Safety First!

Many Action Read learners want information and support around health and safety issues.  Guelph Community Policy Officer Buzz Dean has spoken to our community about these issues several times, most recently on May 15, 2012.  He wanted us to know about a great FREE security cell phone app: a personal alarm. To learn more about this free app and to download it, please read following information forwarded by Officer Dean from the Guelph Police Services.

Action Read Staff
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As part of its ongoing work to encourage Canadians to take action on violence against women and girls, YWCA Canada, released the much awaited YWCA Safety Siren app for Android smartphones and Blackberries. As part of its anti-violence tools and programming for young women, the Safety Siren is a unique violence prevention and intervention tool, turning Android smartphones / Blackberry into a multi-functional safety device.

The Guelph Police Service is one of the resources for these links. For example when a woman is in close proximity to our Service and uses the “Geolinks active tab” on the safety Siren, the Guelph Police Services will come up on her screen along with other important information such as our Service’s website, phone number, and address, by touching the screen on her phone she can access directions right to our door.

Item Description

The YWCA Safety Siren, available in both English and French, offers users a unique utility siren along with Canadian health and safety information geared toward young women, including: short questions and answers about women’s health and wellness, particularly focused on dating and social interaction; tips and facts on safety and wellbeing; links to YWCAs across Canada as well as health and crisis resource centres; and SOS urgent email, phone and BBM functionality to a friend or family member when the user is in an unsafe situation.

Highlights include:

• Functionality in both French and English

• Multiple siren settings

• Siren activation sends an emergency email to a pre-set SOS and BBM contact with approximate coordinates and places an emergency outgoing call to a pre-programmed number

• A wide range of facts and information on women's health and wellness

• Connections to nearby YWCAs, emergency hotlines, health centers and clinics

• Access to a library of women’s health resources

This application is free of charge and can be downloaded at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ywca. I have placed numerous app cards in each duty drawer which provides information to women about the phone app’s, as well have left some with the staff at VSW.