have it sent to a printer at the local office max.. not having a printer easily accessible p it's actually convenient to send-rmail-to-print.. I stop by there after picking up coffee and print a few sheets once in a while.. I guess some people would email it to another person for them to print for them..
andreareina 5y ago
This is a good idea. Unfortunately it doesn't like my 6-digit postal code.
- Arch485 5y ago
  I've just submitted a PR for this on GitHub, so hopefully the system will be less American soon.
- amanzi 5y ago
  Doesn't like my 4-digit post code either. Guess this only for American addresses?
- franga2000 5y ago
  https://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-addresses/ https://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-a... Someone had to do it :)
- wilrnh 5y ago
  Yes, EWC needs lots of internationalization love. Please please please open lots of issues and PRs!
pedantsamaritan 5y ago
My emergency wallet card also links to a web site with more details (e.g. recent photo of family)
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  Consider adding a QR code for that link.
  - wilrnh 5y ago
    Very nice idea to both save real estate and obfuscate URLs - I might steal it :)
    - toomuchtodo 5y ago
      I insist! Keep in mind permanence of the data (static vs dynamic QR codes). A QR code can store about 3kb worth of data (or ~4300 alphanumeric characters). https://superuser.com/questions/1420058/how-does-a-dynamic-qr-code-work https://superuser.com/questions/1420058/how-does-a-dynamic-q... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11065415/how-much-data-information-can-we-save-store-in-a-qr-code https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11065415/how-much-data-i...
joshka 5y ago
I'd pay $5-10 for a nice waterproof info dense card with this sort of info on it.
- mlac 5y ago
  I would too, but maybe the service with a laminator would do well enough… Road ID is a good, more expensive option that exists too [1]. It is limited space, but they had (and May still have a URL service or phone where you enter your info online and first responders can get the full picture. https://www.roadid.com/ https://www.roadid.com/
- OJFord 5y ago
  What about <$1 for exactly this printed and laminated at a library or stationery shop? If that's not fulfilling 'nice', it's a pretty simple job for someone that can laser engrave, I wonder what Shapeways or similar would charge for a credit card sized sheet of something, engraved with the info for example.
  - mlac 5y ago
    Not OP, but it’s cheaper in terms of time to just order it online and have it shipped to your house. One interaction and it shows up, vs going to a library or stationary shop, transferring the data or filling it out there, etc.
    - NoNotTheDuo 5y ago
      I know we’re on a tangent, but this seems to go against most (all?) design decisions that the original author intentionally made. By that, I mean specifically, that the data doesn’t leave the user’s browser, isn’t stored, no tracking, etc. To order something like this online, you’d effectively be sending all of your most sensitive and important information to a 3rd party. Food for thought.
    - OJFord 5y ago
      OK, sure. You can do that with standard printing and laminating too though (just not for under a pound/dollar of course) - my point was the process, not the venue.
advisedwang 5y ago
The FEMA PDF that the author refers to but does not link to can be found at [1]. Other resources at [2] and [3]. [1] https://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/2021-10/family-communication-plan_fillable-card.pdf https://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/2021-10/family-com... [2] https://www.ready.gov/plan https://www.ready.gov/plan [3] https://www.ready.gov/kids/make-a-plan https://www.ready.gov/kids/make-a-plan
- wilrnh 5y ago
  Thank you for finding and sharing these links. [1] seems to be an updated version of the PDF. The original inspiration for EWC seems to be gone from ready.gov, but there's a picture of it in my post. If anyone comes across the person/s who designed it, please give them my sincere regards, its genius.
cyounkins 5y ago
I briefly tried to make my own template in Google Drive. In Docs you can set a table's width and minimum height. In Sheets, column width can be set in pixels. Neither seemed great for this purpose. I think Microsoft Publisher used to be the go-to tool for this type of document. Is there an online alternative that might be usable to make my own? Basically looking for formatting tools that can be used inside a series of rectangles of a constant height and width.
- m-p-3 5y ago
  I'd normally go with Inkscape to design that kind of format, but that's just me.
alx__ 5y ago
I like this idea. But personally I wonder if during an emergency would remember I even had this?
zengargoyle 5y ago
I couldn't find a link anywhere to some sort of 'blank' PDF example, or to a fake filled out example. Double sided printing would be nice. So would formatting the output so you could cut/fold/staple it down into a little book. Cool idea though. At work (back in the day) we had little laminated pieces of paper crammed with important numbers, a new one every year. Came in quite handy. Having the access to the scarily high res Xerox printer I'd print out a little black book of friends phone numbers to always have around.
- mleonhard 5y ago
  Making a laminated card is easy with a clothing iron and cheap lamination sheets.
BobBagwill 5y ago
These are old-skool-kool: https://pocketmod.com/ https://pocketmod.com/ Use a "paper" made of flashspun high-density polyethylene fibers for extra credit! :-)
WalterBright 5y ago
Eh, I've just written stuff with a pen on a slip of paper and stuffed it in my wallet for the last n decades. I also do innovative high tech things like tape a piece of paper with my email on it to the back of my kindle. That came in handy when I left it on the airplane, and the airline staff emailed me so I could get it back. I suppose credit should go to my mom who'd sew a name tag into my clothes before dispatching me off to camp.
vmh1928 5y ago
Always good to have a copy of this along: https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/bustcard_eng_20100630.pdf https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/bustcard_eng_20100630.pdf
- wilrnh 5y ago
  Excellent idea thank you. I added this to https://github.com/wilrnh/emergencywalletcards.com/issues/1 https://github.com/wilrnh/emergencywalletcards.com/issues/1. Even if something like this cannot be included directly on the EWC, maybe a bunch of QR codes linking to stuff like this might be useful on the back.
gumby 5y ago
If you don't carry a wallet or other ID (I rarely do myself): Tape or p-touch your name to the back of your phone (esp handy for people like me who always have to spell it) and somebody else's phone number (the number of someone who can help if something happens to you). I include my email address too. Then if someone finds my phone, or me prostrate with my phone, they can get in touch with help.

