Dana Hentschel, the firm’s outreach coordinator, had one of those moments at the end of October. After attending a sold-out Phish concert in downtown Nashville, Dana ducked into a restaurant to grab a bite to let the crowd clear before heading to her car. As she always does when attending concerts, Dana left her purse at home and tucked her driver’s license, credit card, and phone into her back pocket.
So far, there’s nothing unusual about this story. It’s what happened next that takes us to the teachable moment. After dinner, while Dana was in the ladies’ room, her phone slipped out of her back pocket and landed on the bathroom floor. Her driver’s license and credit card fell out with the phone but didn’t land on the floor—they landed in the toilet. Staring at the cards sinking to the bottom of the bowl, Dana braced herself for inevitable grossness of the retrieval process. She reached in and, just as her hand was about to break the surface of the water, the automatic flush kicked in and both cards disappeared. Dana’s driver’s license and her credit card had been literally flushed down the toilet.
Horrified, Dana left the bathroom and did what any self-respecting woman would do in this situation: she stopped at the bar to ask the bartender if this had ever happened before, and if anything could be done. The answer was no on both counts. But he did offer her a drink on the house.
As for the teachable moment, this situation shows how important it is to keep scans of important cards and legal documents on your phone, especially if you’re caring for an elderly loved one.
What if you’re Durable Power of Attorney for someone, let’s say it’s your 90-year-old mother, and she is suddenly rushed to the hospital? Will you waste precious seconds rummaging around to find the Power of Attorney document? Worse yet, if she’s rushed to the hospital when you’re not at home, you may not even be able to access the hard copy. If you have a PDF or JPG of the document on your phone, problem solved.
Why not take a moment, scan those important documents, and save them to your phone? You’ll be glad you did.