Child Safety, Yes There's An App For That

MIAMI (CBS4) -- Kids and parents alike already know apps are all the rage for fun games for children, but some can also provide life-saving advice. When it comes to your child's safety, there's an app for that, actually there are several.

Kids play hard in the gym, on the playground and on the field, sometimes too hard. But now coaches and parents have some help deciding just how hurt a child might be, especially when it comes to head trauma. They just need a smart phone or tablet and the concussion app, which runs through symptoms and signs to let you know when it's an emergency.

"If I'm already familiar with some of the symptoms, I believe the checklist feature is brilliant," said school coach Jay Ingram.

The concussion app is just one of several designed to help with child safety.

"You can touch the app in order to call 911 and while you're doing so it runs through a laundry list of questions so you can provide the medical professionals with some information about what's happened upon their arrival," explained Leticia Barr of TechSavvyMama.com.

Lori Hardegree, a mother whose son is allergic to ant and bug bites, makes sure all the adults near her son have the Epi-Pen app. The app provides a how-to that could save his life.

"We've sent it to the school, to his teachers, scout leaders, coaches for sporting events, grandparents," said Hardegree.

Lori also uses the app from the American Academy of Pediatrics. It is also a favorite for tech savvy mama's Leticia Barr.

"That is a wealth of information, just like their website is, but it's a portable format that provides info pertaining to your child's health," said Barr.

School nurse Lola Settle sees this as useful in the home and school.

"I think we could incorporate the use of these apps into the daily routine at the clinic because not all schools have medical personnel. They don't all have a nurse," said Settle.

There's also the ICE app to help on the go.

"ICE stands for 'in case of emergency' and ICE is really a place where you can enter in a wealth of information about your family's medical history. You can enter in insurance information. You can enter in blood type, allergies, past medical history," said Barr.

Another app that allows you to store information about your child is from the FBI. It helps in an instant in case your child goes missing.

"You can take a picture of your child, upload it, store info about your child, there too," said Barr.

Some parents do have some concerns.

"The only down side I can see is if you're relying too much on the app and not seeing the doctor when obviously it's something that's important to take them in for," worried Hardegree.

Barr said when it comes to your little one, you should never use an app as a replacement for your doctor and make sure the phone and or the apps you use are password protected because there is a lot of information about your kids you don't want out there.