The Hero app for iPhone and iPad

Many people are in need of assistance from time to time. Protection from physical violence, medical assistance, phycological assistance, and various types of care assistance may be needed from time to time. Often, when a person finds themselves in need of assistance, they phone a friend, a neighbor, or an emergency service. However, in some circumstances, the friend, the neighbour, or emergency service may not be available or may not be available in time. Further, in some circumstances, a person may not wish to place a call or may not be able to place a call. Accordingly, there remains a need for improvements in the art.
Described is an alert system and method a system and method for alerting nearby network-connected communication devices. The system includes a network-connected victim communication device configured to receive a trigger, and at least one network-connected target communication device configured to receive and provide notification of an alert. The alert management server is communicatively coupled to the network-connected victim communication device and to the at least one network-connected target communication device to receive the trigger from the network-connected victim communication device and to provide the alert to the at least one network-connected target communication device. The alert management server is configured to monitor the network-connected victim communication device for the trigger, receive the trigger from the network-connected victim communication device, create an alert based on the trigger, and send the alert to the at least one network-connected target communication device. A related method for distributing an alert is also described.