Show HN: Health Scout – An app I wrote for a mother traveling with a sick child

Also, does it include a notification centre widget?

It has a pretty good amount of useful data if you're interested in searching around :).

To answer your second question: I'm not. For the V1 of the app, I'm relying on the government data being valid. However, I'm currently building an in-app feedback form that will allow users to (a) report real-time wait times if they are in the hospital, and (b) report closed ERs / incorrect addresses etc.

Unless you're in real trouble, its often cheaper and simpler to have someone drive you.

How EMS works in the US generally follows this path:

You get sick.

You then dial 911.

A dispatcher talks with you, routes your call to an ambulance company, and provides us with some information on what's going on. If the environment is no danger to you, they should generally tell you to stay put. Depending on the nature of the emergency, they'll have some first-responder/stopgap measures they'll want you (or bystanders) to do. If you have crushing chest pain for example, they'll explain how to place yourself into a recovery position (in case you vomit while unconscious), they'll ask for a nearby bystander (in case they have to instruct them how to perform CPR), and they'll do their best to keep you calm and aware of your situation. What they don't want you to do (even if you're 10 minutes away from a hospital) is try to move yourself there because:

If you become unconscious on the way to the hospital, it becomes so much harder to find you (rather than if you had stayed in a static location that you've described).

By moving, you might move from a safe environment to a more dangerous environment (sidewalk to middle of the street).

When the ambulance arrives, the medic will perform their own assessment of your condition. If you're alert, they'll ask you questions, ask you to chew some aspirin, place you on a heart monitor. If you've become unresponsive at this point, then slightly more drastic measures are taken.

When they load you into the ambulance, they'll make a determination (based upon their assessment) of where to take you. The nearest ER may not have the proper resources to deal with or handle your condition.

I'm unsure how emergency departments in hospitals outside of the US work, but here, not all EDs can provide the same level of care. If you're having an MI (heart attack), and you need cardiac care (a facility that can crack your chest open), it's far faster for the medic to assess you then immediately take you to the correct place.

As a contrary example:

If you happen to make it into an ED on your own foot-power and manage to explain what's going on to the triage nurse, then they still have to call in an ambulance to transport you to a hospital which can provide an adequate level of care. In some hospitals, they won't even begin to treat you (because of liability issues...it's horrible).

TL;DR. Some ERs cannot provide a certain level of care (Trauma Centers, Cardiac Centers, Psych, etc) and thus the closest ER may not be the correct ER to go to.