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In medical circles, there are two very similar
symbols that represent healing. One is known as the Caduceus.
The other is the staff of Asclepius.
The Caduceus symbol, which has two
snakes on a pole that's topped with wings, is most closely associated with
the Greek god Hermes (known to Romans as Mercury).
Asclepius, however, was a Greek
physician, the son of Apollo. By the 5th century BC, he was widely
regarded as the Greek god of healing and medicine because of the amazing
healing powers he possessed. In fact, he was so skilled at surgery and
the use of medicinal plants that it was believed he could restore the dead
to life.
It's the staff of Asclepius that's
most commonly used as the symbol of healing on medical emergency id
bracelets. Asclepius' staff has only one snake, and no wings at the
top. It is the emblem of the American Medical Association. The
daughters of Asclepius are well known to us today as Hygeia, goddess of
health, and Panacea, goddess of healing.
But, where did Asclepius' staff
design originate, and how did it become associated with medicine? Many
trace the origin of the staff back to Moses, the man chosen by God to lead
the Jewish people out of Egyptian bondage, and into the promised land.
In the old
testament book of
Numbers, God instructs Moses to create a pole with a serpent on it which the
Lord could use as an instrument for healing. The scripture reference
appears below:
Numbers
21:4-9
4 They traveled from Mount
Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew
impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said,
"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no
bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!" 6 Then the
Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many
Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we
spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the
snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The Lord said to
Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look
at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole.
Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he
lived.
Clearly, a snake bite could be considered a 'medical emergency'. The
healing pole certainly provided a quick cure, and it was probably used quite
often during the period the Jews wandered in the desert. But, after
Moses' death, the Jews began to ascribe more power to the pole than to the
one who actually supplied the healing power. The people of Israel
burned incense to the pole and worshipped it, calling it Nehushtan.
We learn in the old testament book of 2nd Kings (chapter 18) that Hezekiah,
one of the few good kings of Judah who lived around 715 BC, broke Moses'
pole and destroyed the bronze serpent. God honored Hezekiah's move to
draw the people away form idol worship, and the scripture tells us that the
Lord was with Hezekiah and he prospered in everything that he did.
Today, millions
of people with chronic illnesses rely on medical emergency bracelets
displaying the Staff of Asclepius to alert medical emergency personnel to
their illness and to the medications they are allergic to. While
the id bracelet bearing the Asclepius emblem provides a certain peace of
mind for its wearer and their loved ones, there are those who sense an added
benefit that comes from wearing a bracelet that bears the symbol originally
prescribed by God. But, as we learned from the story of Hezekiah,
there is no special healing power associated with the symbol itself.
It's the faith of the person wearing the bracelet that will ultimately
invoke God's healing power.
For many years,
medical id bracelets were cheaply made, fashioned of stainless steel, and
totally devoid of style. In 2003, Sticky Jewelry set out to change
that by offering to engrave the medical emergency symbol on any of its mens
bracelets or womens ID bracelets. Initially, the company charged a
small fee to engrave the Asclepius medical emergency symbol onto a
non-medical bracelet, but today the engraving of the medical emergency
symbol is offered at no charge. Customers can select any id bracelet
from Sticky Jewelry's bracelet collection and convert it to a medical id
bracelet simply by requesting the medical alert symbol be engraved on it.
Sticky Jewelry
also offers engraving on the back side of most of its bracelets, so more
medical information can be engraved. The company also offers a unique
medical emergency envelope bracelet that holds a metal plate on which up to
10 lines of information can be engraved.
When requesting
engraving for a medical bracelet, the most important thing to be engraved is
the patient's condition and allergies. Depending on available space,
the next most important information is the name of the patient, and the
phone number of an emergency contact person. And, while many
fonts and font styles may be available, it's best to select a member of the
Block Font family, such as Plain Block, Block Fifth Avenue, University,
Futura Outline, or Parisian for engraving medical emergency information.
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