If you recall from my blog post from last month, I was involved in a big video production of a PSA. Well, the truth is, it was much bigger than just a PSA.
Today at a press conference in San Ramon, CA the San Ramon Fire Protection District released a truly innovative groundbreaking application that will literally save lives. If you look at my previous post you can read about the background of the project itself and about the SRVFPD and their innovative nature that lead to this app. The story behind this second version is really amazing.
When my friend Lucas first brought me on to the project he explained to me that him and Fire Chief Richard Price were out to lunch one day, while on duty, and they noticed an ambulance pull into the very shopping center where they were having lunch at. Later, they came to find out there was a person having a heart attack in the store right across the parking lot from them and they had no idea. Both Lucas and the Fire Chief are medically trained professionals who, if they had known of the incident, could have easily performed CPR in order to significantly improve the chances of that person surviving a cardiac arrest. This is where the idea came to form: During a cardiac arrest emergency the fire department will dispatch their trained citizens for assistance. Development of the app began immediately.
Some astonishing numbers given during the press conference today:
– 300,000 people nation-wide die from cardiac arrest every year
– Less than 8% survival rate for a person having a cardiac arrest on the street
– Average call response time is 7 minutes for first responders
– When a Automatic Electronic Defibrillator (AED) is used survival rate rises to nearly 80%
– AEDs only used 5% of cases
Obviously there is a great opportunity for an app like this to make a real impact.
Here’s how it works:
When someone has a cardiac arrest (in a public area) and 911 is contacted, the dispatch center dispatches both the emergency services and the iPhone app. The server searches all of the CPR-subscribed devices that are within a certain proximity to the medical emergency and sends their phone a push notification and a distinct alert tone.
CPR response screen
When the app is opened the user is shown the business name, the address, and where the AED is located, if available. The user chooses the “Go” button and a map with their current location and a pin of where the incident is taking place is shown. There is also a CPR button that will show key reminders of the proper way to do CPR. It is clear to see how effective this app can be in an emergency situation and the great life saving potential it has.
Today at the press conference it was also announced by Workday CEO Dave Duffield that they will be building the Android and Blackberry version of the application for free in order to encourage the adoption of the application by as many people as possible. Even more amazing is that the SRVFPD is giving the application away free of charge and have plans to make the code available as opensource to encourage the spread of the application and share the life saving capabilities.
I feel very honored to have been involved in this project and am thankful for Lucas and Fire Chief Price for including me in this groundbreaking project.
Watch the final PSA here and if you have an iPhone app be sure to download the app and get more information here.
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