Does your child have a fever? Or maybe asthma? There's an app for that.

Cook Children's Health Care System has launched a free iPhone application to provide parents with information about childhood emergencies, medical conditions, general health -- even directions and maps to the nearest clinic or doctor's office.

It is believed to be the first children's hospital in the nation with an iPhone application with pediatric information, officials said.

"We wanted to be sure that parents in the area got accurate information from a reliable source -- a name that they could trust, in Cook Children's," said Tim Hanners, senior vice president of corporate and community affairs. "One of the best ways to do that is through the mobile devices."

The free application, available through iPhones under the name KidsCheckup, officially launched Friday evening and already had 850 participants by Monday from as far away as Great Britain and Malaysia.

"We thought it was very important to do this for free," Hanners said. "It's important that parents get the right health information."

The application is the latest move by a local hospital system to reach people digitally through Web sites or new technologies. Baylor Health System, for example, has a symptom navigator tool that can be downloaded onto an iPhone with information on maladies.

It is available on the system's Web site at www.baylorhealth.com; scroll to the bottom and click on "mobile symptom navigator."

Dianna Hunt, 817-390-7084

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