City, POA, Lions unite to provide Vial of Life program

The Canyon Lake Lions Club, the City of Canyon Lake, and the Canyon Lake POA have joined together to provide a program where residents can leave resident medical information in a vinyl envelope on their refrigerators to help first responders save lives. The Vial of Life program debuted last weekend at the Fire Department’s Open House.

The Vial of Life Program is intended for residents to store all life-saving medical information in a convenient and accessible way for first responders who are coming to an emergency response at their home.

The Vial of Life kits are being provided by the Canyon Lake POA at no cost and come with a directions sheet, a medical information form, a magnetic vinyl envelope, and a Vial of Life decal. The Vial of Life name comes from the common practice of people stuffing their medical information into a prescription bottle in hopes of first responders finding it.

With the magnetic vinyl envelope holding this information, a patient‘s medical information can now be found on the outside of the resident’s refrigerator. Also part of the kit is a decal that is to be placed on the front window of the home to alert first responders to look for the vinyl envelope.

The POA will be providing the Vial of Life kits to all new residents at no cost. Current residents can obtain a Vial of Life kit at either the Canyon Lake POA office in the Canyon Lake Town Center or at the Canyon Lake Fire Department. If there is more than one person in a household who would like to prepare their medical information, extra forms can be provided upon request.

Residents can also print the Vial of Life documents at home. Documents can be found on the city’s website under the Fire Department’s page. Households that have more than one resident with Vial of Life kits are asked to place a picture of the individual in the appropriate Vial of Life bag. This will help first responders to differentiate between the residents’ medical information.

Residents of all ages are encouraged to participate. The Canyon Lake Fire Department said it is thrilled to implement this program, as it will assist its first responders in caring for those it is helping.