You can use your cell phone to call your friends, check the weather, chat on social media, buy movie tickets, play games, and even get a date. And now, you can also use your cell to get better care during a sickle-cell crisis.
Say hello to the new VOICE Crisis Alert App, which is bringing sickle-cell care into the 21st century.
Dedicated to empowering adults and kids with SCD, this new app makes recording and communicating pain events easier than ever. Here's how it works: Simply download the app to your Apple or Android smartphone or tablet device, enter important contacts (think family, physicians, friends), track your pain, and relate that pain to your selected saved contacts via text or e-mail.
"The user can track pain at each site on the body, and identify pain intensity on a scale of 1-10," explains Shondrella Avery, the VOICE Crisis Alert spokeswoman in the video above.
"[With] a few touches of your phone, you can alert everyone about how you're feeling," says one user, also seen in the video.
What's more, this app doesn't require any login information or WiFi -- everything from your contacts to your pain history (which is saved for up to 90 days) are kept directly on your device. You can also personalize your avatar (skin color, hairstyle, clothing, and more).
Have you -- or will you -- use this app? What do you like most about it? Tell us in the comments below!
