An off-duty police officer who helped save a man suffering a cardiac arrest had a piece of smart technology to thank.
Constable Pete Sharp of Sutton was about to sleep on September 29 when he was alerted by the GoodSAM app.
“I was off duty and picked up my personal phone to turn it to silent when I heard the siren noise from the app,” said Mr Sharp.
“It told me there was someone having a cardiac arrest within 800m of my location so I got in my car and went.”
Mr Sharp arrived to find the man on the floor with a defibrillator, and continued to give CPR for around 10 minutes.
“They told me we had managed to get a good rhythm back in his heart and CPR could be stopped,” he recalled.
“The man’s family were so grateful to me for my help and he was taken to hospital.”
The GoodSAM Instant On Scene platform allows people to stream live video and share their precise location with force control rooms through a mobile device, without needing an app.
It is credited with saving several lives and hundreds of hours of officers’ time.
Mr Sharp added: “With technology like this we can potentially save lives and I feel so pleased I was able to help someone when they needed it most.”
Officers across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire (BCH) have administered CPR on 16 occasions, enabling patients to travel to hospital alive for urgent medical treatment.
Sergeant Chris Postill, from the BCH digital policing team, said: “Pete’s actions go to show how use of innovative technology in the hands of those with the right skills can protect the lives of those in the communities we serve.”
Nicholas Jones, digital service delivery manager for the East of England Ambulance Service Trust, thanked Pete for supporting them and their patients.
“The chain of survival needs effective CPR with a defibrillator to be delivered quickly,” said Mr Jones.
“GoodSAM is assisting us to get trained people to patients quickly prior to the ambulance arrival.”
For more information on how Cambridgeshire Police use GoodSAM, visit: https://bit.ly/3StqWak.
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