Helping emergency responders to save lives when every second
counts? Yes, there’s an app for that, and it was created by Joseph Ekman, a
University of San Francisco junior majoring in information systems.
Ekman recently created the Emergency Standard Card, a wallet-sized, color-coded card, to alert
medical responders to a patient’s special needs, medications, and medical
conditions. The card has a virtual counterpart, the ICE Standard emergency card
– a popular iPhone app with the same function. The app also includes the
patient’s emergency contacts, blood type, age, and insurance information.
“The lack of adequate, easily accessible medical data in
critical care circumstances is a glooming defect in our nation’s medical
response system,” said Ekman. “With the Emergency Standard Card, first
responders gain immediate access to the person’s most important information.”
Ekman, who founded the About The Kids Foundation to promote
family harmony, education, and health and safety, distributes the card and free app online and through the iTunes app store.
He came up with the idea of the card and app after
developing a medical condition that required a cardiac monitor be implanted in
his chest and saw the potential for use among the general public. “As a father
and lacrosse coach, my worst nightmare would be to have one of my players or
kids suffer an injury and not have access to the medical information needed to
help them,” Ekman said. “The Emergency Standard Card can prevent that.”
