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Automated First-Aid System Wins Smart Cities Connect Award
The idea behind building smart cities is that people can do more with the help of technology. A tech company called Inovytec recently came out with their SALI device, which won the Smart Cities Connect Award.
Innovations like this will drive the future of smart cities, by allowing regular people to take on extraordinary tasks. In the case of SALI, it becomes possible for a simple bystander to become an emergency responder, without the need to wait for an ambulance or EMT. This has the possibility of saving many lives.
What Is SALI?
SALI is described as a full critical aid system, and it is essentially a first aid solution that anyone can use, tucked into a little box that is quite portable. The idea behind the box is that it can be placed throughout the city and immediately allows anyone to become a first responder simply by using the SALI system.
In an emergency situation, anyone can grab the SALI box, which is always connected to an emergency dispatch. The dispatcher can connect with paramedics and dispatch them to the scene, while working with the bystander to help the person or people involved in the emergency.
SALI contains guides to help anyone work through checking airways and pulse and includes guidance for CPR and defibrillation, all based on the capabilities of the first aid system. It even includes sensors so that a bystander can check heart rate, breathing rate, and oxygen saturation, as well as ECG. This information is then used to instruct the first responder on lifesaving techniques.
Ambulances take time to arrive at the scene, and this time is what is needed in order to ensure people receive oxygen and help to stay alive. With SALI’s help, an injured or sick person can be tended to immediately and kept alive until paramedics arrive to stabilize them.
In an emergency situation, anyone can simply take the SALI from its docked position and have it ready to convey vital signs within minutes. The dispatcher immediately evaluates the situation, talks to the caregiver through SALI , and dispatches an ambulance. The hospital is also notified so that paramedics can immediately move the person.
While smartphones made it easier to call for help and get an ambulance dispatched immediately for emergencies, the SALI moves beyond simple communication and includes a range of sensors to help with diagnostics. The paramedics will be better able to help the person when they know the exact specifics of the situation.
The built-in defibrillator also makes keeping the victim’s heart going a possibility and offers extra aid in cases of heart attacks. There is also an integrated headrest and a video screen with instructional guides for each method of aid, including noninvasive airway management and oxygen therapy. Throughout the entire process, the dispatcher is available to talk the caregiver through everything. All the information is uploaded to the cloud by SALI to be looked over later on.
Faster help can mean a better patient outcome. SALI reduces the time between the accident and the first medical treatment by more than six minutes, which can be a lifetime (and a lifesaver) if someone is not breathing.
How Smart Cities Award Winners Move Smart Cities Forward
The world is constantly changing, and technology is improving every day. With the opportunity to create more connected cities, it’s possible to improve life expectancy and boost patient care, even when someone is not in the hospital.
Products like SALI make it possible to create safe zones where an emergency situation is much less likely to result in death. They also encourage other members of the community to look after their own and take steps to help others. While technology is involved, it’s the person who must do everything, and that means creating a more responsive community in this type of city.
The entire reason for smart cities is to improve the urban quality of life. Digital technology and AI make it possible to improve decision-making, and a large part of this is due to real-time data and data processing. It also involves faster and more economical solutions within the city, both in areas of health, like SALI, and in other areas that improve the overall quality of life.
Data points can be collected quite easily from systems like SALI, but there are sensors, meters, and many other ways of determining the real-time effect that every change has to do with the city. What is the impact? While a first aid emergency service is useful by itself, even more lives and money will be saved if the reason for the incident is addressed first.
What caused the problem? Was it a traffic accident? A prior health concern? Could it be prevented? There are so many factors involved in a city and every incident that occurs within it that humans may not be able to understand. However, an AI system with computer learning will be better suited to sorting out the reasons behind the situations people find themselves in.
It’s estimated that creating applications like SALI could reduce fatalities in incidents such as fires, traffic accidents, and homicide by up to 10%. It’s also expected that assault and robbery, etc., could be reduced by up to 40%, which would boost the level of security felt by citizens.
This also includes information collected through systems like SALI, which can be analyzed to determine how to make the emergency services more efficient and to prevent more incidents like this in the future.
SALI may have won the Smart Cities Connect Award, but it will take many such inventions to move the concept of smart cities forward. In the future, we should see more tech that is devoted to making use of our most valuable resource—other people.