The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine will ask the public to log automated external defibrillators in Philadelphia in order to create a directory of these live-saving devices, Wired reports.
"There could be a AED in the room upstairs or across the street and you'd have no way of knowing," said Eric Stone, co-director of the MyHeartMap Challenge. In Philadelphia, that is about to change -- using the power of the crowd.Participants will use a free app downloaded to their phones to take photos of any AED they spot around the city, tagging the location, color and manufacturer. Anyone can join the search, and the Penn group expects that social networks like Facebook and Twitter will both help spread word about the challenge, as well as help people hunt down devices. As an extra incentive, those who locate the most AED's will win cash prizes.But in this case, winning is far from everything. The idea is to "create the first comprehensive log of AEDs all over Philly," according to the Penn Medicine news blog. That map would then be available in an emergency -- if you called 911 they could tell you exactly where to find the nearest device, or you could look it up immediately on your cell phone.
Original source: Wired
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