Papers
Emergency Contact List: What to Put on It and Where to Keep It (Free Printable)
You already know your daughter's number and the name of your doctor. An emergency contact list is written for the person standing in your kitchen who doesn't: a neighbor who came over when the smoke alarm went off, a sister staying the weekend, a sitter, a paramedic, a grandchild who has never had to call anyone.
So the test for a good list is simple. Could a stranger, a little shaken, pick it up and use it in under a minute? Most lists fail that test in the same three places. They have no address on them, they name people by first name only, and they are taped somewhere nobody would think to look.
This post covers what to put on the list, in what order, where to keep the copies, and how to make the same information reachable from a locked phone. At the end there is a free printable page that does most of it for you.
Start with what to do, then who to call
Put the two numbers that never change at the top, each with one line on how to use it.
911. Write it anyway. A visiting child or a frightened adult benefits from seeing it. Fairfax County's 911 center, in plain guidance on calling 911, says to "Know your location and tell the dispatcher the exact address" and, on hanging up: "DO NOT HANG UP unless you are in danger or the dispatcher tells you to do so." A short version fits on one line: say where you are and what happened, and stay on the line.
Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222. America's Poison Centers describe it as fast, free and confidential help, and their site says to call 911 instead if a person "has collapsed, had a seizure, has trouble breathing, or can't be awakened."
The address line most lists leave off
Directly under those two numbers, write your street address and the nearest cross street.
It feels unnecessary until you picture who is reading. A neighbor knows the house but may not know the house number. A sitter may be on her first visit. The same Fairfax guidance explains why the caller still matters on a cell phone: phones send location data, but "there is a margin of error that comes with this data," and "A person who knows where they are can usually provide better, and more reliable information than GPS data can." If you live in an apartment, add the unit number and the building entrance. In the country, add the road it's off.
Who goes on the list
FEMA's Family Emergency Communication Plan card, available on Ready.gov, is a good model because it was built for exactly this job. It separates contacts into groups. Here they are, adapted for a household list:
In case of emergency (ICE) contacts
Two people, not one, in the order you want them called. Full names, the relationship ("my daughter," "neighbor next door") and a mobile number. A first name alone is useless to a stranger in a hospital waiting room.
An out-of-town contact
FEMA's card has a separate line for an "out-of-town contact," and it is the one most household lists skip. Ready.gov's planning page gives the reason in two sentences: "Your family may not be together if a disaster strikes," and "Know how you'll contact one another and reconnect if separated." Pick a relative or friend in another area whom everyone in the family can call or text to say where they are.
Medical
From FEMA's list of important numbers: each doctor, the dentist, the medical insurance company with its phone number, the hospital or clinic you'd prefer, and the pharmacy. Write the specialty next to each doctor's name, so a reader knows the cardiologist from the eye doctor.
Medical details themselves, such as medications, allergies and conditions, belong on a separate page per person. The emergency contact list says who to call; the medical page says what to tell them. Our guide to medical binder printables covers that second page.
The house
FEMA's card includes the homeowner's or renter's insurance company, and the electric, gas and water companies. These are the numbers you want in an outage or a leak, and the ones nobody can find at night.
A neighbor with a key
Ready.gov's guidance for older adults asks that at least one person in your support network have "an extra key to your home." Put that person on the list by name, with a note that they have the key.
Everyone else who would need a call
Work, for anyone in the house who would be missed there. School or childcare, if there are children. The veterinarian and the kennel, if there are pets, since FEMA lists both. A pet left alone during an emergency is a real problem a list solves.
What to leave off
A list on the refrigerator door is read by everyone who walks into the kitchen. Keep it to names, relationships and phone numbers.
- No Social Security numbers, dates of birth or account numbers. Those belong in the binder, not on the fridge.
- No passwords or door codes. Write "a neighbor has the key" rather than the garage code.
- No long notes. If a line needs a paragraph, it belongs on another page.
Where to keep the copies
Make several copies, because a single list tends to be wherever you aren't.
- The refrigerator door. The first place anyone looks in a kitchen.
- Next to each landline, in large print. The National Institute on Aging's fall-prevention guide says to "Keep a list of emergency numbers in large print near each landline phone and save them under 'favorites' on your mobile phone."
- In your wallet. A folded copy of the top half: ICE contacts, out-of-town contact and your doctor.
- In the binder. The master copy, which you update first and reprint from.
- With anyone who stays in the house. Hand a copy to a sitter or a relative when they arrive instead of telling them where it's posted.
Put it on the phone, too
Most phones can show emergency information on the lock screen without the passcode. Paper is still the backup, because a phone can be dead, lost or in the other room, but this takes five minutes.
iPhone. Apple's Medical ID, in the Health app, "helps first responders access your critical medical information from the Lock screen, without needing your passcode. They can see information like allergies and medical conditions as well as who to contact in case of an emergency." To make it visible on a locked phone, Apple says to turn on Show When Locked. Emergency contacts are added from the same screen.
Android. Google's help pages describe adding medical information and emergency contacts to the phone's emergency information, then choosing "Show when locked." Google is plain about the trade-off: "Anyone who picks up your phone can find your lock screen message and emergency information even if your phone is locked." Put on it only what you'd be comfortable with a stranger reading.
Menus differ by phone model and software version, so follow the current help page for your phone rather than a screenshot from a few years ago.
Making one for a parent's house
If the list is for an aging parent, a few changes help. Use large print, bigger than you think it needs. Put the adult child who lives closest at the top, not the one who calls most. Post a copy by every phone in the house, including the bedroom. And add the name and number of whoever helps with day-to-day care, so a paramedic or a neighbor reaches the person who knows the routine. Our caregiver checklist has a one-page handoff sheet that works alongside it.
Keep it current
An old list can be worse than no list, because it sends a stranger to a number that has changed. Write "Last updated" and the date at the top. Then check it twice a year on dates you'll remember, and any time someone in the family changes phones, doctors or addresses. Reprint rather than cross out: a list covered in arrows is hard to read in a hurry.
The free printable
The Emergency Contacts page in our free Home Binder Starter is laid out in this order. It opens with 911 and what to say, then Poison Control with when to call 911 instead, then lines for your address and nearest cross street. Below that are rows for two doctors, the pharmacy, two neighbors, two family members, work, school, insurance and the veterinarian, each with room for a name, phone and notes. It prints in dark ink on US Letter, made to fill in with a pen and put on the fridge. The other nine pages in the starter are described in our post on home management binder free printables.
The 84-page Home Binder Family Kit adds an Emergency Plan page, with the out-of-town contact, meeting places near and away from home, and who helps whom if you have to leave.
Sources: FEMA's Family Emergency Communication Plan card (FEMA P-1095) and the "Make a Plan" and "Older Adults" pages at ready.gov; Fairfax County (VA) Public Safety Communications, "Calling 9-1-1"; America's Poison Centers at poisonhelp.org; the National Institute on Aging (NIH), "Preventing Falls at Home: Room by Room"; Apple Support, "Set up your Medical ID in the Health app on your iPhone"; and Android Help, "Get help during an emergency with your Android phone". Checked October 2026. An organizing guide, not medical advice.