Preparing for an emergency abroad includes considering how medical information will travel with the person who needs it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2026 Yellow Book advises travelers with chronic illnesses to carry details of their conditions, medications, and allergies. That guidance raises a practical question for organizations responsible for people away from home. How accessible would those details be if someone could not speak?

According to a study involving more than 106,000 EMS transports, hospitals received the EMS patient-care report in only 54.2% of cases. Even when a report was received, fewer than one-third were available in the hospital's electronic record within two hours of the patient's arrival. As the information moves from person to person, the most valuable information gets lost, leaving the patient the only constant.

The CDC also advises these travelers to wear a medical alert bracelet or carry medical information on their person. Its guidance recognizes the value of having relevant details available during travel, alongside medication and other supplies.

Preparation may also involve knowing where support can be found. The same guidance can encourage identifying healthcare professionals and pharmacies at the destination and carrying contact information for the traveler's healthcare provider.

Together, these recommendations may suggest that emergency planning has an information component. Packing supplies is one part of preparation. Another is making sure medical information and emergency contacts are easy to find when needed.

Debora Radtke, founder of American Yacht Agents, provides shoreside support to yacht captains and crews. Her experience has led her to consider how emergency plans account for crew members when they are away from the vessel. If someone is injured ashore, she explains, those helping may not know where the person works or whom to contact.

She believes organizations can give considerable attention to equipment and training while leaving questions about identification and communication unresolved. "We need to consider what happens when someone has an accident away from the vessel," she explains. Her concern is whether relevant information remains accessible outside the setting where emergency procedures normally operate.

Her interest initially grew from helping crew seek medical care without previous records readily available. "My initial goal was to create an app that would give crew easy access to their medical records," Radtke recalls. For people moving between countries, she saw potential value in making their treatment history easier to share.

That interest led her to collaborate with Daniel White of Scan If Hurt™. Radtke explains Code Alpha Safety as the maritime-focused application of that system. Its concept involves a QR code attached to something a person carries or wears, providing access to voluntarily supplied identification, medical details, and emergency contacts. She presents it as one possible way to address The Information Gap™.

Daniel White
Daniel White

"Information is almost always available," White remarks. "However, in emergencies, it's rarely accessible."

Keeping those details current is central to her thinking. A crew member changing vessels may also need to update whom responders should contact. "Crew members can update their emergency contact as soon as they change vessels," she notes. Radtke believes a local contact may help provide immediate context alongside family members overseas.

A study published in The American Surgeon examined unidentified trauma patients at a Level I trauma center and found that the reported average time from emergency department presentation to identification was approximately 4 hours and 15 minutes.

She also sees relevance for charter guests whose medical circumstances may be unfamiliar to the crew. "The aim is to make information available when it is needed, without requiring a guest to hand over their medical history to the captain," she explains. Her emphasis is on access for a specific need, with attention to what individuals choose to share.

Beyond maritime work, Radtke sees possible applications for school travel groups, commercial crews, and sporting events. She uses open-water swimming as an example. If a rescued participant cannot communicate, organizers may initially know only a registration number. She suggests that accessible identification could help connect that number with information the participant has provided. This remains a proposed application, rather than a confirmed event deployment.

For Radtke, the practical question is whether information can be found when ordinary communication is unavailable. A phone or paper record may not be within reach. She believes preparedness discussions should consider those circumstances before someone needs assistance.

Radtke explains plans to introduce the maritime application around the Monaco Yacht Show. She views that step as an opportunity to explore the idea in a setting she knows, while recognizing potential relevance elsewhere. "We need to consider how to bridge The Information Gap," she explains.

Her broader argument is that organizations could include information access in the preparations they already make. Alongside checking equipment and reviewing procedures, she believes there is value in considering who can be contacted and what details could help when an injured person cannot explain their circumstances. The objective, in her view, is to make those connections easier when they matter.