Home and Family Safety – There’s an App for That

Those of us with smart phones, such as Apple’s iPhone and Blackberry’s Curve, have a tremendous home safety asset available to us. There are many apps – small programs that can be downloaded to your phone – that can help keep your family and home safe.

Here’s a look at some of our favorites.

iPhone

Child Proofing Checklist – This 99-cent app offers a comprehensive checklist for helping you make sure your bathrooms, kitchen, pool and other areas in and around your home are safe for infants and young children. For less than a dollar, this app could help prevent serious injuries or even death.

Safety Alarm – This is another 99-cent app that can be used around the home or while on shopping trips or out walking or jogging. If you are attacked or just feel threatened by someone, push the button on this app and your phone becomes a panic alarm. The very loud tone can disorient and frighten your attacker and gain the attention of others in the area.

Bike Light -- Flashing Safety Light – Those of us who ride bikes, jog, or walk our dogs at night need to be visible to oncoming traffic. With this $1.99 app, your phone becomes a bright red light blinking continuously at a standard rate. Strap your phone onto your arm or bike to help make sure you can be seen.

Blackberry 

Complete Home and Outdoor First Aid Course – First aid professionals provide clear video and audio tips on how to handle the types of emergencies any family can encounter around the home such as cuts and scrapes, burns, poisoning, choking, insect bites and many more situations including, strangely, amputations. For $4.99 this app could be a lifesaver. But you might want to leave the removal of body parts to a doctor.

Dog Emergency – This $3.99 app is designed to help guide you through the important decisions about first aid for your family pet. You will have information available on how and when to transport your dog quickly and safely to a veterinary hospital or emergency facility.

Emergency Info – This simple app could save your life in case of emergency by providing paramedics and hospital staff with critical personal and medical data: your name, who to contact, important notification telephone numbers, blood type, allergies, your physician’s name and number, the medications you take, existing medical conditions – even the name of your health insurer. The $3.99 app also lets you to print a card for your wallet that lets emergency personnel know to check your phone for this vital information.

These are just a few of the many apps available for home and family safety. Check out the appropriate Web site for your phone and see what meets your needs.

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