How It Started …

I realized … I don’t know and I can’t help…. also he doesn’t know and he can’t help.

Concern for the health of a friend initially spurred the idea for My Body Passport™.  

One afternoon, I answered a phone call from a friend… “I am heading to the ER, please meet me there”.  Upon arriving, my friend was already admitted, and, considering the situation, he was understandably medicated with morphine.   Within minutes of arriving, an assistant walked into the room with a pile of paper work, and asked us about his family history, about his current meds, about his personal surgical history, and I realized … I don’t know and I can’t help…. also he doesn’t know and he can’t help.  If you have ever had a conversation with someone under morphine, you know that you are not going to get very far with these types of question. While this was happening, I thought,

“Ok these questions are being asked to give my friend the best care under his condition, so the doctors need to know this information, but there is no way he is going to remember or be able to tell me and, even though we are good friends, I don’t know this information.” 

“This is nuts. This is crazy, How often does this happen?”

Further consideration of the vacuum of readily available information about each of our own bodies led me to conceive of My Body Passport™.  My engineering expertise went to work and the first My Body Passport™ was a mock-up of my idea.  

The My Body Passport™ product family is no longer a hand made mock-up.  Created and made in the USA, the printing of the Classic and Adventure embody the excellent quality of both the physical booklets and the smart layout and content.

I sought out the right team to do the thinking so you, the user, don’t have to. We have debated the content and format, arguing on behalf of the users at every level. My sister, Laura Coulson, M.D. is a practicing Family Medicine physician armed with current medical requirements for all ages.  Dr. Laura specializes in instructing future doctors and working in clinics, truly caring for the vulnerable populations.  The backbone of My Body Passport™ is the expertise of Dr. Laura Coulson, providing a comprehensive and technically accurate product. 

Typically, forms are inhuman. We made them human. My brother, Andrew R. Coulson, is an expert in data information strategy. Andrew creatively determined how to take data (your health records) and turn it into information (something you can use). Andrew skillfully worked and reworked each page to make it friendly, something that you can use, your doctor can use, a parent can use, a caregiver or first responder or traveling companion can use.  The idea is that My Body Passport™ is for every body.

The most accurate and comprehensive product is only worthwhile if it is used.  My friend, Council Nedd II, is one of the least likely people to fill out a form, and so, not only did his health initiate the idea, Council serves as the unlikely user.  No longer unlikely, he now carries one in his patrol car and also keeps one on his refrigerator, covering his bases at all times.