Product review: GO ID Emergency Medical ID Kit

GO-ID is an emergency ID which gives first responders essential information about you.

I have a friend who is an EMT and decided that the most useful review I can give will be to include feedback from the professional in the field who will be working with these alert tags.

Here are the key points from our conversation as he examined the GO-ID tag:

✔ EMTs are trained to look for Medic Alerts as jewelry or as a wrist band
✔ What is the best way to wear GO-ID alert? He said he would put it on a gold chain around the neck. Wearing under the watch would be fine.
✔ Where is a bad place to put it? EMTs do not look in the pockets, so putting it on a key-chain is not a good idea. Attaching to a backpack/pocketbook is not a good idea as they look at the body only.
✔ Who needs a medical alert? Should everyone wear one? People that need medical alerts are people with special medical conditions: allergies, diabetic, pacemaker... any condition that an EMT would need to know to keep a person alive.
✔ Do not use alerts to specify emergency contact, EMTs do not look for this information. Their job is only to keep you alive not to contact anyone.
✔ If you don't have a special condition you do no need a medical alert.
✔ EMTs look for alert tags only when dealing with unresponsive patients who are alone as part of the assessment process.
✔ GO-ID tags were new to my friend and since they are new they are less recognizable than the Medic Alert bracelet.

Now, for my experience with GO-ID.

The GO-ID kit consists of the metal tag, a silicone holder, and spring lock which can be used to attach the holder to a key ring, and a set on double-sticky labels which stick to the metal tag an contain the personal information you want to relay to EMT. The metal tag 2" long and 1.125" wide. I decided that it sticks out a bit too much when placed under the watch (see attached photo), so before I talked to my EMT friend I thought I would put on my key-chain. After talking to my friend I decided that attaching to the shoe laces is best, since it does not look like something you would wear on a chain as jewelry.

The content of the tag can be printed on the GO-ID web site. The GO-ID web site required me to register. Once you sign up the web site send you your login ID and password in the clear via email, so don't use a password you use for secure web sites.

When I used Firefox I ran into an issue editing the form for creating the label, but was able to complete this task using Chrome Browser. Printing of the label is a little tricky. It involves printing a template, attaching a special GO-ID label to the template, printing the actual label, and removing the circle which has a sticky side that attaches to the tag. I printed a couple of test labels which did not line up perfectly.

When it was time to create the real label I decided to hand print the information: I could line it up better plus I did not want to enter my personal information to be stored on the web site. I wish the registration was optional and that my personal information was not stored on the web site. If registration is required then a better security practice is to generate a random password and send to the user if the password is forgotten rather than sending the user's password via email in the clear.

I am attaching a collage of several photos:

✔ Photo #1: Everything that came in the package
✔ Photo #2: The tag with the silicone holder removed
✔ Photo #3: The tag with information and silicone holder
✔ Photo #4: The GO-ID on my wrist for relative size

I received GO-ID from the manufacturer and told him that my review will be based on what my EMT friend's feedback on the id would be. Overall, my EMT friend liked a big medic alert bracelet best. He felt nothing is more noticeable. He thought GO-ID tags were OK if worn around the neck, wrist or shoe laces. They could be life saver for people with underlying conditions, but not needed by people without any special conditions.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Update

I received an email from the manufacturer of GO-ID bracelet with clarification that the only information stored on GO-ID web site for each user is their email/password. The information you enter to display on your GO-ID is not stored.