A pilot program that’s designed to provide quicker emergency responses in rural areas is now online in the first of three Iowa counties. Cass County, in southwest Iowa, is the first to launch the Iowa United First Aid program.
Erik Johnson, an AmeriCorps volunteer and paramedic, is leading the high-tech initiative, where volunteers who are closer than an ambulance will be contacted through an app and dispatched, carrying a “go bag” that includes an automatic external defibrillator or AED. “Including myself, we have 13 volunteers,” Johnson says. “I have 25 AEDs to equip, I’m hoping, 20 volunteers that will be a bridge between the initial 911 call and when the EMS arrives.”
Those volunteers will cover sections of Cass County’s 565-square miles, including towns like Atlantic, Anita, Wiota, Massena, Griswold, Lewis and Marne. Ideally, they’ll be able to help stabilize patients until an ambulance arrives. Johnson explains what’s included in their go-bags. The bags contain a state-purchased AED, a “stop the bleed” kit, a first aid kit, a pocket mask, a box of gloves, and Narcan, an emergency opiod overdose treatment drug. Each volunteer will also receive a vest that identifies them as a trained responder.
The program is described as “CPR-Plus” and he says it’s sophisticated, using the latest technology. The volunteers are notified by a “Now Force” app on their cell phones. It utilizes GPS, so no matter where the individual is in Cass County, if they are within 15 minutes of a cardiac arrest or other emergency, they will be notified. The Iowa United First Aid program is also coming to Calhoun and Van Buren counties. Johnson says Cass County being selected to lead the state pilot program is “a very humbling opportunity.”
Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg says he got the idea for the program when he visited Israel last year and learned about a smart phone app that alerts medical professionals if there’s an emergency nearby. The three counties involved in the pilot program have each gotten a $50,000 state grant, which is being matched with 25-thousand dollars in local resources.
Nearly all that money is being used to buy the bags and medical equipment for each of the volunteers.
(By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic)