Angela Whawell

Name: Angela Whawell

Conditions: Atrial Fibrillation (AF), asthma, multiple allergies, gastric reflux, sleep apnoea, vertigo

Wears: Byzantine Silver Bracelet

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"My MedicAlert bracelet does not leave me when I'm out, it gives me complete confidence."

When Angela was prescribed Warfarin, she was advised to join MedicAlert. She is now happy to have trusted her recommenders: her friend, the one-time Medical Devices Strategy Manager of the NHS Trust in Oxfordshire and her husband, the retired Assistant Director of Governance for South Central Ambulance Services NHS Trust.

After becoming a MedicAlert member, Angela and her husband took a trip to Greece to see her son and his family, who were living in Athens. After only being in Greece for a couple of hours, she went with her daughter-in-law to pick up her grandchildren from school. Tragically, on the way, she tripped over a pothole and fell directly onto her face.

Bleeding profusely from her badly bruised face, Angela was in terrible pain, shock and confusion. She was rushed to hospital by her son, where CT scans and eye tests found she had fractured her eye socket. She was told that she needed stitches and would probably need to have a metal plate inserted into her cheekbone to hold the bones in position whilst they healed.

As the service is available around the world and in over 100 languages and dialects, the Greek surgeon who treated her was able to call the emergency number on her MedicAlert bracelet to get her detailed medical record and, discovering she was taking Warfarin, altered her treatment accordingly.

Angela is also allergic to several antibiotics and these are included on her medical records. However, she had not thought to put in her records the antibiotics that she could take, so, on her return home, she contacted us to make sure that this information was added to her record.

Angela tells us that her bracelet has done its job ‘impeccably well’ and that without it on her wrist she now feels unsafe, especially when she is abroad.

She says, “My MedicAlert bracelet does not leave me when I’m out, it gives me complete confidence.” In fact, if she accidentally leaves the house without her bracelet, she will always return home for it before continuing with her day!

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