U.S. filmmaker Dan Woolley was shooting a documentary about the impact of
poverty in Haiti when the earthquake struck. He could have died, but he
ultimately survived with the help of an iPhone first-aid app that taught him
to treat his wounds.

After being crushed by a pile of rubble, Woolley used his digital SLR to
illuminate his surroundings and snap photos of the wreckage in search of a
safe place to dwell. He took refuge in an elevator shaft, where he followed
instructions from an iPhone first-aid app to fashion a bandage and
tourniquet for his leg and to stop the bleeding from his head wound,
according to an MSNBC
story<http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34933053/ns/today-today_people/>
.
[image: Help Haiti Recover] <http://bit.ly/8jH94v>
*Join **Reddit’s Haiti relief fundraising drive*
<http://bit.ly/8jH94v>*with Direct Relief International.
*

The app even warned Woolley not to fall asleep if he felt he was going into
shock, so he set his cellphone’s alarm clock to go off every 20 minutes.
Sixty-five hours later, a French rescue team saved him.

“I just saw the walls rippling and just explosive sounds all around me,”
said Woolley, recounting the earthquake to MSNBC. “It all happened
incredibly fast. David yelled out, ‘It’s an earthquake,’ and we both lunged
and everything turned dark.”

Woolley’s incident highlights a large social implication of the iPhone and
other similar smartphones. A constant internet connection, coupled with a
device supporting a wealth of apps, can potentially transform a person into
an all-knowing, always-on being. In Woolley’s case, an iPhone app turned him
into an amateur medic to help him survive natural disaster.

Say what you will about the iPhone. This story is incredible.

*Update: As Wired reader “bbqbologna” noted in the comments below, the app
used in question was Pocket First Aid and
CPR<http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-first-aid-cpr/id294351164?mt=8>.
A user review by “Webguydan” reads, “Consulted this app, while trapped under
Hotel Montana in Haiti earthquake, to treat excessive bleeding and shock.
Helped me stay alive till I was rescued 64 hours later.”*

*See Also:*

   - Satellite Photos of Haiti Before and After the
Earthquake<http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/01/satellite-photos-of-haiti-before-and-after-the-earthquake/>
   - Scientists Scramble to Analyze Haiti’s Seismic
Risk<http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/01/haiti-quake-risk-analysis/>
   - Rescue Ops in Haiti: ‘The First 72 Hours Are
Critical’<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/rescue-ops-in-haiti-the-first-72-hours-are-critical/>
   - For the iPhone’s App Store, Quantity Really Does
Matter<http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/12/app-store-quantity/>


Read More
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/haiti-survivor-iphone/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+(Wired%3A+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))#ixzz0dDKDyEsv<http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/haiti-survivor-iphone/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29#ixzz0dDKDyEsv>


-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity!
Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/

Reply via email to