A man received crucial first aid after suffering a cardiac arrest last night thanks to a smartphone app and the quick actions of an off-duty police officer.
Constable Pete Sharp was alerted by the GoodSAM cardiac alerting app, which uses GPS and an ambulance service system to guide volunteers to victims.
Pete, 34, lives in Sutton, Ely, and was about to go to bed when he got the notification through.
He said: “I was off duty and picked up my personal phone to turn it to silent when I heard the siren noise from the app.
“It told me there was someone having a cardiac arrest within 800m of my location, so I got in my car and went.
“When I arrived at the scene there was a man on the floor with a defibrillator nearby and people giving him CPR.
“I continued CPR for about 10 minutes and gave him two more shocks with the defibrillator. Soon after this, paramedics arrived and took over from me.
“They told me we had managed to get a good rhythm back in his heart and CPR could be stopped. “The man’s family were so grateful to me for my help, and he was taken to hospital.”
Pete, who joined the force 11 years ago because he wanted to help others and give something back to the community, said having an app like GoodSAM allowed him to do exactly that.
He added: “With technology like this we can potentially save lives and I feel so pleased I was able to help someone when they needed it most. We are so lucky to have GoodSAM here in Cambridgeshire.”
Sergeant Chris Postill, from the Beds, Cambs and Herts (BCH) digital policing team, said to have saved a single life would have made the scheme worthwhile, but so far BCH officers have administered successful CPR on 16 occasions – enabling patients to be transported to hospital alive for urgent medical treatment, giving them the best possible chance of recovery.
He said: “The success of this scheme is testament to the enthusiasm of officers and their willingness to respond – often while off duty – to calls for help.
“Pete’s actions are a shining example of this and go to show how use of innovative technology in the hands of those with the right skills can protect the lives of those in the communities we serve.”
Nicholas Jones, Digital Service Delivery Manager for the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST), thanked Pete for supporting them and their patients.
He added: “The chain of survival needs effective CPR with a defibrillator to be delivered quickly.
“GoodSAM is assisting us to get trained people to patients quickly prior to the ambulance arrival. We are thankful to all our GoodSAM responders for their time and dedication.”
GoodSAM can also be used by members of the public. The GoodSAM Instant-On-Scene platform allows people to stream live video and share their precise location with force control rooms through a mobile device, without needing an app. It is credited with saving lives and hundreds of hours of officers’ time.
The platform also provides forces with other capabilities, such as the ability for officers to live stream video from their phones into the control room and to colleagues.
It integrates with drones, allowing live aerial video to be viewed immediately by officers on the ground, and a “consultation” feature allows officers to invite members of the public to a multi-way video call, for use in situations where it might not be appropriate to visit in person.
For more information visit the GoodSAM website.
