We are pleased to be supporting the #KnowExactlyWhere summer safety campaign to raise awareness of the free what3words app and how it can help in an emergency.
In Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine every second counts. Our team is continually looking for ways to minimise the time it takes them to reach patients. Even just a few moments gained can make a huge difference.
A key part of this is being able to quickly locate the patient, but describing exactly where they are can be difficult for people ringing 999. Particularly when they find themselves facing an emergency somewhere with no major landmarks.
That’s particularly true in summer when many of us are out in unfamiliar locations exploring the great outdoors.
If you have the @what3words app on your phone, you’ll be ready to help 999 #KnowExactlyWhere an emergency is. The app is free to download for both iOS and Android and works entirely offline – making it ideal for use in areas of the UK with an unreliable data connection, such as beaches, national parks and campsites.
What3Words has divided the world into 3m squares and given each one a unique identifier made from three words.
It’s a great tool for the emergency services, and is just one of many methods control rooms use to locate callers.
What3Words enabled us to find exactly where mountain biker Wayne Trinder was when he suffered a double fracture on a remote section of coastal path, and required our help.
Wayne was cycling along a challenging route over The Seven Sisters when he hit a large mound at over 40mph, landing at least 15ft away from his bike.
He was in a remote location, but thanks to @what3words, the emergency services were able to send Wayne’s phone a text which gave them the three words: elects.perfume.bluffing when he replied to it.
“I couldn’t be sure of the extend of my injuries and I wasn’t sure how long it would take for medical help to arrive. If I’d had the app at the time then they could have got my GPS location almost instantly.”
