# Emergency virtual triage

What number do you put in the "Emergency Contact" when you're filling out a form, say when starting a new job or joining a gym?

Chances are it's a close friend, family member or neighbour.

But chances are that person does not have all the information and context to help much.

In a real emergency, the people trying to help you will need:

- Knowledge of your health conditions
- Contacts of your insurance provider
- Contacts of your medical doctor
- Contacts of any medical specialists
- Contacts of your immediate friends and family members – to let them know

Who can give them all this information?

What you need is a virtual triage – a number that can be called anytime 24/7 and has all these details readily to hand, enabling fast routing of your information to those best positioned to help you.

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Update (2026-01-21): Apple recently added an ["emergency contact" feature in the Health app](https://support.apple.com/en-au/105072) where you can add multiple emergency contacts and designate people to be notified with your location when you use Emergency SOS.