7/31/2019 Schipske Effort Goes City Wide

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For Immediate Release

From the Office of Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, 5th

District

562 570-6932

SCHIPSKES VIAL OF LIFE PROGRAM GOES CITY-WIDE

Mayor Foster Praises Program As Simple yet effective

Long Beach, CA October 15, 2012 -- It took 6 years after her bid for City Council for Gerrie Schipske, a Registered

Nurse Practitioner and former EMT who did ride alongs with the Long Beach Fire Department, to get the VIAL of

L.I.F.E. fully implemented in the City of Long Beach, but now that the City has announced it is taking it city-wide,

Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske is very pleased.

As someone who has worked in our local emergency rooms, I thought it was important to find a way residents

could communicate their medical conditions and medications to the paramedics when they responded to a call for

service, explains Schipske. When I walked door to door in the 5th

Council District in 2005, I handed out my own

Vial of LIFE kits that my volunteers and I put together. They were a hit. So after my election I worked with local

medical facilities, the Long Beach Fire Department and several charitable organizations to improve the program

and make it work for Long Beach, Schipske notes. Today, the City of Long Beach announced that it is taking the

our program and expanding it city-wide. I want to thank Mayor Foster and the Long Beach Fire Department and

Long Beach Fire Fighters Association for their strong support of this important effort.

The Vial of L.I.F.E.is a nation-wide effort to put medical and prescription information into the hands of first

responders. L.I.F.E. stands for Life Saving Information in Emergencies. The program is simple. Residents fill out a

medical information form and place it inside a pill vial, place the pill vial in the top shelf of the refrigerator and put

a magnet on the outside of the refrigerator to let paramedics know the information is inside the refrigerator.

The Vial of L.I.F.E. program saves lives by speaking for residents

who cant speak for themselves, Mayor Bob Foster said. This

simple yet effective program will quickly provide the information

that 911 responders need when they administer critical help to an

injured or sick person who might not be able to speak.

Schipske has raised several thousands of dollars to launch the

VIAL of L.I.F.E. in Long Beach to pay for a website

(www.lbvialoflife.com), printing of medical forms, labels and

refrigerators magnets. Walmart stepped up and donated 10,000

pill vials, says Schipske. I ran the medical form by Dr. Steven

Shea who heads up the ER at St. Mary Medical Center and works

directly with our paramedics so that we know it contains the

information that is needed to make quick medical decisions.

Schipske reports that senior and youth volunteers assemble the

kits which she has worked to distribute the Vial of LIFE

throughout the City of Long Beach. We have distributed 3,000

VIAL of L.I.F.E. kits to date. Any resident of Long Beach can pick up

a VIAL of L.I.F.E. kit at the locations on the list to the right.Additionally, 300 VIALS were given to Meals on Wheels for their

client.

We also produced a public service announcement with Chief

Duree that you can view on our website:www.lbvialoflife.com.

VIAL of L.I.F.E. can save your life. #30

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