Golfer Linda Maurer inspired MedicAlert

Los Angeles Times
October 20, 2004

Linda Collins Maurer, a champion golfer and the first member of the MedicAlert Foundation, which warns medical professionals about a person's serious health conditions in cases of emergency, has died. She was 65.

Maurer died Oct. 13 of breast cancer at her home in Turlock, in California's San Joaquin Valley, according to her son, Paul Maurer.

As a teenager, she cut her finger playing with an air rifle and was taken to the hospital, where she received a tetanus antitoxin scratch test. She proved to be allergic to it and went into shock.

When she recovered, her father, a medical doctor, suggested that she carry a written warning about her health condition. Through high school, Maurer wore a paper note attached to an ornamental bracelet.

Her father, Dr. Marion Collins, and her mother, Chrissie, later designed a silver identification bracelet for Linda. It was inscribed with information about all of her allergies: She could not tolerate aspirin, sulfa drugs or a type of tetanus antitoxin.

The bracelet also bore a caduceus -- two serpents wrapped around a staff -- the traditional emblem of the medical profession. The words "MedicAlert" flanked the emblem in red.

Maurer's parents soon recognized the need for emergency access to the medical records of countless people like their daughter who had possibly life-threatening health conditions.

In 1956, they launched the MedicAlert Foundation from their garage in Turlock.

It has since grown to include 4 million members worldwide, and helps save as many as 4,000 lives a year, according to Diane Lazzari, communications director for the foundation.

Maurer's original identification bracelet is now in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, but she continued to wear one throughout her life.

Born and reared in Turlock, Maurer graduated from Stanford University with a degree in nursing. She then married John Maurer. The couple had three children before they divorced.

Maurer was an avid golfer and won a number of amateur golf titles, including the California Women's Golf Association Championship, before she turned professional. She taught golf at the River Oaks Golf Course in Ceres, near Turlock, for more than 20 years and twice won the Ladies Professional Golf Association Senior Teaching Division National Championship.

In addition to her son, Maurer is survived by her daughters, Kathryn Maurer and Karry Maurer Walker, as well as two brothers, a sister and two grandchildren