East Neuk First Responders have joined up with a potentially lifesaving high tech system.
App and web-based GoodSAM alerts locals with first aid training to nearby medical emergencies.
The system holds the potential to revolutionise care in life-threatening emergencies throughout the East Neuk.
Emergency services staff and members of the public with basic life support skills in the area are being asked to sign up as volunteers, willing to be alerted to nearby emergencies whenever a member of the public triggers the alert.
East Neuk First Responders are leading the rollout in the region and are asking members of the public to download the Alerter app and first aid trained professionals to register as a Responder.
It does not replace the ambulance service, but is intended as a complementary tool in pre-hospital care.
By harnessing the skills of the local community its impact is seen as a potential game changer — particularly for cardiac arrest survival rates in the region.
There are around 3,500 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests each year in Scotland, with a survival rate of only 8%.
The sooner effective CPR is started, the better the chance of survival and for every minute’s delay the patient’s chance of life drop by 10%.
Gillian Duncan, East Neuk First Responders co-ordinator, said: “This medical dispatching app is fantastic news for the people living, working in or visiting the East Neuk who suffer a life threatening incident.
“It has huge potential to save more lives in our community.”
GoodSAM has rapidly grown into a global community operating in more than 30 countries.
Co-founder Professor Mark Wilson said: “If a patient has a cardiac arrest or a traumatic head injury, it is the first few minutes after the incident that determine the outcome — life, death, or long-term brain injury.
“There are first aid trained people all around us but usually the first they know of a neighbour having a cardiac arrest is an ambulance appearing in their street.
“If they had known and started CPR a few minutes prior to the ambulance arriving, chances of survival can be considerably increased — GoodSAM now makes this possible.
“We are delighted that East Neuk First Responders has partnered with us and would urge other organisations and medically trained individuals around the world to do so as well.
“We hope this collaboration will soon result in improved patient outcomes in the region.”
