Medical alert symbol

How to read it

MedicAlert Foundation UK says the symbol signals that the wearer has vital health needs and prompts a paramedic to turn the ID over and read the information on the back, or call the helpline on it. The symbol is usually the rod of Asclepius, a single snake coiled on a staff, and it is often red: MedicAlert UK’s own jewellery carries the rod, and its guide says red is used because it is a high-visibility colour. The MedicAlert Foundation began in the United States in 1956. Its history says Dr Marion Collins had the idea after his daughter Linda had a near-fatal allergic reaction, that he and his wife Chrissie made the first MedicAlert bracelet, and that Collins campaigned at his own expense for worldwide recognition of the MedicAlert symbol.

Also searched as: medical alert bracelet symbol, medical id symbol.

Rod of Asclepius or caduceus

MedicAlert UK’s guide notes that the caduceus, two snakes around a winged staff, is often mistaken for the rod of Asclepius. The single snake and plain staff are what tell the rod apart.

Star of Life on a bracelet

Some medical IDs carry the blue Star of Life instead. EMS.gov says the Star of Life was itself adapted from the American Medical Association’s medical identification symbol, and since 1994 NHTSA has let US states and federal agencies permit it on patients’ bracelets under their own programs, to tell EMS providers about a medical condition or a treatment such as do not resuscitate. Among the statewide do-not-resuscitate programs NHTSA heard about that year, California’s used the Medic-Alert symbol and Virginia’s used the Star of Life.

What EMS training says about medical IDs

NHTSA’s 1994 notice says the Department of Transportation’s national standard curricula advised EMTs to seek patient information from medical identification items such as Medic Alert bracelets. Virginia’s comment, quoted in the notice, placed that check in the patient assessment after initial resuscitative measures.