Medical emergency

Actions

• Set up a phone medical ID and emergency contact

  Emergency teams increasingly check locked phones for this: modern smartphones can display allergies, conditions, medicines and an emergency contact from the lock screen without a PIN. Set it up in your phone's health or safety settings and review it whenever your medication changes — it complements the paper card.

• Teach 112 and basic first aid to your household

  Even preschoolers can learn to dial 112, give their name and address, and stay on the line — practise it as a role play until it feels normal. Run a short refresher with everyone twice a year, and make sure the whole household knows where the first-aid kit and any emergency medicines are kept.

Supplies

• Keep a complete, in-date first-aid kit at homeEssential

  A kit stocked to DIN 13157, the German workplace standard, is a solid home benchmark: wound dressings, sterile compresses, bandages, a rescue blanket, scissors and gloves. Sterile items expire after about five years, so check contents yearly, restock after every use, and store it cool and dry — not in the bathroom.

• Keep a small first-aid kit in the car

  In Germany every car must carry a first-aid kit to DIN 13164, and several other EU countries have similar rules — check before driving abroad. Keep it reachable from the cabin rather than buried under luggage, and swap it out when the expiry date on the sterile contents passes.

• Carry essential emergency medicines (e.g. auto-injector, inhaler)Essential

  Rescue medication only helps if it is within reach when a crisis starts, not at home in a drawer. Carry prescribed emergency medicines on your person, check the expiry dates every few months, and show the people around you where you keep them — your doctor or pharmacist can explain how helpers use them correctly.

Skills

• Take a hands-on first-aid courseEssential

  Practising on a training mannequin builds confidence that reading never can — most bystanders hesitate out of fear of doing harm, not lack of will. Recognised aid organisations run one-day courses across the EU; refresh every two to three years, because unused skills fade fast.

• Learn hands-only CPR and how to use an AEDEssential

  Survival after cardiac arrest drops with every minute without CPR — which is exactly why this skill is worth practising on a mannequin rather than just reading about. A short course teaches chest compressions and AED use; in a real emergency the 112 dispatcher will also talk you through what to do until help arrives.

• Practise the recovery position

  An unconscious person who is still breathing can suffocate on their own tongue or vomit while lying on their back — turned onto their side, the airway stays open and fluid drains out. Rehearse the moves on a partner at home until they take seconds; every first-aid course covers it.

• Learn the FAST stroke checkEssential

  Face, Arms, Speech, Time: ask the person to smile, raise both arms and repeat a simple sentence — a drooping mouth, a sinking arm or slurred words means call 112 at once. Note when the symptoms began, because stroke treatments only work within a narrow time window.

Know & check

• Memorise 112 as the EU-wide emergency numberEssential

  One number reaches ambulance, fire and police in every EU country, free of charge from mobile and landline phones, and mobile calls go through on any available network. Stay on the line — the dispatcher will guide you step by step, and in many countries you can speak English if you do not know the local language.

• Write down allergies, conditions and medicines on a cardEssential

  If you cannot speak, a card in your wallet speaks for you — emergency teams routinely look next to your ID. List allergies, chronic conditions, current medicines, implants such as a pacemaker and an emergency contact, and update it whenever a prescription changes; an outdated card can mislead treatment.

• Find the nearest public AED where you live and work

  In a cardiac arrest, minutes decide — knowing beforehand that a defibrillator hangs in the station, town hall or supermarket nearby saves the frantic search. Look for the green heart-and-lightning sign, check your country's public AED map, and remember the 112 dispatcher can often direct you to the closest one.