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'HFHPEHU 6HUYLQJ 'DQYLOOH Saving Lives: SRVFPD Has the App for That Guitars By Jody Morgan Not Guns Originally offered in April 2010 as “FireDepartment,” the PulsePoint mobile application has come a long way since the concept was first sketched on deli napkins. Developed by the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District (SRVFPD) in partnership with the College of Informatics at Northern Kentucky University, the app is free, fast, and user friendly. Simultaneously with the dispatch of an emergency response team by the local 911 Emergency Response Center, the app alerts Smartphone users who have downloaded it (some 45,000 to date). Users can select the types of events that concern them from a menu including everything from wildfires to medical emergencies. “The app really started out of pure frustration,” relates Lucas Hirst. “This was emphasized during my paramedic training as I saw a lack of bystander CPR when a room full of people were simply a few feet away. Of course we never imagined the app would grow the way it has.” Hirst was one of the SRVFPD Information Technology PulsePoint app alerts are sent simultaneously with the dispatch of specialists lunching emergency responders. Photo courtesy of SRVFPD. with Fire Chief Richard Price in 2009 when the incident igniting that frustration occurred. They heard sirens. The wailing grew louder, closer. A fire truck pulled into the parking lot beside the deli. A cardiac emergency was happening next door. With a paramedic at his table and a defibrillator in his car, Price realized that he and his companions could have provided critical timely aid, if only they had been contacted. Fortunately, the victim survived. Price and his team reacted to the near tragedy by brainstorming about how to use cell phone technology to alert trained individuals in the vicinity to the need for help. What began as a plan to alert department personnel, burgeoned into a method for calling the community. “It’s the 2011 version of: ‘Is there a doctor in the house?’” remarks Kimberly French, District Public Information Officer. The application uses the GPS locators in the Smartphones of individuals who have indicated their certification in CPR, and willingness to perform it. The app sends a distinctive tone to potential responders within walking distance of a medical emergency occurring in a public place. The app also highlights the location of the nearest Automated External Defibrillator (AED). In the case of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) the immediate intervention of qualified bystanders can achieve the lifesaving results. An estimated 325,000 individuals succumb to SCA in the United States each year - almost 1,000 people a day. The survival rate for victims nationally is lower than eight percent. Brain death occurs in four to six minutes, but even the best emergency medical services have response times exceeding seven minutes. Rallying responders
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By Fran Miller Jimi Hendrix or John Mayer they likely will never be, but the children and teens who participate in weekly guitar lessons through the Guitars Not Guns program don’t seem to care. Most simply are pleased to have some positive adult attention – something to which most are not accustomed. Guitars Not Guns (GNG) California Vice President and lead guitar instructor Randall Davis recalls a particular lesson session in Martinez, attended by three sisters, who all had different fathers, each in prison. Due to their mother’s drug issues, the girls lived with their grandmother. “About halfway into their eight-week course, the girls did not appear for class although they were always eager to attend and had each made great progress,” says Davis. “We inquired and learned that the County's Child Welfare Service Agency had made a surprise visit to the home and found the grandmother smoking crack cocaine. Thus, the three girls were separated for the first time and sent to three different foster homes. Their guitars remained in their grandmother's home. “The girls so wanted to play guitar and see each other, that they insisted the Agency retrieve their guitars and that their foster home guardians bring them to class. Thereafter, they came to virtually every session we held in Martinez, to learn guitar and to see each other. Their new guardians told us it was the GNG courses that were a stabilizing force in their fractured lives.” The goal of GNG is to help prevent violence in schools and on the streets by providing foster kids and at-risk youth with focus and self-actualization – by means of weekly guitar instruction. Using music as a catalyst, GNG encourages children and teens ages 8 – 18 to use their creativity to foster personal development and to help divert them from self-destructive influences such as drugs, alcohol, and gang-related activities. In addition to learning how to master chord changes, children learn perseverance, discipline, and self-esteem. More importantly, the kids learn to
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HOLIDAY VIGIL REMEMBERING THOSE WE LOVE December 11 7 p.m.
Volume III - Number 2 3000F Danville Blvd. #117, Alamo, CA 94507 (925) 405-6397 Fax (925) 406-0547 Alisa Corstorphine ~ Publisher
Danville Library Front Lawn #ANDLE ,IGHTING 2EADINGS 2EMEmbrance, Words of Hope During the holidays while many people are enjoying their traditions and joyfully experiencing all that the season has to offer, many others are emotionally mindful of the loved ones they have lost whom they miss dearly during this time. The Chaplains of the San Ramon Valley Fire District wish to extend an invitation to the whole community to come and remember those we have lost and still love while we also encourage one another as a community. The death of a child, spouse or anyone dear…whether recently or not….makes this time of year particularly difficult, if not bittersweet. Come remember, honor and support one another in this brief ceremony. Invite others. Reach out to those you know who are struggling. Come. Sponsored by San Ramon Valley Fire District Chaplains
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