When something goes wrong, the nanny needs one page — not a filing cabinet. An emergency card puts allergies, medications, the pediatrician's number, and your emergency contacts in one place the nanny can reach instantly.
An emergency card is not a medical history. It's the information a paramedic, ER nurse, or the nanny herself needs in the first five minutes. Keep it to one page:
Drug allergies (amoxicillin, penicillin), food allergies (peanuts, shellfish), and what the reaction looks like. If there's an EpiPen, say so — and where it is.
Name, dose, and schedule for every medication the child takes. A paramedic needs this to avoid drug interactions. Keep it current — an outdated card is worse than no card.
Asthma, seizure disorder, diabetes, heart condition — anything that could cause an emergency or affect treatment. One line each.
Parent 1, Parent 2, nearby backup adult, pediatrician's after-hours number, Poison Control (1-800-222-1222). In that order.
The fridge is fine as a backup — but the card needs to be wherever the child is. That means on the nanny's phone.
The problem with most emergency cards: they're written once and never updated. When a medication changes, the fridge card is wrong. A digital card that pulls from the child's live record stays current without anyone remembering to rewrite it.
When you start a record for your child, Family Stork creates an emergency card from the real data — allergies, medications, conditions, and contacts. Every person gets their own private Family Stork email address. When clinics send records to that address, the timeline updates itself — and the emergency card updates too.
Invite the nanny. They see the emergency card on their phone — no login, no app download. If a medication changes at the next doctor visit and the clinic emails the updated record, the nanny's emergency card reflects it automatically.
The nanny never owns the record. They see only what you chose to share. When they leave, you revoke the invitation. The card goes away; the record stays with your family.
Every time a medication, allergy, or condition changes — and after every doctor visit where something new is prescribed or discontinued. If you use a digital card connected to the child's health record, updates happen automatically when the clinic sends records to the private Family Stork email address.
In a true emergency, hospitals treat first and handle insurance later. Including insurance details on a card the nanny carries creates an unnecessary privacy exposure. You can provide insurance information by phone if the nanny reaches you from the ER.
Each child gets their own emergency card with their own information. With Family Stork, each child has their own record, and each nanny gets an invitation for the children they care for. If one nanny watches both kids, they see both emergency cards.
Emergency treatment doesn't require parental consent — hospitals will act to save a child's life. For non-emergency situations, a signed medical consent form helps. Talk to your pediatrician about what form to use for your situation.
The emergency card comes from the record. The record comes from one email address every clinic already knows how to use.
$99/year — or about $10 a month.
Start their record — free