ROCHESTER, Minn., Feb. 23 (UPI) -- The Mayo Clinic and Digital Cyclone Inc. have created new software that delivers an array of health information and tools directly to U.S. cell phones.
The new service is called The Mayo Clinic in Touch wireless health program, and it became available in February to cell-phone users on Alltel Wireless, Sprint and other major wireless carriers for $2.99 per month.
"We see providing health information to consumers as essential," said Roger Harms, the medical editor in chief for MayoClinic.com. "Through this new project we're able to make it available to them wherever they are."
Some of the services available are step-by-step first-aid tips, a Symptom Checker that gives self-care guidelines or advises the user to go to an emergency room, more than 100 short health news videos, and timely health alerts and drug watches. Subscribers may also enter their city or ZIP code to search for nearby emergency and urgent-care facilities, which are presented in a list format that shows the facility's name, address and estimated distance from the subscriber. If the cell phone has a global positioning system, the service automatically finds nearby accredited facilities without the necessity of typing in the city or the ZIP code.
The program's content comes primarily from MayoClinic.com and the Mayo Clinic's Medical Edge syndicated news products. A list of wireless carriers and phones the program supports is available at http://www.digitalcyclone.com/mayo.
