Taking medicine on time can be critical to a Parkinson's disease patient's ability to move, talk, or swallow. But if a sudden trip to the hospital is necessary, it could be hours before staff finds out about the pills the patient should be receiving.

One way to avoid such a crisis is to make an emergency card listing all your parent's drugs and the specific times to take them. Have your parent's Parkinson's disease neurologist sign a note on the card requesting other doctors to help maintain this medication schedule. Your parent can carry the card at all times, and you can also keep a copy handy, just in case.

Download a free PDF copy of an emergency card provided by the American Parkinson Disease Association Information & Referral Center at Stanford University Medical Center. To make the card, follow these instructions:

1. Print the document on one side of a sheet of card stock.
2. Reinsert the paper to print again on the other side -- but this time reorient the page upside down so that the text on both faces lines up. You'll end up with two copies of the double-sided emergency card.
3. Cut apart, trim, and laminate as desired.