Emergency virtual triage#
What number do you put in the "Emergency Contact" when you're filling out a form, say when starting a new job or joining a gym?
Chances are it's a close friend, family member or neighbour.
But chances are that person does not have all the information and context to help much.
In a real emergency, the people trying to help you will need:
- Knowledge of your health conditions
- Contacts of your insurance provider
- Contacts of your medical doctor
- Contacts of any medical specialists
- Contacts of your immediate friends and family members – to let them know
Who can give them all this information?
What you need is a virtual triage – a number that can be called anytime 24/7 and has all these details readily to hand, enabling fast routing of your information to those best positioned to help you.
Update (2026-01-21): Apple recently added an "emergency contact" feature in the Health app where you can add multiple emergency contacts and designate people to be notified with your location when you use Emergency SOS.
