It could be your neighbor, your best friend, your father. They stop, clutch their chest, stumble to the ground. They're having a heart attack. In the tense seconds that follow, you know you need to act, and fast – the difference between life and death lies in your hands. Soon, it may also lie in your cell phone.
This September, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine will launch the MyHeartMap Challenge, a contest to track down hundreds of automated external defibrillators (AED's) throughout the city. These lifesaving devices automatically diagnose a person having a heart attack, and if necessary, deliver an electric shock to get the heart beating normally again. AED's are all over the place: the local gym, gas station, or hotel. But most people don't know exactly where they are.
"There could be a AED in the room upstairs or across the street and you'd have no way of knowing," said Eric Stone, co-director of the MyHeartMap Challenge. In Philadelphia, that is about to change – using the power of the crowd.
Participants will use a free app downloaded to their phones to take photos of any AED they spot around the city, tagging the location, color and manufacturer. Anyone can join the search, and the Penn group expects that social networks like Facebook and Twitter will both help spread word about the challenge, as well as help people hunt down devices. As an extra incentive, those who locate the most AED's will win cash prizes.
But in this case, winning is far from everything. The idea is to "create the first comprehensive log of AEDs all over Philly," according to the Penn Medicine news blog. That map would then be available in an emergency – if you called 911 they could tell you exactly where to find the nearest device, or you could look it up immediately on your cell phone.
Philly is just the first stop. The team envisions a national map of AED locations, produced with the same crowdsourcing strategy as the MyHeartMap Challenge. Without public participation, "it would take years to be able to do this for the whole country," said UPenn emergency physician Raina Merchant, who came up with the contest idea is leading the MyHeartMap effort forward. But by using people as remote sensors, Merchant thinks tracking down the estimated one million AEDs across the country is possible.
It's just one of the many ways crowdsourcing and networking tools have opened up possibilities in solving public health problems, said Merchant.
"We're just beginning to understand how to use these tools to connect people with resources," she said. Agencies could use social networks to share emergency preparedness plans, communities could set up web-based "buddy" systems to protect at-risk people during a heat wave, and non-profits could use social media to locate emergency equipment or supplies for disaster relief. "It could work in a multitude of ways," Merchant said.
This nationwide AED registry project will also put AED's on the map in more ways than one. An important byproduct of the challenge will be the education and awareness about responses to cardiac arrest, which Stone thinks is just as valuable as the map itself. Because locating the AED is one thing – getting people to use it quite another. Unfortunately, many people still don't take advantage of existing AED's.
If you were to ask an average person about the AED on the wall, they'd probably tell you they wouldn't remove it, said Stone. But these are actually pretty smart devices. The beauty of the AED, according to Merchant, is its simplicity.
"You just open the device, take it out of its package, and it starts talking to you," she said. The computer-based system delivers automated instructions on how to perform CPR and will only deliver a shock if the victim needs it. "If you do nothing, then they're gong to die," said Merchant. So using an AED – in addition to calling 911 – is always better than the alternative.
Until the challenge kicks off, people can sign up on the website to receive news updates, register for the contest, and download the app (which will be released at launch). And if you're in Philadelphia this fall, the MyHeartMap Challenge will definitely be the most heart-friendly scavenger hunt you ever go on.
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