After a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb. 3, social media users began seeing other events in the town’s history in a different light.
One screen recording shared in a Feb. 24 Instagram post read, “OHIO UPDATE. If it doesn’t get WEIRDER than this! 3 months ago East Palestine, OH was at the center of pilot program to respond to EMERGENCY situations. They gave digital ID’s FOR FREE to residents to track long term health problems like ‘difficulty breathing.’”
The recording showed what appeared to be a video news report about the “MyID” emergency service.
“Probably just a coincidence,” a caption on the Instagram post read.
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The post’s video came from an Oct. 17, 2022, news report about a real program on WKBN-TV, a CBS affiliate in Youngstown, Ohio. But the post misleads about MyID’s purpose, capabilities and scope.
MyID is a program that lets people voluntarily create online medical profiles for themselves and then link them to personalized QR codes that can be worn on a device such as a bracelet, key fob, necklace, or watch band attachment. (QR codes, short for quick response codes, are information-storing bar codes that digital devices can read easily.)
Responders who come into contact with a patient who has MyID can scan the QR code using a smartphone camera. The code gives the responder access to the patient’s medical information, which can include any allergies, prescription medications and emergency contacts.
In October, East Palestine was soliciting donations to help fund an effort to supply its residents with MyID, according to an Oct. 15, 2022, Morning Journal News report. Mayor Trent Conaway told the publication that the idea for the program came from East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick.
As of March 1, none of the devices had been distributed to East Palestine residents, Drabick told PolitiFact.
MyID does not have a tracking mechanism.
“There are zero components that measure your vitals, it is not like a Fitbit or Android/iPhone app that someone would place on their phone,” Drabick said. “This device is simply made for someone who could not give medical information to a health care provider, in the instance that the patient was unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate.”
If a first responder tried to reach the emergency contact listed on someone’s QR code-linked profile, Drabick said, MyID would send the contact a message and the first responder’s phone number.
The MyID website outlines security measures to keep data safe, including firewalls, encryption and automatic logout.
The Associated Press and WKBN also reported on claims about the MyID program that emerged after the train derailment. WKBN’s Feb. 20 report quoted Drabick saying 60 people had signed up to receive a MyID bracelet with the East Palestine Fire Department.
The program is “entirely optional,” a Feb. 20 Daily Dot report said. WKBN reported that there’s a three-year plan to make MyID available to all 4,700 East Palestine residents.
East Palestine is not the first U.S. town to use MyID. The Corona City Fire Department in Corona City, California, partnered with MyID in 2017.
Our ruling
An Instagram post said East Palestine “gave digital ID’s FOR FREE to residents to track long term health problems like ‘difficulty breathing’” prior to the Feb. 3 train derailment there.
East Palestine in October began rolling out a MyID program that would offer residents free devices, such as bracelets, with QR codes. The codes could help emergency responders access voluntary medical information provided by patients and accessible online. This information could include allergies, medications and emergency contacts.
These devices have no tracking capabilities — either for pinpointing locations or monitoring vital signs. And as of March 1, no MyID devices had been distributed to East Palestine residents.
We rate this claim False.
