CCMS Medicine Spring 2017 - 30

www.CHESTERCMS.org

Dr. Jan Out and About:

Celebrating 125 years of Chester County Hospital

Drs. Mian and Amber Jan

Dr. Mian Jan, Lt. Governor Mike
Stack and Sen. Andy Dinniman

Dr. Mian Jan, Sen. Andy
Dinniman greeting Lt.
Governor Mike Stack

Michael Duncan, President of Chester County
Hospital, Dr. Mian Jan and Lt. Governor
Mike Stack

Your Smartphone...Could Help Save Your Life
BY JOANNE HYNDMAN, SILVER SMARTPHONE COACHING

Medical mistakes are the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States.

O

n May 3, 2016, NPR's Morning
Edition host Rachel Martin stated,
"Many of us probably know that the
number-one killer in the U.S. is heart disease.
Number two is cancer. But a new study from
Johns Hopkins University says the third leading
cause of death in this country is mistakes, errors
made in hospitals or in the larger health care
system. These numbers are actually well known
to researchers."
When Joanne Hyndman started teaching
senior citizens how to best use their smartphones
and tablets, she discovered the Medical ID
applications available for all smartphones,
iPhones, tablets, and iPads. Recognizing the
smartphone's potential to save lives, she began
teaching senior citizens how to enter their
Medical ID data into their devices. Medical ID
data consists of a person's age, weight, height,
blood type, allergies, medications, medical
conditions, and emergency contacts (or ICE).
Joanne tells her students, "If you become
incapacitated and can't speak for yourself, a first
responder can access your smartphone and easily
find your Medical ID data, and that may help
save your life."
Here are two sets of instructions to enter your
Medical ID data into your smartphone:

- To enter your Medical ID into your iPhone,
find the "Health" app that comes on all
iPhones and iPads. Open the Health app,
and tap on "Medial ID" in the lower right
corner. Add all of your Medial ID data.
- To enter your Medical ID into your
Android smartphone (Samsung, Sony, HTC,
LG, Motorola, Google Pixel, and others),
download the app called "Medical ID (free)"
with the red asterisk logo. You can download
this app for no cost from the Google Play
store. Open the "Medical ID (free)" app, and
add all of your Medical ID data.
For both types of smartphones (iPhone and
Android), be sure to allow these Medical ID
apps access to your lock screens. Allowing access
to your lock screen will allow a first responder to
access your Medical ID data from your password
protected smartphone.
Research shows that 25% of people with
smartphones have their Medial ID data stored
in "Medical ID" apps. Joanne realized that first
responders need training on how to quickly
access "Medical ID" data from an incapacitated
person's smartphone. Joanne's 18-year-old and
15-year-old sons are both volunteer firefighters,
so she reached out to the two fire stations that
her sons have associations with.

30 C H E S T E R C O U N T Y M e d i c i n e | S P R I N G 2 0 1 7

The Phoenixville Fire Station forwarded the
information to Trappe Fire Station, and Dave
Sauls from Trappe asked Joanne to present the
instructions during one of the station's education
nights. She received positive feedback from the
Trappe first responders, and an excellent new
idea. Dave Sauls then asked Joanne if she would
create a shortened version of the instructions for
both iPhone and Android smartphones, so that
the instructions could be laminated for use on
Trappe's ambulances. Joanne created a one-sheet
instructional page. One side of the instructions
is for iPhone, and the other side of instructions
is for Android. This double-sided card is now
being used by Trappe paramedics. With this
training and knowledge, paramedics are better
equipped to address patients' immediate needs
well before they reach the hospital.
Please contact Joanne Hyndman
(silvercoaching@outlook.com) at Silver
Smartphone Coaching if you are interested
in beginner, intermediate, or advanced
smartphone/tablet classes, or if you are
associated with a Fire Station or EMS Paramedic
Station in need of instructional lessons and
documentation.
http://chestercms.org/index.html
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CCMS Medicine Spring 2017
