When a call comes into 911 for a cardiac arrest the dispatcher now has a software that can alert the caller to the closest available public AED device.
Emergency Health Services demonstrated the technology Wednesday afternoon and officials believe it will help save lives.
Currently, there are more than 1,100 automated external defibrillator or AED devices located across the province that are registered with EHS.
“I hope that this tool and this technology is going to make it easier for a bystander to know where an AED is and bring it to patients, or Nova Scotians that need it, in a very quick and timely fashion,” said Dr. Andrew Travers, the provincial medical director for EHS. “I am confident this software and platform are going to enable that.”
More than 1,5000 cardiac arrest calls come in per year for Nova Scotia paramedics to respond to and when that call comes in, time is of the essence.
During a cardiac arrest, there are precious moments between the incident and waiting for a paramedic to arrive on scene.
“If we can see more people calling 911 and recognizing cardiac arrest sooner, and doing CPR and applying an AED as soon as possible then we see the benefits of that as well and obviously, that goes even further into the emergency room as well,” said Mike Janczyszyn an EHS paramedic and AED registry coordinator.
Cardiac arrests can happen in people of all ages, says Dr. Travers and so early CPR and AED treatments can be critical to saving a patient.
READ MORE: Halifax woman runs defibrillator to a patient in need, with help from registry
“We know there are more AED’s out there, that people haven’t registered,” said Travers. “If they register them, they can make a big difference for the community that they are located in and the patients that that community serves.”
Currently, the ratio shows there is one AED device for every thousand people living in the province and EHS officials would like to see that number increase. They say the new software is one step to helping save lives.