Earthquake Survivor Calls iPhone a Life Saver
Man said he used health app on his iPhone to treat
his injury while stuck under rubble

Usually, when someone says their
iPhone is a life saver, they are talking about the phone helping them find a good takeout spot or an emergency bathroom.
When Dan Woolley says it, he really means it. He used a medical
app saved on his phone to treat a leg injury after the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince collapsed around him.
Woolley, who is from Colorado Springs,
is one of the Americans who survived the massive earthquake that hit Haiti last week, and he did it with an iPhone application. Woolley is now recovering at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, but it was his fast actions with the app that may have saved his life.
Woolley used the light from his iPhone to show him his injuries
and diagnosed it properly as a broken foot. Then, he used the instructions from the app to treat the excessive bleeding from
cuts on his legs and the back of his head.
Woolley used his shirt to tie off the three-inch gash that was opened on his leg and
a sock to bandage the back of his head. He said he also looked up ways to stop from going into shock.
"I kind of had some time to do some self-diagnosis down there," Woolley
said. "God was with me."Not bad for a
film producer who was in Haiti filming a documentary on efforts to help the nation's poverty-stricken children.
Woolley also used his camera to take pictures of the surrounding
rubble to piece together a way out. He eventually took refuge in an elevator shaft until rescue crews found him 65 hours
after the earthquake."I took pictures all around
me, then I would hold up the back of the camera to me and I could see what the picture was of a little," he said. "I
was able to find an elevator in one of the pictures and that is where I decided to hobble to be in a more safe location."
On Tuesday, Woolley told The
Today Show he knew he was going to die and decided to write a journal on his notepad to his wife and young kids
in the event someone found his corpse under the rubble. "
I
was in a big accident. Don't be upset at God. He always provides for his children even in hard times," Woolley wrote
in the dim light. "I'm still praying that God will get me out but he may not but He will always take care of ya."
There are three words often heard at this time of year that strike fear into the hearts
of fathers everywhere. Those three words can crush the spirit of even the most capable Dad. Those words: “Some assembly
required.”
My children have now grown beyond the stage where every blasted Christmas gift they receive needs to be constructed using tools thinner than sewing needles by the skillful,
unwavering hands of a neurosurgeon. I cannot tell you how many times I have cursed Santa’s elves – or the blue-vested
Toys-R-Us guys – for not pre-assembling the mountains of toys my kids have received over the years. I have the scarred
knuckles to prove my point.
“Come see what Santa brought us!” our kids would yell when they were very little.
“Daddy, why are your hands bandaged and packed in ice?”
It’s
easier when kids are very small. Many of their Christmas toys come pre-assembled. In fact, many come in one piece. Parents
just remove the expensive gadgets from their boxes, make sure all the bells ring and the buzzers sound. Then we put the toys
on the shelves because the kids are too busy exploring the empty boxes rather than enjoying the whiz-bang educational SAT
improving PBS and pediatrician approved learning plaything we just bought, thanks to a bank loan.
“Some assembly required.” That phrase echoes in my head like Edgar Allan Poe’s
raven, or that abrasive duck from the insurance commercials.
It’s harder
when the kids are at that in-between age where they are too young to assemble toys themselves and too young to be of any help
whatsoever.
“Hey, pal, please hand me the screwdriver.”
“You mean this?”
“No. That’s
a garden hose. The screwdriver is the long metal thing with the plastic handle.”
“You
mean that?”
“No. That’s a shovel that we use to clean up after the dog. Never mind. Go get
Mommy for me now that I’m pinned under this basketball hoop and can’t move. Tell Mommy that Daddy is losing consciousness.”
Now that three of our kids are teenagers and one is an almost-teen, gift giving doesn’t involve
Craftsman tools, words under my breath or directions written in Swedish. The only knuckle scraping I experience now comes
from constantly reaching into my back pocket for my wallet. And the only blood loss I risk comes from putting things in envelopes
and risking paper cuts.
“Merry Christmas, Sweetheart! Here’s a Target
gift card to keep along with your Borders gift card and your Blockbuster gift card!”
I know that giving gift cards seem like the lazy man’s way out. There are times when
I look back sentimentally on those past Christmas Eves, where my wife and I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. struggling to follow
the directions for assembling dollhouses, bicycles or life-sized Batcaves. Our hands shook from overwork and from downing
two-liter bottles of Diet Coke to stay awake. Our eyes were tired and crossed from trying to connect too many slots “A”
to slots “B”. Then after getting about twenty minutes of sleep the kids would stampede into the bedroom announcing
that Santa left behind a mountain of toys, and several empty plastic soda bottles.
I
do miss the blissful looks on their faces and the loving hugs around the neck from tiny arms. I do miss the excitement that
the anticipation of Santa’s visit brings to young children. I miss the trampling of tiny feet up and down the steps.
I don’t miss the bruises and contusions and the clanking at midnight that comes after Daddy tripped over the toolbox.
The nightmares have stopped but the haunting phrase “some assembly required” still makes
me flinch. It is important to remember, however, that scraped knuckles do heal over time.