SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 600,000 people die of heart disease in the United States every year and many of those deaths are preventable. In order to speed up response times in the event of an emergency, Medlert, a medical emergency response platform , has developed a mobile application that gives mobile phone users immediate access to emergency care while alerting friends and family that an emergency is taking place.
"When a person is having a heart attack, the amount of time it takes for the ambulance to arrive can be the difference between life and death," said David Emanuel, Medlert CEO and co-founder. "Emergency response systems need a massive update including technologies that can connect medical professionals to the patient faster and prepare them to deal with the unique medical history of that patient."
To solve this problem, Emanuel along with Ernest Semerda, Medlert co-founder and CTO, built Medlert's platform that recently launched a mobile application for both Android and the iPhone to offer fast and personalized emergency care. With more than half of American adults already owning a smartphone, creating a mobile application that can be easily downloaded was a natural first step for the company.
"A smartphone is essentially a computer in your pocket, and when loaded with an app like Medlert, it can intelligently route emergency calls, share critical health information, and provide an accurate geographic location instantly," said Semerda. "The technology available today has the power and accuracy to improve emergency response times and ultimately save lives, which is our goal."
In beta, Medlert has already helped people in 6,000 emergency situations get help fast and has more than 22,000 users. Medlert users can quickly share their medical history, blood type, allergies, pre-existing conditions, and other important medical information with emergency responders and family members in the event of an emergency by tapping one button on the phone screen.
"Our app is the beginning," said Emanuel. "We see tremendous potential for wearable technology to feed into the emergency alert systems too. There is so much more we can do to help emergency responders and the emergency system get people the fast, well-informed, customized care they in need in an emergency."
To learn more about Medlert or register for an account, please visit www.mediert.com .
About Medlert
Medlert is the fastest way to get personalized medical attention in an emergency. By connecting the user to a trained operator that has access to critical medical information about that user, first responders are able to make better decisions in real-time and provided higher quality care tailored to the patient. Founded in 2012, Medlert has 22,000 beta users and managed over 6,000 medical emergencies. For more information or to sign up for this service to protect yourself and your family please visit www.mediert.com .
A photo accompanying this release is available at:
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=20467
Stephanie Schlegel (415) 746-9612
