SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Dr. Mark Greenberg, a pediatric anesthesiologist at UC San Diego, said he’s a driven man.
“It was important that physicians today do something to help this problem,” Greenberg said.
So driven that he and his team are in the midst of a UCSD study showing their app, Rescue Me CPR, to help untrained people be able to step in and perform CPR on someone experiencing a fentanyl or opioid overdose.
“What we’re finding is that in completely untrained subjects, within 45 seconds, they were able to get the patient assessed, call 911, ask anyone to obtain Narcan or an AED and start chest compressions. And they can do a full round of 30 chest compression within 45 seconds,” Greenberg said.
Greenberg said that the next best thing to Rescue Me CPR takes over a minute longer to get all of that done.
“We’re trying not to change versions during the study. But we’ve already shaved off at least 10 or 15 seconds with some other additions that we’ve learned from this study. This study is proving invaluable into our insight to how people function during critical situations,” Greenberg said..
The goal is with all of this access and reach they can work with local, state and federal governments to get the word out about the app and on to more people’s phones.
“We don’t want donations, what I want is downloads. I want people to have this on their phone and, even if you don’t open it until the moment of truth, the app will still save lives,” Greenberg said. “Ask me next time. I’ll feel much better when I have stories that there’s a million downloads and, you know, 5,000 lives saved.”
Greenberg said the app is free and will continue to stay that way on the Google Play app store.
An iOS version of the app is being developed, according to the researchers.
