Skip to: [ search ] [ menus ] [ content ] Select style [ Aqua ] [ Citrus ] [ Fire ] [ Orange ] [ show/hide more content ]



Survival – there’s an app for that!

Dan Woolley, a Colorado aid worker in Haiti, was trapped in his Haitian hotel, Hotel Montana (1) in Port-au-Prince, after the earthquake of January 12. He is a husband and the father of two boys, and he oversees interactive projects for the Christian child advocacy organization Compassion International in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Woolley used an iPhone application that he had downloaded beforehand, called “Pocket First Aid & CPR,” from Jive Media, to survive injuries that he sustained during the quake. The application is filled with information about first aid and CPR from the American Heart Association. With knowledge gained from the app about “excessive bleeding” and “compound fracture,” Dan gained the confidence to treat his own injuries, and he used a shirt to bandage, and a belt to bind, his leg wound, and a sock to stop the bleeding from his head.

Aware of the danger of falling asleep if he were experiencing shock, Woolley used the iPhone‘s timer to wake himself after 20-minute naps. By the time the battery was down to 20%, Woolley had trained his body to nap for short intervals, and not to fall deeply asleep. He wrote notes to his family in his blood-stained journal.

Woolley and a colleague had been making a film about poverty in Haiti, and the earthquake struck shortly after his return to the hotel. His place of safety was, oddly enough, an elevator.

According to CNN, Woolley said that the app “was like a high-tech version of a Swiss Army knife that enabled me to treat my own injuries, track time, stay awake and stay alive.” He was rescued after being trapped for 60 hours.

-Bill at

Cheshire Cat Photo™ – “Your Guide to California’s Wonderland™”

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! Framed prints and prints on canvas can be ordered from our galleries on imagekind® and redbubble®. All four locations are accessible from here. If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

©2010 William F. Hackett. All Rights Reserved.

No Comments to “Survival – there’s an app for that!”

  (RSS feed for these comments)

You must be logged in to post a comment.


InspectorWordpress has prevented 52153 attacks.
Get Adobe Flash player