APP OF THE DAY: St John Ambulance First Aid app to help with winter health emergencies

Apps don’t just have to be about finding discounts, tweeting and playing Angry Birds, over the past few years we’ve heard reports of doctors using them on a daily basis and normal people turning to a seemingly useless application in a medical emergency with life saving consequences. The way they’re so easy to use and access on the move makes them ideal tools to quickly find the right information and try and help out in emergencies.

The St. John Ambulance’s First Aid app was created to give people the latest first aid device and protocols for dealing with emergency situations in the form of guides and voice instructions right from the palm of their hand.

The popular app was launched last year, but this winter it’s free to everyone so that we’re all as clued up as possible when it comes to advice about how to deal with effects of the cold, such as hypothermia and frostbite. There’s also a whole library of other first aid advice within the app to give you the confidence to help someone straight away, which is particularly important during winter months when ambulance waiting times may be longer.

Sue Killen, the CEO of St John Ambulance, said:

“We’d like to thank the thousands of people who have already downloaded the app and made it possible for us to now make it free. I hope that even more people will download it now. Up to 150,000 people die in situations where first aid could have given them the chance to live and we are determined to change this. Being armed with the app could help you be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.”

Of course an app doesn’t replace all of the benefits you get from learning first aid on a proper course, but the basic knowledge you can get from it could make all the difference in a medical emergency.

Available from iTunes for Free.