MCKINNEY, Texas — The City of McKinney is rolling out an app designed to connect CPR-trained civilians and professional first responders with cardiac arrest emergencies in their area. The goal: save lives by ensuring immediate care while waiting for professional first responders.
The app is GoodSAM—short for Good Samaritan—and it is currently being used in San Antonio and cities around the globe.
“Some immediate care is better than no care at all,” said Jeff Womack, a local first aid instructor and one of the many volunteers already participating in the program.
Womack tells WFAA that for every minute a person’s heart is stopped, their chances of survival drop by 10%.
The GoodSAM app allows dispatchers to notify nearby trained and vetted responders who can step in to perform CPR and provide life-saving chest compressions before paramedics arrive. According to McKinney Fire, the responders are under no obligation to help.
"Our objective here is to get high-quality CPR on somebody in cardiac arrest as soon as possible. They can get there quickly to provide that first hands on the chest before 9-1-1 gets there," said Ethan Knowles with McKinney Fire.
The average wait time for professional first responders is currently four minutes. The app could cut into that response time.
"Obviously, the goal is that we'll have people who are wanting to engage with this who have a passion for helping others and serving," said Knowles.
The website for the application reads, "We provide a wealth of solutions across emergency, volunteering and support services. From the world's most advanced video systems to crowdsourcing resuscitation, from virtual wards to running national volunteer programs, GoodSAM provides cutting edge solutions to deliver better care and services."
The app isn’t intended to replace emergency responders but to supplement their efforts by creating a network of civilians eager to help in times of need.
"[The app] is going to let you know if you're a quarter mile to a half mile of that event. It's going to ping your phone and you'll have the opportunity to accept or reject that [request]," said Knowles.
McKinney officials hope to recruit 1,000 GoodSAM responders within the first three months of the app’s rollout. The more participants, the stronger the response network will be.