Make yourself master contact lists and keep a copy by your home phone, your parents' home phone, at work, and perhaps even one in your car. Program the most important numbers into your phones. Give copies to your siblings. Be sure to take precautions to protect this sensitive information! Some of the most important information you will need to have at your fingertips includes:

Your parents' full names and dates of birth

Social Security numbers

Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurance numbers (have a copy of the cards)

Physician names, addresses, phone numbers (PCP, specialists, vision, hearing, and dental)

Pharmacy name, address, phone number

Hospital name, address, phone number

Name and phone numbers for neighbor(s) and friends who live nearby

Find out where your parents have their legal papers and get copies of them.

You should also have a medical history or vital emergency information form available to reference such things as medical conditions, medications, and allergies.

Complete and keep with emergency kits. Update if any changes are made.

Give a copy of the vital emergency information form as well as the health-care proxy to your next of kin. Place a copy in a container inside your refrigerator and mark the container “In Case of Emergency” — EMTs and paramedics are trained to look in the refrigerator for such documents. If you have a DNR, put it with these papers.