For Immediate Release
From the Office of
Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, 5th District
562 570-6932
SCHIPSKE’S
VIAL OF LIFE PROGRAM GOES CITY-WIDE –
Mayor Foster
Praises Program As “Simple yet effective”
Long Beach,
CA – October 15, 2012 -- It took 6 years after her bid for City Council for
Gerrie Schipske, a Registered Nurse Practitioner and former EMT who did ride
alongs with the Long Beach Fire Department, to get the VIAL of L.I.F.E. fully
implemented in the City of Long Beach, but now that the City has announced it
is taking it city-wide, Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske is very pleased.
“As someone
who has worked in our local emergency rooms, I thought it was important to find
a way residents could communicate their medical conditions and medications to
the paramedics when they responded to a call for service,” explains Schipske.
“When I walked door to door in the 5th Council District in 2005, I
handed out my own ‘Vial of LIFE’ kits that my volunteers and I put together.
They were a hit. So after my election I worked with local medical facilities,
the Long Beach Fire Department and several charitable organizations to improve
the program and make it work for Long Beach,” Schipske notes. “Today, the City
of Long Beach announced that it is taking the our program and expanding it
city-wide. I want to thank Mayor Foster and the Long Beach Fire Department and
Long Beach Fire Fighters Association for their strong support of this important
effort.”
The Vial of
L.I.F.E.is a nation-wide effort to put medical and prescription information
into the hands of first responders. L.I.F.E. stands for Life Saving Information
in Emergencies. The program is simple. Residents fill out a medical information
form and place it inside a pill vial, place the pill vial in the top shelf of
the refrigerator and put a magnet on the outside of the refrigerator to
let paramedics know the information is
inside the refrigerator.
“The ‘Vial
of L.I.F.E.’ program saves lives by speaking for residents who can’t speak for
themselves,” Mayor Bob Foster said. “This simple yet effective program will
quickly provide the information that 911 responders need when they administer
critical help to an injured or sick person who might not be able to speak.”
Schipske has raised several thousands of dollars to launch the VIAL of
L.I.F.E. in Long Beach to pay for a website (www.lbvialoflife.com),
printing of medical forms, labels and refrigerators magnets. “Walmart stepped
up and donated 10,000 pill vials,” says Schipske. “I ran the medical form by
Dr. Steven Shea who heads up the ER at St. Mary Medical Center and works
directly with our paramedics so that we know it contains the information that
is needed to make quick medical decisions.”
Schipske reports that “senior and
youth volunteers” assemble the kits which she has worked to distribute
the Vial of LIFE throughout the City of Long Beach. “We have distributed 3,000
VIAL of L.I.F.E. kits to date. Any resident of Long Beach can pick up a VIAL of
L.I.F.E. kit at the locations on the list to the right.” Additionally, 300 VIALS were given to Meals on Wheels for their clients.
“We also produced a public service announcement with Chief Duree that
you can view on our website: www.lbvialoflife.com. VIAL of
L.I.F.E. can save your life.” #30