Multiple lives saved thanks to smart phone app

Multiple lives in Cambridgeshire have been saved by quick-thinking officers and staff in the past year thanks to a new smart phone app.

Since the force began using GoodSAM in October last year, eight lives have been saved by officers performing CPR.  

The force is celebrating those saved lives to mark Restart a Heart Day on Sunday. The day aims to raise awareness of cardiac arrest and help people to learn life-saving first aid.

 

Pictured: PC Patryk Warmuz receives a commendation from Sergeant Chris Postill. 

Using GPS and an ambulance service system, the app issues alerts for nearby cardiac arrests and its sole purpose is to cover the time between a 999 call being made and paramedics arriving.

 

• In October last year, Sergeant Adam Catling, based at Parkside Police Station, heard reports of a hanging nearby over the radio and then heard a colleague’s GoodSAM alert going off. He knew it was close by so got a defibrillator from the enquiry office and made his way with other officers to the scene. Thanks to good work from Adam and his colleagues, who carried out CPR assisted by the ambulance service, the patient regained a pulse before being taken to hospital.

 

• PC Barbara Williams, now a Rural Crime Action Team officer but formerly based at Parkside Police Station, was on duty in Cambridge city centre in April when the app alerted her to a 95-year-old man in cardiac arrest at the Grafton Centre. She assisted the ambulance service with CPR and, after 45 minutes of treatment, the man regained a pulse and was taken to hospital.

 

• A few days later, also in April, PC Patryk Warmuz, a student officer based at Parkside Police Station, was off-duty in Mildenhall when he received an alert on his personal phone that a man nearby was in cardiac arrest. He arrived at the house to find the man receiving CPR from family members so Patryk took over until an ambulance arrived, with the man successfully regaining a pulse.

 

• PC Steve Campion, based at Ely, was off-duty at home when the GoodSAM app alerted him to a man nearby in cardiac arrest in May. Steve began CPR and continued with it for about three minutes when the man gasped and started to breathe. However, the man stopped breathing again so Steve restarted CPR and resuscitated him successfully a second time.

 

• In August, PC Baley Faulkes-Anstee, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Road Policing Unit, based at Huntingdon, was off-duty with his family in Newmarket town centre when he was alerted via GoodSAM to a man in cardiac arrest in a nearby pub. Baley immediately carried out CPR until an ambulance arrived and the patient was successfully resuscitated and taken to hospital.

 

• PC Pete Sharp, from Parkside Police Station, was alerted to a man in cardiac arrest when he was off duty in Sutton on 29 September. He arrived and found people giving the man CPR so Pete took over for about 10 minutes, giving two shocks with a defibrillator. The man began breathing as the ambulance arrived and was taken to hospital for further treatment.

 

• A day later, the life of a woman was saved in Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire, by PC Ryan James, an off-duty Bedfordshire officer, who received a GoodSAM alert on his personal phone. Ryan arrived at the woman’s house and found her unconscious on the floor with no pulse so he began CPR and instructed a neighbour to wait outside the house for the ambulance. While giving CPR, the woman began to breathe again but stopped breathing so Ryan kept on giving CPR until the ambulance arrived. He continued to assist paramedics until the woman regained a pulse and was taken to hospital.  

 

• On Tuesday, Sergeant Ryan Hanson, an off-duty Bedfordshire officer, received a GoodSAM alert on his phone that someone 700 metres away was in cardiac arrest in St Neots. He arrived a few minutes after the first ambulance crew had arrived an assisted them with CPR and remained on scene to help until the patient was taken to hospital.

 

Sergeant Chris Postill, from the Digital Policing Team, said: “Upon launching this initiative last year, our view was that to save a single life would represent success and render the scheme worthwhile.

“A year on however, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire officers have administered successful CPR on multiple occasions – enabling these patients to be transported to hospital alive for urgent medical treatment, giving them the best possible chance of recovery.

“The fantastic success of this scheme is testament to the enthusiasm if our officers and their willingness to respond – often whilst off-duty – to calls for help.”     

Nicholas Jones, technology manager at East of England Ambulance Service, said: “We have had GoodSAM operational for over three years now.

“When we first considered implementing the software we agreed that if we could save just one life through this application it would be worth it.

“I am pleased to say this software has not just saved one life, it has saved many lives.”   

Professor Mark Wilson, medical director and co-founder of GoodSAM, said: “When someone has a cardiac arrest, seconds count.

“GoodSAM is proud to enable East of England Ambulance service to alert Cambridgeshire Constabulary to cardiac arrests nearby.

“The forward-thinking teams in these services have led the way in what can be achieved and we hope this can be replicated across the country.”