Jun 22, 2017App Saves Life
Administrators in Arkansas have a new tool to help with emergency situations. Schools throughout the state are using the Rave Panic Button app, which calls 911 and sends a notice to individuals who are on site, such as an athletic trainer who is inside the school building.
“Sometimes calls to schools can be very confusing because a lot of people listen, a lot of people call in, it causes confusion and this system cuts through all that,” Chief Kirk Lane, who is with the Benton Police Department (Benton, Ark.), told THV-11.
The app had a notable use earlier in the year when a student-athlete collapsed on the baseball field. It didn’t take long for first responders to step in.
“I got a call from one of the assistant coaches saying we had a student athlete that was down on the ground,” T.J. White, an athletic trainer with the Benton School District, told THV-11. “I told him to check his pulse and I was on my way.”
Coaches were giving the student-athlete CPR before the emergency responders arrived. The coaches’ quick reaction and the dispatchers’ response were commended recently—marked with the student-athlete’s return to the diamond.
“[The app] shouldn’t have to take away from the heroes of that day that actually saved that child, but it should add to it,” Lane told THV-11. “And it should add to the protection of this school district.”
