Can a mobile app save lives? Yes it can.

Over the last year I have had the privilege of working with a fair amount of health organizations wishing to enter the digital realm. As a result, I have performed quite a bit of research and literature review on the applicability of social media engagement and mobile technology in the public health field. The opportunities are of course tremendous, and most of the risks can be effectively mitigated through education/training as numerous proactive health organizations have demonstrated to date.

What I wanted to share in this post however, is the single most powerful example of mobile health utility that I have come across in my research to date. This app from the PulsePoint Foundation leverages crowdsourcing, geo-location (GPS), push-messaging, maps and social integration, all for one simple purpose, to save lives. I think every municipal EMS should eventually be integrated into something like this. Enjoy.