Suppose one of your family members was in a disaster, and you couldn’t find out whether they were alive? What if you were in an accident that left you unconscious and authorities couldn’t get hold of someone to let them know you were injured and to give consent for life-saving surgery? Would you want to know if one of your parents had died suddenly?
Those scenarios are the driving force behind the Next of Kin Registry (NOKR):
The NOKR is a free, nonprofit, emergency contact system for both daily emergencies and national disasters. Here is how it works: you or someone in your family registers online at the NOKR web site. You can register multiple individuals as next of kin and emergency contacts, and you can enter information about medical conditions, medications and other important information. When that information is needed, it will be used up to contact you or your family member or to allow medical care during an emergency.
One way the information is used is to make it available to state agencies (sheriff, police, coroner, hospitals, etc.) during emergencies. There are multiple protections in place to assure that only qualified agencies are allowed to access the information, through a registration process that confirms their need to know. There are also safeguards so that no agency will be allowed to search the system for wanted felons, victims, witnesses or suspects to crimes. What they will do is locate and notify those in the database that an individual has been located.
Here are other cases where NOKR information will be used:
- Missing or injured child, adult or senior
- Accidents while traveling
- Unconscious person unable to communicate
- Natural disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, floods, tsunamis and fires)
- Terrorist acts
- Deceased person
There are testimonials on the web site that give dramatic illustrations, including NOKR’s help in locating relatives for over 500 victims during hurricane Katrina. There may not be internet access during every disaster, but it makes sense to take this step for the day when you or your family will need it.
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