Documentation
Last updated July 18, 2026
Dad Alert is a private caregiving app one family runs for one patient: their father, who lives with a serious cardiac condition. Everything below describes that single deployment.
How an episode works
- A bedside tablet runs the app around the clock. A large on-screen button (and a bedside wireless button) starts an episode.
- Starting an episode alerts the family immediately by email with a live link.
- Blood pressure and pulse readings are logged automatically from a Bluetooth cuff, or entered by hand. Every entry is timestamped.
- Fixed safety rules run on the tablet itself: if blood pressure or pulse crosses a hard limit, or chest pain or fainting is reported, the tablet shows a full-screen instruction to call 911. Nothing in the app can soften those rules.
- Ending an episode produces a plain-text timeline and summary, ready to text to the family or send to the patient's cardiologist.
What the app reads from the medical record
With the patient's consent through his health system's patient portal (MyChart, by Epic), Dad Alert reads, read-only: vitals, lab results, medications, conditions, visit notes and diagnostic reports, allergies, and the care team list. This context helps the family and the app's guidance stay accurate. Dad Alert never writes to the medical record.
Where guidance comes from
Below the fixed safety rules, the app uses Anthropic's Claude to generate plain-language guidance for the family: what to watch, when to recheck, and drafts of summaries for the cardiologist. Guidance is always framed as support while the family decides, never as a reason not to call 911.
Data handling
Private US-hosted server, HTTPS everywhere, encrypted tokens and health data at rest, no ads, no sale of data, no third-party sharing, complete export and full deletion on request. Details in the privacy policy.