Life-Saving Program For Car Crashes Coming To Warren

Community members will have access to a lifesaving program throughout McMinnville this Wednesday.

The Yellow Dot Program is an initiative that provides first responders with key medical information in emergency crash situations. McMinnville PD Lieutenant Mark Mara said this information could be the difference between life and death.

“So every second does count,” Mara said. “If they have an allergic reaction to medication and they’re being life-flighted to another hospital that other hospital is not going to have that information readily available. So the quicker we can get that information out to these caregivers, the better off we are.”

Mara said that while anyone can use the program, it’s geared towards individuals with specific medical conditions or needs. These conditions could include diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease, among others. Participants in the program receive a yellow dot sticker for their car and a medical information sheet to keep in the glovebox.

Mara said the only time individuals can sign up is at the event, so officials can ensure their medical information sheets are properly filled out.

“You can’t do it by yourself,” Mara said. “You can’t just go online to order one of these yellow dot program brochures and stickers because we want to make sure it’s filled out correctly. And the other part of that is we want to have a picture of that person in that brochure so that if you have multiple people in the vehicle then we know which one it is that’s having these medical conditions.”

The event will be at Spangler Towers from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and at the Warren County Senior Center from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.