Dan Woolley works for Compassion International, a wonderful non-profit that strives to improve the lot of children around the world. I heard their President, Wess Stafford, speak earlier this year about his own horrific childhood experiences and his vow to help other children. To that end,  Dan Woolley was in Port-au-Prince hotel working on a film about child poverty.

“Then all of a sudden just all craziness broke loose,” Woolley said. “Convulsions of the ground around us, the walls started rippling and then falling on us.”

As Dan laid there alone in the darkness, he took stock and determined he had blood streaming from his head and his leg. Then he remembered, “I have an app for that!” He took his cell phone and opened the First Aid & CPR phone application from American Heart Association. He used his clothing to make bandages and perform appropriate first aid. Fearing he may be going into shock and knowing he shouldn’t sleep too long, he set his phone alarm to wake himself every 20 minutes.

As he sat in the darkness, he pulled out his journal and wrote the following, bloodstained  note to his family, “I was in a big accident, an earthquake. Don’t be upset at God. He always provides for his children even in hard times. I’m still praying that God will get me out, but he may not. But even so he will always take care of you.”

Dan waited about 60 hours until he was rescued.  You can read more of the story details at CNN World.

I’ve chosen to invest a fair bit of my time, energy and money into some construction phone apps that should be helpful to many. Reading this article makes me more convinced I’m on the right track.