Physical Health United States Project #31492

PIVAT: Prompt Intervention Volunteer Aid Tutorials

by International Medical Crisis Response Alliance

Project Report | Feb 1, 2019
Is Good Samaritanism Finished?

By Dr. Thomas G. Hedberg | Executive Director

knowing what to do when it's needed

Dear Friends,

One of the most fundamental reasons for the very existence of entities like GlobalGiving and our own International Medical Crisis Response Alliance is our need to care for others who are striving for a better life, facing a crisis, or simply less fortunate then ourselves. This desire to help is one of the fundamental traits which characterizes most of humanity.

As you know from our last report, nearly a year ago this February the Prompt Intervention Volunteer 1st Aid Tutorial (PIVAT) program got off to a highly encouraging start with our multinational meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. During three days of productive sessions we worked with out partner organization, the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centeer (ADPC) and representatives from 11 nations to assess the need for and applicability of the program worldwide.

With this smartphone-based system in place, anyone passing the scene of an emergency can instantly use the PIVAT app to intervene effectively in an acute medical crisis (e.g. heart attack, stroke, drowning, fracture poisoning etc.). The proficiency and depth of the system increases with each new module recorded and made available. The emergencies our faculty has covered run the spectrum from auto crash, to domestic accident, to electric shock to animal bite. Modules are also keyed to the special requirements of intervening when children or elderly people are at risk.

The only difficulty we have encountered thusfar is a surprising one. The international foundation grant system for some reason has not considered PIVAT worthy of attention. This has been surprising because there is virtually no reason not to support such a system, particularly when it closely matches the partnership goals directly stated by the foundations we've approached. It's a bit of a puzzler, but it hasn't discouraged us. We've been studying the grant system, refining our approaches and getting a bit smarter in the process. In order to get the PIVAT system fully operational, advertised and into appropriate utilization, a critical mass of basic funding is required. The system can become fully functional with a seed fund og $15K so that is our goal, and we are comitted to it. In the meanwhile we've been forging ahead with your help and support until that "really big" grant comes in. Virtually every representative attending the launch conference reported experiences with badly injured children and adults suffering and sometimes not surviving an auto crash, domestic accident, drowning, electric shock or animal bite...simply because no one knew what to do while waiting for qualified help (which often never arrived). PIVAT can make this situation a thing of the past worldwide.

We know good samaritanism is not finished and we cannot think of a better comprehensive cause to raise funds for, so any help you can offer will be greatly and humbly appreciated. Our faculty is recruited and ready. We and are partners are ready. We simply need to "grease the skids".

The ADPC team at our organzational meeting

The PIVAT app in use

One of our faculty recording a module in English

PIVAT Easily installed and read on any smartphone

The ADPC and IMCRA team

Links:

Permalink

Sep 7, 2018
Bad Earthquake in Sapporo Japan

By Dr. Thomas G. Hedberg | Executive Director IMCRA

Aug 17, 2018
All PIVAT Needs Now is Seed Funding!

By Lian Yang | Senior Grants and Outreach Manager - IMCRA

PIVAT presentation at United Nations

Dear Friends,

This past February the Prompt Intervention Volunteer 1st Aid Tutorial (PIVAT) program got off to a great start with our multinational meeting in Bangkok, held to asess the need and applicability of the program worldwide.

As you may have seen in our last report, the positive response to the program was absolutely OVERWHELMING. Virtually every representative, (USA, Vietnam, Laos, China, Japan, Dominican Republic, Thailand, Philippines and Myanmar), reported experiences with badly injured children and adults suffering and sometimes not surviving an auto crash, domestic accident, drowning, electric shock or animal bite...simply because no one knew what to do while waiting for qualified help (which often never arrived)..

Since that time, working gratis, our tech staff has designed and tested the smartphone app voted into existence in February (with its superb navigation tree). Our faculty have actively begun recording the modules needed for the system. Now, anyone passing the scene of an emergency can instantly use the PIVAT app to intervene effectively in a heart attack, stroke, compound fracture or poisoning...and the list goes on. The proficiency of the system increases each week...most recently including special approaches to emergencies involving elderly people.

Despite all of the above and a recent presentation made at the United Nations (see below) the only thing holding us back at this point is seed funding for the system! We need about $18K to pay for simple basics like the resident online PIVAT site, further development of the application, honoraria for faculty, system rollout and travel. Unfortunately, to date, the dozen or so granting agencies we've sent initial Letters of Inquiry to have responded with nothing more than computer-generated form-letter denials. Worse, these are entities whose Request For Proposals are most often an exact match with PIVAT!

While we understand the corporate need for robotized grant administration we also trust that bringing the situation to the direct attention of our Global Giving friends will help alleviate some of the initial stage shortfall and help us keep moving while we more agressively search out functional partnerships.

Thanks for your understanding and response. We are pretty tired of robots at this point and want to get the system fully up and operational!

Sincerely,

The PIVAT Team

PIVAT Working Group Takes a Well-Deserved Break

How the App Looks on a Smartphone

Navigation Point 1

Downstream Navigation Point

Knowing What Do Do Is Critical

Links:

Permalink

‹ 1 2 3 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.