In recent years , Denmark has seen the human death rate for out - of - home heart attacks slowly dwindle to track record lows . One of the factors behind the declination , per anew Washington Post report , is an app that aims a drove of unpaid worker at patient in need .
That app , Heartrunner , rely on connecting people in the midst of a cardiac installment with a tightly unionize connection of over 100,000CPR - trainedDanish Volunteer . The appmonitorsheart - attack - bear on dispatch sent from the national exigency number ( 112 , the Danish equivalent of 911 ) , and contacts up to 20 volunteers that are within a mile r of the conniption where the attack is happening .
apart from enjoin these military volunteer where a meat tone-beginning might be happening , Heartrunner also help them rule nearby automated external defibrillator — or AED’s — a type of defibrillator that can jumpstart a someone ’s heart back to its normal rhythm . you may often discover one inmost public placesin the US , andthe samegoes for Denmark .
Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds (Getty Images)
Becauseevery minute countswhen it comes to rescuing someone from cardiac pinch — and because ambulancesdon’t alwaysarrive apace — these volunteers can stave in off serious effect until the pro come . Sweden , for its part , has had a similar scheme in placesince 2013and of late reported that its volunteers get to patients before an ambulancemore than halfof the time .
Similar apps have tried to take off in the US . PulsePoint , for example , was developed by a team of volunteersback in 2011and has since tracked more than one million cardiac hitch to escort , fit in toPulsePoint ’s land site . Like Heartrunner , the idea is pretty simple : CPR - certified volunteers that download the app get notify whenever there ’s a 911 despatch within walk distance and are also give notice about the close AED . The app also guides them to the exact speech the despatch is being sent to , whether it ’s a private home , an situation , or the middle of a street .
But as the Post points out , these form of apps have n’t taken off on US grease the same means they have in Denmark for a few reason . Some are concerned about theHIPAAimplications that palisade an app that beams your cardiac taking into custody to a bunch of nearby volunteers , and others are concerned about letting a volunteer use AED ’s on themin the first place .
It might be time for the US to get more well-heeled with the idea . In the decade since Heartrunner ’s been on the market , the survival rate for out - of - hospital heart attacks hasslowly been climbing , it uprise from just under 4%in 2001to over 12%a decade later . Meanwhile , a late study of at - home heart attacks among American patients during the pandemic put our survival ratecloser to 10 % .
Meanwhile , these out - of - hospital attacksseriously spikedat the starting time of the pandemic , and while all demographic realise that sack , it strike Black communities and the elderlyharder than anyone .
HeartMedicine
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