THE Rotary Club of Girvan in conjunction with the Rotary Clubs of Alloway, Prestwick, Troon and Ayr and Prestwick Lions Club, are reminding Ayrshire folks of their ‘Message in a Bottle’ campaign.

This is often called the ‘Bottle in the Fridge’ campaign. You may have heard of it. If you live alone or feel vulnerable, or have a serious medical condition, this initiative supplies a plastic bottle in which you indicate all your importan t medical information and contact details.

These bottles are then kept in your fridge. Your bottle would contain your name, your doctor’s name, emergency contact and one or two other details which could be vital if you are found by a neighbour, fireman or policeman.

The fridge has been chosen to store the bottle because most household have a fridge and it is easily accessible. The bottles are available free from your dentist, doctor, pharmacy, nurses, health visitors, Age Concern and many other local outlets.

So what do you do? First get a free bottle, then fill in the form which is included. Put one of the stickers on your fridge to show that the bottle is inside, put the second sticker inside your front door and that’s it.

If in doubt all the instructions are inside the bottle. If you have any problems, ask a family member, nurse, or carer to help. The stickers will be recognised by all the local emergency services. Easy so far. Now when you have a bit of a crisis while at home, the emergency professional will quickly know who you are, who your doctor is, and the person you would prefer to be contacted in an emergency. What a good idea – a great idea. The Rotary Club of Girvan fully endorse this first class initiative and have purchased the bottles in the hope that in the event of a crisis things can run just a little bit more smoothly.