RUSH: When was it, two years ago or three, Snerdley, when I had that faux heart attack thing in Hawaii? Almost three. What had happened was, I’d had a spinal epidural for a cervical problem on Oahu and I got to the plane and went over to the Big Island and played golf. I had a spinal epidural at eight o’clock, at 8:30 I’m out of there, I’m on the plane, gonna play golf, consuming adult beverages. It was December, ’cause I know I spent New Year’s Eve in the hospital, and Obama was there, and we were sweating out he was gonna show up. At any rate, I went over there, I had the spinal epidural. I’m consuming adult beverages, playing golf with the golf buddies, and the golf gods get me.
I come back, and I am just dog tired. I get up at noon the next day, I got chest pains, “Oh, no, I’m having a heart attack. I go to the hospital, it ended up on the news all over the place. It turns out there was no blockage, it wasn’t a heart attack. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t that. They concluded it was a reaction to the spinal epidural and the adult beverages and the full day’s activity playing golf and partying afterwards.
Anyway, ever since then I have been looking for an emergency SOS button-type thing to have with me at all times ’cause I can’t hear. I can’t hear alarms. So I’ve been looking to have something that I can have with me at all times in case… ’cause once something like that happens to you, in this case it wasn’t a heart attack at all, but still, it was scary. And after Steve Jobs’ death I happened to be reading a book by a guy who Steve Jobs had hired at Apple. His name was Jay Elliot, and like a lot of people, he wrote about the lessons he had learned working for Steve Jobs. Elliot’s got a new book out called: Leading Apple With Steve Jobs: Management Lessons from a Controversial Genius.
Anyway, the first thing I read by Jay Elliot, he mentioned that he had started an app, a little side business that created an app that was an emergency medical notification app. It’s called vSOS. So I went and downloaded it from the App Store. Thankfully I’ve never had to use it, but it really is the most amazing thing. It knows exactly where you are via GPS, the address. What you do in this app, you fill out the names of five people you want notified when something happens, your doctor, all of his contact data, you put anything that you would want anybody in your close circle to know if an emergency happened. And then all you’ve gotta do, I’ll show you, I’ve got a picture of it here. I’ll hold it up in the Dittocam.
You can see that bright red SOS button, that’s what the app looks like on your iPhone. You hit that button, and two things happen. Local EMS is notified and then some big outfit nationwide also is notified, and they work with the local people, and they are at you within two or three minutes. Now, I’ve never hit the button. You press the button for three seconds to send an SOS, and bammo, they show up. I’ve been talking to these guys. I want to get a demo on the button, and they’re gonna set that up to show you what will happen just to prove to you that it works. I told them I’ll do this after the election. But they want to set all you guys up with the app. They want to set everybody here on the staff up. I haven’t pursued that with ’em yet, but they’re really great people. They’re out of San Francisco, I think, Bay Area somewhere.
No, no, Snerdley, it’s not the clapper. Don’t say that. No, no, no. Snerdley says, “Is it like the little old lady in the TV ad in the wheelchair?” No. This is pure high-tech. If you hit that button, your local EMS people, I mean, it’s all worked out. All these people are signatories to the plan. Wherever you go, it knows where you are, and if you ever have to hit it, there are testimonials on how well it works. vSOS. I just wanted to mention it to you because I think about the private sector and all of the innovation that takes place and all of the great minds that exist in this country that meet the needs and the desires of people at the same time.
No, Jay Elliot is the guy’s name, former senior VP of Apple, and he just casually mentioned this in the book. He didn’t make a big deal of it. He wasn’t even selling it, really. I just was intrigued by it ’cause of that incident that had happened in Hawaii. They sent me a note. I mean, whole companies are signing up for this. Construction companies, for example, are outfitting all their employees with this app. It’s one of these things you hope you never have to use, but that you have full confidence if you do, it’s the fastest way. The great thing about it is once you hit that button, your doctor gets called, everybody in your family that you want to know, or friends, whatever it takes to make sure that you’re treated and taken care of quickly are notified at the same time, instantly.