Chatham-Kent is working to increase public safety by rolling out a new program involving portable defibrillators.
Assistant Chief with Chatham-Kent Fire and Emergency Services, Scott Ramey says a new web registry and mobile app is being launched to help pinpoint the location of AED machines for public use.
“We know where our machines are within the system that have been placed in municipal buildings, but we don’t always know where they are in public places like grocery stores, banks, and businesses,” Ramey says. “The registry tool with PulsePoint gives us the opportunity for people in the public to start letting us know where these machines are so we can make sure that everybody’s aware of them when they call 911.”
Portable AED devices have been in various municipal buildings since 2012, but Ramey says they’ve lacked the technology to keep track of defibrillators installed in business and other buildings.
CK-FES officials are urging any businesses and groups who have invested in an AED to ensure it’s included on the registry by clicking here.
The app can be downloaded for iOS or Android devices.
“It actually notifies trained personnel if you’ve registered with app that you’re closest to a public cardiac arrest, and it encourages basically a crowd-sourced response for CPR purposes.”
Chatham-Kent is just the second community in Ontario to make use of the online registry, behind Kingston.
Similar technology is being considered in a number of other municipalities, but hasn’t yet been instituted.
