Flash Drive Stores Health Records

Presentations Magazine
By Julie Hill
March 1, 2005

Most presenters hail the USB thumb drive as a "Lifesaver" for backing up and transferring presentations. Now the medical world has bestowed the same title on the popular little device. MedicAlert, the nonprofit organization famous for the MedicAlert bracelets and necklaces that notify emergency personnel of a person's preexisting medical conditions, has introduced the Personal HealthKey flash-memory drive.

Using SanDisk flash-drive technology, the MedicAlert Personal HealthKey allows individuals and authorized medical personnel to add and store portable medical information. With the included software, the device can store a person's family and medical history, track their medications, create an emergency wallet card, send and receive automatic reminders and store medical reports, including images. The level of security is set by the user, and in the event they become unconscious, the Personal HealthKey will only allow access to authorized medical information, including an autolaunched document of emergency info. More information can be found at www.medicaLert.org.