A public hospital employee named Julia Thompson wants people to take a few moments and add something to their iPhone that could potentially help save your life during an emergency situation.
Taking to Facebook, Julia posted:
“Many patients come in and we have had no way of knowing who they are or how to contact their next of kin. And their phones are locked!”
“But many people don’t realise that you and patients can set up something called a ‘Medical ID’ on your iPhone if you have the health app (free with phone). This information can be accessed even while the phone is locked by clicking on the emergency options and can display things like name, DOB, emergency contacts, medical conditions and even blood type and donor status. You can even add notes.”
Julia elaborated by outlining the steps for enabling this on an iPhone:
“It can be managed by clicking on the little ‘Health’ app that comes default on the phone (heart icon and then in the app go to the little star shape with medical ID) and given everyone I have spoken to today has never heard of it it seemed like a social media share kind of moment!”
Once you open the Health app, a menu bar appears at the bottom of the screen, with a Medical ID icon. Below is a picture of the Health app dashboard, and a green arrow points to the Medical ID icon. (Note, the interface on individual iPhones may vary by version and model).
Once you’ve opened the Medical ID screen, you can fill in your Medical Conditions, Blood Type, Allergies & Reactions, and Medications.
When completed and saved, this information will be accessible to you and to others, even if your phone’s screen is locked.
Although she was not certain of the exact steps, Julia said that Android phones also have an app called ICE/In Case of Emergency. “(I believe android have an app called ICE/in case of emergency that works similarly and if you don’t like apps don’t forget the going to the good old fashioned owner information, enter your emergency contact and ‘I.C.E’ as the owner and tick the ‘show owner information on lock screen’),” she wrote.
One person commenting on Julia’s post said that everyone should have an “ICE” (meaning in case of emergency) contact under their Contacts. “I use ICE1 Husband, ICE2 Daughter, ICE3 Son etc,” they wrote. They also include an emergency card with the information in their wallet.
This is a useful reminder to everyone to make sure they have this information handy, just in case! Please share this safety tip with your family and friends!
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