Reintroducing the Yellow Dot Program; why it matters
ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – The Chemung County Sheriff’s Office is reminding seniors of a program that could be helpful in times of tragedy.
“We’ve actually had it here at the sheriff’s office for several years, but we just kind of wanted to remind everyone that this program does exist,” said Chemung County Sheriff Bill Schrom.
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The Yellow Dot Program is designed to help seniors if they can’t communicate with emergency personnel during a medical emergency. The program has been around for more than two decades and is used in 22 states.
“It’s one sheet, it’s pretty simple. There’s a front and back to it. It contains information such as your emergency contacts, your name, who your physician is, their preferred hospital you would like to go to if it’s local obviously, your blood type, some of the medications that you’re on. The sticker would go in the back window in the back windshield. The left hand side, driver’s side and this would automatically notify law enforcement or somebody else that you have a packet in your glove compartment that they can look for should they need it,” said Schrom.
If you put the sticker on your vehicle, law enforcement can pull you over between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
“The reason for that is one to ensure that it is in fact your vehicle and you’re the person that should be in it driving. But more importantly, sometimes the elderly patients might have other issues with Dementia and Alzheimer’s, that type of stuff. So, they would just pull them over and make sure that they’re good to go and that would be the sole reason of their stop. Not to go anything beyond that. Just to make sure that the person is who they should be and that there’s no issues with them,” said Schrom.
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The sheet should be placed in the glove compartment of your vehicle and in a baggy in your freezer. The sheriff’s office posted information on how the program works to its Facebook page Wednesday morning.
“We’ve actually had about four or five responses requesting this information, so we can either forward the packet to them or they can contact the New York State Sheriff’s Association directly,” said Schrom.
For more information on the Yellow Dot Program, click here.
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