Lifesaving Networks
Innovators are committed to making the world a better place, from developing energy-saving technologies to designing creative ways to engage customers in corporate social responsibility. A couple new grassroots efforts show how effective some simple initiatives can be in saving lives.
Helping Citizens Help Each Other
There’s a hero in all of us, according to a California fire department who this year launched a free iPhone app called fire department that could make heroes out of many more of us. Users trained in CPR can sign up to be notified if someone nearby is a victim of sudden cardiac arrest and may require CPR. If the cardiac emergency is in a public place, the application, using sophisticated GPS technology, will alert citizens in the vicinity of the need for CPR. The application also directs these citizen rescuers to the exact location of the closest public access Automated External Defibrillator (AED).
During a six month test period with more than 22,000 iPhone users more than 600,000 notifications were sent. The department has made the app available free of charge to other public safety agencies, hoping to change some statistics. Nearly 300,000 people die each year in the United States from cardiac arrest and survival rates nationally for SCA are less than eight percent.
Rally Others to Donate Life
A group at Stanford University is working to find an innovative way to help leukemia patients in need. Their inspiration comes from a Stanford alumnus who, when diagnosed with leukemia, found he had only a 1 in 20,000 chance of receiving a bone marrow transplant. The reason being he was of South Asian descent, a population that is dramatically under-represented in U.S. bone marrow registries. Friends rallied behind him and used a social media campaign which eventually led to a transplant. This inspired them to partner with OpenIDEO to work towards developing a more coordinated effort to help others by further increasing the number of donors. The challenge has received 132 concepts in its first month and will remain open for another month.
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