e-StChristopher Help

Saint Christopher is, amongst other things, the patron saint of travellers

e-StChristopher.com was created to allow travellers to store vital information on-line securely, it's reassuring to know that if you lose everything, the vital stuff like traveller's cheque numbers, phone numbers and insurance details are just a cyber cafe away in your private area.

Should the worst happen, and you are found unconscious, your e-StChristopher jewellery(dogtags or bracelet) could provide the medics with ample information to contact your doctor and family, and view your important medical information (allergic to penicillin? blood type? diabetic?) on line on your medic area.

Back home : your folks are able to check in to a password protected restricted area that only you and they share, to find out where you are and how to contact you. Friends you make en route can access a separate public page, this one should contain less specific information (eg your email address, and country).

Read on for details about how to start, logging in, setting up your profile, entering data, navigation, security, languages, printing and links.

This is the area available to pretty much anyone who has your username (there is no password control). On it you can leave a welcome message, perhaps containing simply your email address and a rough travel itinerary. You can safely provide this area to people you meet en route that you would like to meet in other parts of the world. This approach is safer than, say, updating a personal webpage, as the only people with access to it are those that you invite : e-StChristopher pages cannot be searched by search engines. Nevertheless, you should be careful what you leave here.

Before you leave on a trip, give your e-StChristopher ID and your restricted password to your family, and keep your restricted pages updated regularly with your exact whereabouts, phone numbers, friends details, next check-in time etc. This then allows a select group of people you trust to keep in touch, and locate you in case of an emergency at home, and find you if you get in trouble abroad.

Only you should have this password : the private area is predominantly for you to store important details like passport numbers, traveller's cheque numbers, phone numbers and email addresses : anything you like. It's in name, value format (e.g. NI Number : 12345678), and the data is encrypted when stored on the database. You can add and delete this information whenever you like from the Web. We aim to use very simple HTML, so e-StChristopher should run on antiquated browsers, internet TV, PDAs, whatever you can lay your hands on.

This is the kind of information that may be helpful to others in an emergency, for example your doctor's phone number, or your next of kin's contact details. Perhaps allergies or relevant medical history should be included, or medical insurance details. The intention is that you update this section, and purchase a simple bracelet or dogtag that holds your name, your e-StChristopher ID and your medic password. The medic need only log on to the site to find out vital information and be in touch immediately with your doctor and your next of kin. The medic is also able to update your notes directly, allowing your doctor to inspect and continue your treatment once you return home.

First you need to register : we'll need your name, a password (typed in twice to make sure you got it right), and email address and a username. If the username has been used before, or the passwords don't match, then you'll get a message page telling you about it. To correct any problems, use your browser's 'Back' button to go back to the registration screen : all the data should still be there apart for the passwords. Once you are successfully registered, you will be taken automatically to the login screen to familiarize you with your future doorway to e-StChristopher.

The Login Button obviously takes you to the login a screen, but you'll notice a drop down box that contains the word 'user'. This you can change to 'medic' if you want to pretend to be a medic, and login using that password and only see what the medic would see. Its a good way to check that you haven't put information where you shouldn't.

Unusually among websites, e-StChristopher is personalisable by you. Once you or your friends or family log in then its your choice in colour, backdrop, text etc. that they see. This is configurable in the profile section, where you can also set/reset passwords, create welcome messages for each type of area, view your account details and update your personal details (e.g. address, next of kin, doctor). We keep track of how many people have accessed each type of area for you, you can inspect these counters under the user profiles section. First time round you need to setup your medic and restricted passwords for this facility to be unlocked.

You can only enter data when you are logged in as a User (ie not a medic, restricted or public member). Click on the Get Data button : you should see a set of four choices : personal, medical, restricted and public. You can pick any, and use the top line of the next screen to add data. The data will appear underneath with a delete button alongside it : you can delete it anytime you like. Remember : each item of data has to have a unique name (eg Passport) otherwise things would get confusing.

If you are logged in as a yourself (ie a user), then you have full rights to view all data types.

If you are logged in as a medic, you can view public, restricted and medical data. Medics cannot access your personal details (eg credit card numbers, visa numbers). Any information that you wish a medic to see (like perhaps insurance details) should therefore go in the medic section.

If you are logged in as a public user you can only view public data: this is a very limited interface intended for people that you don't necessarily know very well to keep in touch but at arm's length. This would apply to people that you meet on your travels : once you feel you can trust them then the next step would be to give them restricted access.

The site uses a simple text navigator : you can see it just under the buttons : on the profile main page you would see 'e-StChristopher login profile'. It tells you exactly where you are in the site, and how you got there. Additionally, by clicking on any of the words you can go back to that page (e.g. clicking on login would take you back to the login page).

e-StChristopher uses the same level of security as on-line banking, all you have to do is you keep your private password secure. Your data is all encrypted and stored safely, and transmitted over secure SSL links. Your public information is intended to be available to all, but is nevertheless is still encrypted and transmitted only by SSL. For reliability, e-StChristopher is hosted on high reliability servers in the UK and the US to prevent any data loss due to hardware failure, or loss of access due to network problems.

You are travelling, you get into trouble, the medic speaks no English. This is a prime concern for us and is the main reason why the site has a splash page displaying flags right at the start. The medic, or your foreign friends, can select their preferred language from a growing list, enabling them to navigate the site easily, yet still view the information that you would like them too see.

Remember in the profile section how you can set the colour scheme up to be what you like? Well, before you print a page of data, drop into profiles and change the scheme to Black On White: then you'll have the most printer friendly format.

You can easily get simple inexpensive jewellery made up (dogtags, leather bracelets) to record your vital medic login details (site name, username and your medic login). These need to be inexpensive else they are attractive to thieves! (Top of page)

Additionally, as a free service we maintain contact details for many embassies and medical services throughout the world. We'd appreciate your input on this : mail us using the CONTACT button if you have any suggestions. We hope you find the site useful, safe trip.