Often people will ask me about health-related mobile apps that I use or have found beneficial. I have found very few, that I would recommend – until recently. I came across one that I was very excited about and downloaded to my personal phone.
The American Red Cross put out a free First Aid app that is quite useful and available on both iPhone and Android devices. I have to admit, as I moved about the app, I began to wish I had this when my boys were young. They were always getting into scrapes and spending time in the ER.
The easy-to-use app is sleek, and contains pictures and videos along with the instructions to make it fool-proof. The app is divided into four simple categories:
- Learn – gives you basic first aid instructions for a long list of minor scenarios. The list is impressive beginning with “Allergies” and finishing with “Unconscious and not breathing.” The instructions also come with Q&As at the bottom so you can continue to learn more.
- Prepare – provides checklists for preparing for natural disasters along with tips for what to do during and after an event. They even provide instructions for pet preparedness.
- Emergency – information for when the injury or medical condition is a serious, life-threatening emergency. You can actually call 911 from within the app.
- Test – You can check your knowledge of first aid in quick, easy tests that give you the correct answer when you get it wrong.
The final button on the bottom of the app goes to a “More” category that contains interesting and important links such as: Take a course, Buy a kit, Share a story, Give blood, and, of course, Donate. Within this category they give you a hint of future apps which will be for natural disasters.
Having lived in tornado alley all of my life and survived raising rambunctious boys, I can tell you from experience this little app would have been very useful. In a panicked situation, it isn’t always easy to remember all those techniques that you learned in first aid class several years ago. If I had to rate this app, I would give it a 5 out of 5 stars. Check it out Red Cross Mobile Apps (http://www.redcross.org/FirstAidApp).
