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<b>First Posted:</b> 12/22/2009<br><br>LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer


WASHINGTON &amp;mdash; Emergency health alerts for the Facebook generation? The nation&amp;rsquo;s ambulance crews are pushing a virtual medical ID system to rapidly learn a patient&amp;rsquo;s health history during a crisis &amp;mdash; and which can immediately text-message loved ones that the person is headed for a hospital.
The Web-based registry, invisibleBracelet.org, started in Oklahoma and got a boost this fall when the state&amp;rsquo;s government made the program an optional health benefit for its own employees.
Now the iBracelet attempts to go nationwide as the American Ambulance Association next month begins training its medics, who in turn will urge people in their communities to sign up.
For $5 a year, basic health information and up to 10 contacts are stored under a computer-assigned PIN number that&amp;rsquo;s kept on a wallet card with your license, a key fob or a sticker on an insurance card.
It&amp;rsquo;s a complement to the medical alert jewelry that many wear and have used for decades.
And it comes as the American College of Emergency Physicians is trying to determine just what information is the most critical for medics and ER doctors to find when you&amp;rsquo;re too ill or injured to answer questions, so that competing emergency-alert technologies don&amp;rsquo;t miss any of the essentials.
&amp;ldquo;Too many times, we don&amp;rsquo;t have the information to help us treat the patients correctly,&amp;rdquo; says James Finger, president of the American Ambulance Association, the largest network of emergency medical service providers.
Even someone too healthy for conventional bracelets may have some condition that could help emergency workers make a faster diagnosis, avoid a medication reaction &amp;mdash; or track down their next-of-kin faster.

iBracelet may assist emergency health care