'EchoSOS: get help fast!'

Sharing a post from Dr Katharine Morrison, The Diabetes Diet Blog, seen here:

"The EchoSOS phone app is an alert app that you load onto your phone PRIOR to a holiday abroad or before undertaking any sort of adventure activity particularly away from a city.

I found out about this from several readers of the Times who had responded in the comments section about the disappearance of a man in his sixties in a mountainous area of southern France. This follows on from the loss of several other tourists in Mediterranean countries over the summer.

One said that it had saved her life more than once.

It is a free app. You put in your personal details, contact numbers of relatives or friends, your blood group, medical history, allergies and medication. You then allow the app tracking and response permissions.

Should you have a medical or other emergency in your home, city, or outside location, you can press the emergency button. Obviously, you still have to have some sort of signal for this to work.

The app takes note of your details, your location and transfers this to the nearest emergency response number to your current location. This means that you should be able to speak to a relevant dispatcher without the palaver of finding emergency numbers.

Several tourists have died because they have not been able to contact emergency services or have not been able to give their locations if they did. For readers of this blog, many of whom have diabetes, the ability to contact emergency services fast and being able to be located precisely is of even more relevance.

Please pass this information on to anyone that you think will benefit."

The app works worldwide, developed with rescue professionals. Emergency call with location transmission When you make an emergency call, the EchoSOS app transmits your GPS location directly to www.echosos.com. Any rescue service worldwide can then see where you are. More details here

Please keep safe out there ...

All the best Jan