Your emergency profile: what to include and keep private

A useful emergency profile is easy to read. It helps someone assisting you find the information you have chosen to share. Before filling it out, ask yourself: what would I want someone to be able to read if I could not answer for myself?

Start with the people to contact

Enter an accurate name and phone number for each contact. Explain your relationship if that helps someone understand whom they are calling. Ask for the person’s permission and let them know they are listed. An unexpected call can be confusing when someone does not know they are your emergency contact.

Where possible, choose a second contact who may be available at a different time. Check the numbers together, including area codes. Avoid nicknames that would mean little to someone outside your family.

Keep health information clear

In its guidance for persons with disabilities, Public Safety Canada recommends preparing information about allergies, medications and emergency contacts. For a profile carried with you, you also need to decide what you want others to see.

  • Name known allergies clearly and avoid personal abbreviations.
  • If you add a medication or medical condition, check the information with your pharmacist or care team.
  • Include a useful communication need, such as your preferred language.
  • Use short sentences. A profile is not a complete medical record or a set of treatment instructions.

Decide what stays private

Imagine a stranger finding your tag. Would you be comfortable with that person reading every detail? For an emergency contact profile, avoid including your social insurance number, passwords or financial information. Think carefully before adding a full home address or health card number. Keep detailed documents in an appropriate place.

With SOSCAN, updates need to reach the tag

You prepare your profile in the free SOSCAN app, without an account. It stays on your phone and on the chip; SOSCAN keeps no copy on its servers. Anyone who can access the tag can read the information written on it: it is not password protected. After a change, edit the profile in the app and rewrite every affected tag. A lost tag cannot be deactivated remotely. To read a profile, an NFC-compatible phone with Internet opens it in the browser; without Internet, the SOSCAN app must be installed on the phone reading the tag.

Then read the tag with another phone and check the contact details on screen. In an emergency, reading a profile must not delay calling 911.

Set up and check your SOSCAN · Why make your emergency contacts accessible?

Sources and review

Sources consulted November 3, 2026. General preparedness guidance; a health professional can help you decide which health information to share.