check if record exists then action

I have two access tables that both use the a field called "Name Id" as their key. When someone updates the one of these tables I would like to update a field called "last update date" on the other table.
I'm trying to use the check if specific record exists example but I'm stuck on the select statement -
strSQLExists = "select * from NAMES where [Name Id]=
If I hard code a Name Id value and edit that particular record everything works so the rest of my code is working but what goes after the = ? The table I am editing is called xrefactivy and the table I am trying to update is called NAMES.
Is the [Name Id] from the xrefactivity table still available if I put this code in "after record updated"?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Bruce