113 points by wilrnh 5y ago

Hey HN, EmergencyWalletCards.com is a website I built with the help of my old friend @oedmarap to help bring Emergency Wallet Cards to everyone by making it super easy for anyone to quickly fill, print and fold a card for their wallet, purse, or anywhere you can slip a credit-card into. Check out the intro blog post, try the app out, and let me know what you think!

csw-001 5y ago
This is really cool. I've worked in the Emergency Management space for a decade, and this is a clear win - great idea well executed, so kudos. Even if people never look at them, the process of creating them and thinking through personal disaster responses is hugely valuable (plans are nothing, planning is everything). Well done. It's scope creep for sure, but I'd love have a version of this for international travel that populates local consulate/embassy offices, visa numbers, airline, hotel numbers, and personal emergency medical info in the local language. I had a coworker that would make international travel wallet cards for folks traveling abroad - it was pretty cool.
- cbhl 5y ago
  International travel strikes me as the sort of thing where you'd want a paid enterprise subscription instead of an offline JS app, since you'd want numbers kept up-to-date. (Just look at all the airlines integrating entry/exit test/quarantine requirement iframes.) $dayjob gives us a mobile app from International SOS, although certainly I think there's room to make the app prettier / faster / more tolerant of spotty internet.
- sliken 5y ago
  I've been surprised how many people don't know the number of their doctor, lawyer, siblings, even partners. So even a minor problem like a dead/broken phone becomes a much bigger problem. While not a real emergency the EWC can help, there's extra fields for whatever.
  - dhosek 5y ago
    A few years ago, I borrowed a combination lock from my wife while I went to the Y to work out in the pool. When I finished my swim, I realized I'd forgotten the combination. I called her from the pool office phone. It took several calls and a couple messages for her to pick up and answer. I too will often not answer the phone if it's an unfamiliar number, but I do answer if it's the local area code which is not the area code of my wife's and my phone numbers since I figure it's more likely to be something legitimate like a call from a school or a local business where maybe I've forgotten I had placed an order or left dry cleaning and my stuff is now ready. If she had this policy, I would have spent less time waiting to get the combination.
    - gurjeet 5y ago
      My policy for calls from unknown numbers: 1 call: very likely spam; let it go to voicemail. 2 calls: Someone genuine is trying to reach me; let it go to voicemail. Listen to voicemail as soon as it arrives. 3 calls: emergency, pick up right away. Exception: PagerDuty calls; pick up on first ring. My wife is aware of this policy of mine. And I store kids’ school numbers in contacts.
  - 5555624 5y ago
    Because no one dials the numbers anymore -- they just select the entry in their contacts list. And the contact's name (and possibly picture) is displayed more prominently than the phone number.
  - randmeerkat 5y ago
    > I've been surprised how many people don't know the number of their doctor, lawyer, siblings, even partners. How many people… a.) Have a personal lawyer? b.) Need to have said lawyer on speed dial? c.) Also need to have the lawyer’s phone number memorized in case they don’t have some way to look up the number?
    - ISL 5y ago
      Re: c). You only get one phone call, right?
- wilrnh 5y ago
  Thank you :) And this is a great idea (please consider adding an issue on GH); I think many will benefit from EWC using them in unfamiliar conditions such as traveling. I wonder what would be a good way to remind users to print an updated EWC before traveling.
engagingdata 5y ago
good idea. And a good reminder to prepare for emergencies.
KennyBlanken 5y ago
> making it super easy for anyone to quickly fill, print and fold a card for their wallet, purse, or anywhere you can slip a credit-card into This is functionality that could have been done simply by adding form fields to the PDF.
