Legislation would bring Yellow Dot program to Indiana

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- One Indiana lawmaker wants to help first responders help people with a program that involves a yellow sticker.

HB 1069, introduced by Indiana House Representatives Ethan Manning, would establish a Yellow Dot Emergency Medical Information Program in Indiana.

The program is voluntary. Participating drivers would put a yellow sticker inside the lower right corner of their car’ driver side window.  

If a person is ever in an emergency situation, like a car accident, and can’t speak to first responders, the dot would tell first responders to look inside the car’s glove box where they would find a yellow envelope with information about the driver including his or her medical history, any allergies he or she may have, as well as emergency contacts.

Local first responders say this could save lives.

“If you’ve got something like this that’s pre-canned, pre-ready to go for us, all of the information that we’re going to be looking for is going to be right there and it’s going to be readily available for us to use to hopefully help make a difference for you,” said Killian.

Clay Fire Territory’s Assistant Fire Chief Jaren Kilian said in an emergency, seconds could be the difference between life and death. He explained when someone is involved in a traumatic event, they sometimes can’t tell first responders life-saving information like if the person has any allergies or is on certain medications.  

That forces first responders to play detective. Kilian said while first responders are trained on how to find that information, a program like this would make their jobs easier and help those in need.

“There’s one particular form of medication called Warfarin or Cumitin that people take and very often if we don’t know that somebody’s on that medication the hospital has to run a series of tests to make sure that the patient isn’t on that medication,” said Kilian. “So, that makes a big difference if we know whether or not you’re on that medication.”

Antowinette Taylor lives in Mishawaka and works in healthcare. Taylor said she’s worried about having sensitive information like that in her glovebox, but says overall she supports the bill and would participate in it.

“I feel like if it’s something that would be beneficial to the people and it’s something that would actually help the workers or help the crew when they come, if it’s a way that they can’t contact a family member or able to get in contact with someone, I think that that would be a great way to help them without having to do a lot of extra work in the process,” said Taylor.

When asked about the privacy concerns, Manning circled back to the fact that this program would be voluntary. If someone is worried about his or her privacy, Manning said he or she doesn’t have to participate. Drivers could also opt out at any time.

To learn more about the HB 1069 click here.