How Washington Locals Can Help 911 With a Simple Phone Hack

Hey Washington residents, did you know there's a feature on your phone that allows you to share emergency contact and health information with first responders in an emergency?

It's true, and we have the details on how to set this feature up and why it is a good idea to do so.

In the late 80s and early 90s, there was a television commercial that featured an elderly lady, and her tag line was "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!"

The commercial has become part of pop culture and the meme community with the joke "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up... and I don't have one of those things!"

The advertisement was for a product called LifeCall. The lady had a bracelet or a necklace that had a button that she could push to immediately get help (one of 'Those Things' that the joke referred to).

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This service is still in effect today and has saved countless of lives, but with smart phones being so common help (hopefully) is just a voice command away.

READ MORE: How Healthy Is Washington? Do We Crack The Top 10 In The Country?

But if you're the one needing help and can't communicate when First Responders arrive, there is a feature on your phone that will allow emergency services to better help you.

"Just update your Medical ID in the Health app. The information will be shared with 911 call-taker and first responders can access this info even from your lock screen." - Suncomm 911 Communications Yakima.

 

For iPhone, use your Health App, tap on your profile and Medical ID, choose to Edit & enable "Share During Emergency Call".

For Android users, instead of a Health App, it is called 'Personal Safety' and is part of Google's Crisis Response system, which acts in the same way.

This simple phone settings change could save your life.

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