- enobrev 5y ago
  This app allows optional sections which are only included if they're filled out, which wouldn't quite work with just a PDF form
kwhitefoot 5y ago
I have a few suggestions that might make this more useful for an international audience. - I suggest that you offer people the option to use long dates; 7th June 1980. When reading in a hurry a little redundancy can be helpful. - abbreviations like DOB, ZIP, etc., are not necessarily universally understood. - the address should be a free text multiline field to allow addresses to be written in the customary form in different countries. Not everyone has a house number or postal code. As all the information is optional it would probably be useful to include a field for things like national ID numbers, social security numbers, etc. The point is that this number give emergency medical facilities a way to quickly access a person's medical records in some countries.
- wilrnh 5y ago
  Agreed: this first release was focused on mirroring the original FEMA PDF. I would love to see the card evolve to be much more internationalized. In fact, one of the reasons I chose to build an app around the PDF, instead of simply using PDF form fields, was to open up the possibility of rich customization. Maybe something like detecting locality preferences of the browser to customize the EWC form might be interesting. (Also these are great suggestions, please feel free to open GH issues for them!)
  - kwhitefoot 5y ago
    > Maybe something like detecting locality preferences of the browser to customize the EWC form might be interesting. So long as the user can override them. My browser language preference is en-gb but that does not mean that I want to use dd/mm/yyyy date formats. Also someone with a non-English browser preference might nonetheless prefer to use English as the language of the form if they travel outside their home country. > feel free to open GH issues for them! Curses, now I have to do some work! :-)
stevenicr 5y ago
I like the idea, and appreciate the privacy statement on page. I might add - your info is not sent to our servers / the cloud - it stay in your computer memory.. I feel many people do not understand what stays in your browser does not equal the cloud.. especially since chromebooks became a thing. Not sure they pay for sales - but a link to have it sent to a printer at the local office max.. not having a printer easily accessible p it's actually convenient to send-rmail-to-print.. I stop by there after picking up coffee and print a few sheets once in a while.. I guess some people would email it to another person for them to print for them..

andreareina 5y ago

This is a good idea. Unfortunately it doesn't like my 6-digit postal code.

Arch485 5y ago
I've just submitted a PR for this on GitHub, so hopefully the system will be less American soon.
amanzi 5y ago
Doesn't like my 4-digit post code either. Guess this only for American addresses?
franga2000 5y ago
https://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-addresses/ https://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-a... Someone had to do it :)
wilrnh 5y ago
Yes, EWC needs lots of internationalization love. Please please please open lots of issues and PRs!

pedantsamaritan 5y ago

My emergency wallet card also links to a web site with more details (e.g. recent photo of family)

toomuchtodo 5y ago
Consider adding a QR code for that link.
- wilrnh 5y ago
  Very nice idea to both save real estate and obfuscate URLs - I might steal it :)
  - toomuchtodo 5y ago
    I insist! Keep in mind permanence of the data (static vs dynamic QR codes). A QR code can store about 3kb worth of data (or ~4300 alphanumeric characters). https://superuser.com/questions/1420058/how-does-a-dynamic-qr-code-work https://superuser.com/questions/1420058/how-does-a-dynamic-q... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11065415/how-much-data-information-can-we-save-store-in-a-qr-code https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11065415/how-much-data-i...

joshka 5y ago

I'd pay $5-10 for a nice waterproof info dense card with this sort of info on it.

