good sam

The GoodSAM App and your CPR response

By

GoodSAM is a free global smartphone app that alerts members of the public who know how to perform CPR and alerts them to someone nearby that is in cardiac arrest. You can then respond and help with CPR until the Emergency Services arrive. How good an idea is that?!!

Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) are all standard sessions of first aid courses these days so everyone who has complete any level of First Aid training has these skills.

How does GoodSAM work?

In simple terms this is how it works:

  1. You sign up to the app on your smartphone. The app stays open in the background of your phone.
  2. The Emergency Services can then see where you are in relation to a casualty reported to be in cardiac arrest.
  3. If you are within 1000 metres of the casualty, they will alert you through the app to see if you can respond – you can accept or reject their request.
  4. If you can respond, they send you the location details of the casualty.
  5. You attend and help until the emergency services arrives.

Signing up to the app is easy and quick. You need to upload up some ID and/or your First Aid Certificate. This is the link to find out more and to sign up to be a Cardiac Responder with GoodSAM. Once you sign up, it may take a week or so to verify your registration. By signing up you agree to the GoodSAM Code of Conduct. There’s a very informative Welcome pack and Information booklet available.

Why is the GoodSAM approach important?

First aider checking to see if a casualty is breathing
Performing CPR on a baby
MedianaAED_bundle

Cardiac arrest can happen to anyone of any age and is caused by a wide variety of circumstances, health conditions and often without any warning.

When someone is in cardiac arrest, their chance of survival drops by 10% every minute that passes without CPR and defibrillation with an AED. By providing rapid response, the GoodSAM network of volunteers can assist in those first critical minutes while the ambulance is on the way.

There are over 500,00 people in Scotland and millions of people in the UK that have been trained to do CPR and that is a great resource for quick response to someone in need. Now. Near you! Have a look at the Scottish ‘Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA)’ infographic below which is a study that is repeated regularly and assesses the statistics of cardiac arrest cases that happen outside of hospital. Most cardiac arrests happen at home.

Increasing bystander (public) CPR response dramatically increases people’s chances of survival. More and more people are willing to step forward to help – and the GoodSAM will further increase this response.

What resources are there to help me?

On the GoodSAM website, there are lots of instructional videos, myth busters and information sheets about CPR and using a defibrillator. There’s even online tutorials about how to do CPR and use a defibrillator (AED).

Through our website, the First Aid Training Cooperative, there are links to our instructional videos (including CPR and AED use), lots of first aid blogs plus free downloadable charts and resources.

And – there’s more to the GoodSAM app than Cardiac Response!

We’re encouraging our clients to sign up to become GoodSAM Cardiac Responders but there’s much more to the app that’s being utilised in the UK and the world now.

This includes:

  • An instant location mapped from your phone if you call 999
  • You can upload photos to show to the Emergency Services Call Handler
  • A video link can be used to assess a casualty’s Pulse and Breathing Rate
  • A video link to show the Emergency Services Call Handler the injury or wound in a casualty
  • A video link to show situation awareness before the Emergency Services Arrive
  • These videos are not recorded on your phone but work through streaming. They can be shared with other emergency services such as Doctors, Police or Fire Officers.
  • There are also auto subtitling and translate facilities within the app covering over 140 languages.
  • The app can also be used to alert you, if you sign up, for other community response neds such as vaccination centre help, transport to hospital or medicine deliveries and more.

There’s a lot of great functions within the GoodSAM app. It is handled by the Emergency Services team when you phone 999. It has made a big difference in rapid response, survival rate and also a great sense of achievement and community spirit by volunteers and the casualties.

Please consider using your first aid and other skills by signing up for the Cardiac Repose or other volunteering opportunities in GoodSAM.

Get confident – get trained!

Book a First Aid course – We cover CPR and using an AED on all of our First Aid courses. You can find out more about our courses here.

First Aid guidance at your fingertips – everyone on our courses receives a FREE digital first aid manual. We have a range of manuals relevant to the courses we teach – Outdoor, Equestrian, First Aid at Work, Paediatric and Sports. They are a great resource that you can download onto your phone or other device. You can view them and buy them for less than £4 here.

Related Posts