Do you have a medically fragile child or a child that has a complex medical condition? If you’ve ever found yourself making late night and spontaneous trips to the ER throughout the day, just remember you’re not alone. My daughter has both HLHS (Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome), a congenital heart defect, and epilepsy. This combination has landed us in emergency rooms and urgent care more times than I can even count. Admittedly, in the beginning I was never prepared enough, I would rush in with just whatever papers I had and ended up having papers all over the place.
After numerous visits, I’ve figured out what essentials to bring for me, and what essentials to bring for my daughter. I thought I would share them with other parents and see if anyone else had anything that they took with them too.
Be prepared for lots of long hours waiting, and waiting and waiting. Sometimes you’ll even be there overnight. Here’s what I bring for myself:
- Water Bottle (Refillable)
- Change of clothes
- Toiletry Bag with essentials like toothpaste
- Medications – even things like advil and antihistamines
- Medical history for child including medications and contact information for specialists
- Insurance cards
- Cell phone and device chargers
- Book or Kindle
Hospital Emergency Bag for your Child
For my daughter we tend to bring her a combination of comfort items and items of necessity. Things in her bag include:
- Change of clothes (sometimes more than one)
- Medications
- Blanket to keep warm
- Stuffed Animal
- Books or activity games
- Music to listen to (It soothes her)
- Coloring supplies
