Community-Based Response System

• US 20110117878A1
• Filed: 11/15/2010
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zoll Medical Corporation (Asahi Kasei Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Zoll Medical Corporation (Asahi Kasei Corporation)
• Inventors: Freeman, Gary A., Totman, Mark, Barash, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,232,040 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0211 Combination with medical sensor, e.g. for measuring heart rate, temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/005 Alarm destination chosen according to a hierarchy of available destinations, e.g. if hospital does not answer send to police station
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/14 Central alarm receiver or annunciator arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/001 Signalling to an emergency team, e.g. firemen
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/003 Signalling to neighbouring houses
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72418 for supporting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for communicating information to medical responders includes registering a plurality of individuals as potential responders for medical problems, receiving at a central service an indication that a person is having a medical problem and receiving information that identifies a current location of the person, and identifying, from among the registered plurality of individuals, one or more registered individuals who are currently in close proximity to the person having a medical problem. The method also includes transmitting, to the one or more registered individuals, information that identifies the location of the person having a medical problem. The one or more individuals comprise lay responders who are not assigned responsibility to provide lifesaving services in an area around the current location of the person.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for communicating information to medical responders, the method comprising:

registering a plurality of individuals as potential responders for medical problems;

receiving at a central service an indication that a person is having a medical problem and receiving information that identifies a current location of the person;

identifying, from among the registered plurality of individuals, one or more registered individuals who are currently in close proximity to the person having a medical problem; and

transmitting, to the one or more registered individuals, information that identifies the location of the person having a medical problem,

wherein the one or more individuals comprise lay responders who are not assigned responsibility to provide lifesaving services in an area around the current location of the person.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein registering the plurality of potential responders comprises posting a sign-up software application that is internet accessible, and registering volunteers from the public using the sign-up application

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising verifying with a third-party organization that the volunteers are qualified to provide a predetermined level of medical care.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein verifying that the volunteers are qualified to provide a predetermined level of medical care comprises verifying that the volunteers are CPR-certified.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising periodically determining whether the volunteers are qualified to provide a predetermined level of medical care, and removing volunteers for consideration as responders for medical problems if they do are no longer qualified to provide the predetermined level of medical care.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting information that identifies the location of the person having a medical problem comprises identifying a device identifier corresponding to the one or more registered individuals and transmitting the information to a device that corresponds to the device identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting to the one or more registered users information that identifies locations of registered medical equipment near the person having a medical problem.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a response from a first of the one or more registered users and automatically making a voice connection between a portable telephone corresponding to the first of the one or more registered users and another of the one or more registered users or a dispatcher.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting to the one or more registered individuals an invitation to respond to the person having the medical problem, determining whether a first of the one or more registered individuals has responded affirmatively to the invitation, and transmitting information that identifies the location of the person having a medical problem to the first registered individual only if the first registered individual has responded affirmatively.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from a device assigned to one of the one or more registered individuals, data gathered from the person having the medical problem by sensors on the device, and storing the received data in association with an event identifier that corresponds to activities surrounding the medical problem.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing information received from the one or more individuals during activities surrounding the medical problem, and provided the stored information for analysis.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising adjusting a rating for at least one of the one or more registered individuals based on the stored information, wherein the rating indicates the individual'"'"'s proficiency in responding to medical calls.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising changing a procedure for dispatching responders to emergency calls by analyzing the stored data.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing to devices corresponding to the one or more registered individuals, data for automatically generating a map showing a location of the person having a medical problem and a location of the one or more registered individuals.

15. A computer-implementation system for coordinating actions by responders to an emergency event, the system comprising:

a dispatch server arranged to receive notifications of emergency events from reporting callers and to provide for dispatch of professional responders;

a notification system to identify lay responders who are in a vicinity of reported emergency events and notify the lay responders about reported emergency events in their area, wherein the lay responders are not assigned responsibility by a lifesaving organization to serve emergency events in their area; and

a inter-respondent communication system programmed to make automatic electronic voice connections between professional responders for an emergency event and lay responders who have identified themselves as available in response to a notification from the notification system.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a publicly-accessible application store that makes available an application for practicing CPR chest compressions and for registering volunteers from the public to be identified as lay responders by the notification system.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the notification system is further programmed to verify with a third-party organization that the volunteers are qualified to provide a predetermined level of medical care.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein verifying that the volunteers are qualified to provide a predetermined level of medical care comprises verifying that the volunteers are CPR-certified.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the notification system is further programmed to periodically determine whether the volunteers are qualified to provide a predetermined level of medical care, and to remove volunteers for consideration as responders for medical problems if they do are no longer qualified to provide the predetermined level of medical care.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the notification system includes a responder tracker programmed to identify a location of the person having a medical problem, identify a device identifier corresponding to the one or more registered individuals, and transmit data representing the location to a device that corresponds to the device identifier.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the notification system is further programmed to transmit to the one or more registered users information that identifies locations of registered medical equipment near the person having a medical problem.

22. The system of claim 15, further comprising a voice communication system for automatically making voice connections between communications devices that are registered in the notification system as belonging to the one or more registered lay responders.

23. The system of claim 15, wherein the notification system is further programmed to transmit to the one or more lay responders an invitation to respond to an emergency event, to determine whether a first of the one or more lay responders has responded affirmatively to the invitation, and to transmit information that identifies a location of the emergency event to the first lay responder only if the first lay responder has responded affirmatively.

24. The system of claim 15, further comprising an event database storing information received from lay responders during activities surrounding an emergency event, and organized to provide the stored information for analysis.

25. The system of claim 24, further comprising a rating module programmed to adjust ratings for lay responders based on the stored information, wherein the ratings indicate a lay responder'"'"'s proficiency in responding to emergency events.

26. The system of claim 15, further comprising a mapping server to provide to devices corresponding to lay responders data for automatically generating a map that shows a location of the emergency event and a location of one or more lay responders.