By Darcy DiBiase

Have you had one of those moments lately?  The “OMG-Where‘s my phone?” ping of panic in your chest? It‘s often followed by the frantic digging through a bag, patting down flat surfaces within arm‘s reach, and occasionally, a U-turn.

Lately, it seems rare to leave home without our cellphones, many of which are “smart phones.” More and more, our fingers aren‘t far from a tablet device. In fewer than five years, since the inception of the “smart phone,” mobile devices are already responsible for more than 10 percent of all internet traffic. By 2014, more people will access the internet on a mobile device than on a desktop computer.

Americans use mobile devices to surf the web, access e-mail, get up-to-the -minute news and search for health information -- which just got easier for Central New Yorkers. Upstate University Hospital is the first CNY hospital to launch its own mobile web application. That's right: Now Upstate's got an app.

The Upstate App (which is free) offers some of our most requested online content in an easy-to-access format for smart phones and tablets. You can also access the information from a desktop computer.

From the app, a user can:

- press one button to call Upstate Connect, Upstate‘s call center to contact a physician's office within the Upstate Health System, request a referral, sign up to attend an event, get health information or speak to a registered nurse, 24/7;

- get directions to both hospital campuses and other outpatient locations;

- access Find a Doc, a database of medical providers that is searchable by name, disease, specialty or treatment and also includes videos and podcasts from faculty members;

- "flip" through the latest issue of Upstate Health, the quarterly healthy lifestyle publication for our community;

- connect with Upstate's Facebook and Twitter feeds and interact by following, liking and commenting;

- check out the videos on the Upstate YouTube Channel;

- listen to HealthLink on Air radio interview segments from our podcast library;

- decipher the "alphabet soup," or various abbreviations of letters after a healthcare provider's name, to better understand who is involved in your care;

- tap in to an existing patient's Caring Bridge website; and

- visit the entire Upstate website.

Upstate partnered with Rounded Development (located in the Tech Garden, here in Syracuse) and its team of software developers to create a mobile web application as an extension of the current website, that can be accessed on any smart phone or tablet via an internet browser.

Download the app at www.upstate.edu/app

Create an app icon by saving it to your phone or tablet's home screen. For questions or suggestions about the Upstate App, visit www.upstate.edu/app