mlac 5y ago
I would too, but maybe the service with a laminator would do well enough… Road ID is a good, more expensive option that exists too [1]. It is limited space, but they had (and May still have a URL service or phone where you enter your info online and first responders can get the full picture. https://www.roadid.com/ https://www.roadid.com/
OJFord 5y ago
What about <$1 for exactly this printed and laminated at a library or stationery shop? If that's not fulfilling 'nice', it's a pretty simple job for someone that can laser engrave, I wonder what Shapeways or similar would charge for a credit card sized sheet of something, engraved with the info for example.
- mlac 5y ago
  Not OP, but it’s cheaper in terms of time to just order it online and have it shipped to your house. One interaction and it shows up, vs going to a library or stationary shop, transferring the data or filling it out there, etc.
  - NoNotTheDuo 5y ago
    I know we’re on a tangent, but this seems to go against most (all?) design decisions that the original author intentionally made. By that, I mean specifically, that the data doesn’t leave the user’s browser, isn’t stored, no tracking, etc. To order something like this online, you’d effectively be sending all of your most sensitive and important information to a 3rd party. Food for thought.
  - OJFord 5y ago
    OK, sure. You can do that with standard printing and laminating too though (just not for under a pound/dollar of course) - my point was the process, not the venue.

advisedwang 5y ago

The FEMA PDF that the author refers to but does not link to can be found at [1]. Other resources at [2] and [3]. [1] https://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/2021-10/family-communication-plan_fillable-card.pdf https://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/2021-10/family-com... [2] https://www.ready.gov/plan https://www.ready.gov/plan [3] https://www.ready.gov/kids/make-a-plan https://www.ready.gov/kids/make-a-plan

wilrnh 5y ago
Thank you for finding and sharing these links. [1] seems to be an updated version of the PDF. The original inspiration for EWC seems to be gone from ready.gov, but there's a picture of it in my post. If anyone comes across the person/s who designed it, please give them my sincere regards, its genius.

cyounkins 5y ago

I briefly tried to make my own template in Google Drive. In Docs you can set a table's width and minimum height. In Sheets, column width can be set in pixels. Neither seemed great for this purpose. I think Microsoft Publisher used to be the go-to tool for this type of document. Is there an online alternative that might be usable to make my own? Basically looking for formatting tools that can be used inside a series of rectangles of a constant height and width.

m-p-3 5y ago
I'd normally go with Inkscape to design that kind of format, but that's just me.

alx__ 5y ago

I like this idea. But personally I wonder if during an emergency would remember I even had this?

zengargoyle 5y ago

I couldn't find a link anywhere to some sort of 'blank' PDF example, or to a fake filled out example. Double sided printing would be nice. So would formatting the output so you could cut/fold/staple it down into a little book. Cool idea though. At work (back in the day) we had little laminated pieces of paper crammed with important numbers, a new one every year. Came in quite handy. Having the access to the scarily high res Xerox printer I'd print out a little black book of friends phone numbers to always have around.

mleonhard 5y ago
Making a laminated card is easy with a clothing iron and cheap lamination sheets.

BobBagwill 5y ago

These are old-skool-kool: https://pocketmod.com/ https://pocketmod.com/ Use a "paper" made of flashspun high-density polyethylene fibers for extra credit! :-)

WalterBright 5y ago

Eh, I've just written stuff with a pen on a slip of paper and stuffed it in my wallet for the last n decades. I also do innovative high tech things like tape a piece of paper with my email on it to the back of my kindle. That came in handy when I left it on the airplane, and the airline staff emailed me so I could get it back. I suppose credit should go to my mom who'd sew a name tag into my clothes before dispatching me off to camp.

vmh1928 5y ago

Always good to have a copy of this along: https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/bustcard_eng_20100630.pdf https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/bustcard_eng_20100630.pdf

wilrnh 5y ago
Excellent idea thank you. I added this to https://github.com/wilrnh/emergencywalletcards.com/issues/1 https://github.com/wilrnh/emergencywalletcards.com/issues/1. Even if something like this cannot be included directly on the EWC, maybe a bunch of QR codes linking to stuff like this might be useful on the back.

gumby 5y ago

If you don't carry a wallet or other ID (I rarely do myself): Tape or p-touch your name to the back of your phone (esp handy for people like me who always have to spell it) and somebody else's phone number (the number of someone who can help if something happens to you). I include my email address too. Then if someone finds my phone, or me prostrate with my phone, they can get in touch with help.