Article

CPR kiosks save lives

Kiosks have delivered many self-service solutions throughout the years. Now one kiosk is providing a self-service solution that has already saved lives: CPR training.

March 23, 2016 by Bradley Cooper — Editor, ATM Marketplace & Food Truck Operator

When the average person thinks about kiosks, they likely imagine something that dispenses keys, movies or snacks. They might also think about information or check-in kiosks. However, one kiosk isn't dispensing products or giving product information; it's teaching users how to save lives. Specifically, it teaches users CPR, which helped one University of Dayton student save a fellow student's life.

The kiosk was designed through a partnership between Interactive Dynamics and the American Heart Association in 2011, according to Jody Chaffin, president of Interactive Dynamics. "The first idea was a CPR cart that could be used in a hospital setting to teach CPR. The project evolved into the CPR kiosk. The first kiosk prototype was installed in the Dallas airport (DFW) in June 2013," Chaffin said. "They used that prototype to prove the concept and obtain a grant and corporate partnerships to fund the current rollout."

In fact, one student named Matt Lickenbrock saved the life of fellow student Sean Ferguson after learning how to do CPR at the kiosk. "I remember kneeling in the rain, doing compressions, wondering if this would make a difference," Lickenbrock said on the television program "The Doctors." "I felt comfortable. It felt just like it did on the kiosk. I knew what I was doing because it was what I was trained to do."

The CPR kiosk trains users by showing them a video on the proper form to administer compressions. The video is displayed on a screen directly above the kiosk, and a separate touchscreen helps get the user started on training. After watching the video, the kiosk takes the user through a teaching round, where they actually practice compressions on the mannequin Then the user goes through practice rounds where the kiosk will give them feedback on the rate of compressions and hand placement.

The company is currently deploying kiosks at several airports around the U.S., including Chicago O'Hare International; Las Vegas' McCarran International; Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International; and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall.

The response to the kiosk has been positive, according to Chaffin. "About 17,000 people have used the CPR kiosk in DFW since June 2013. We host an administrative backend that tracks the usage statistics," Chaffin said.

"This has been a fun and interesting project all along, but when we recently learned from 'The Doctors' TV show that the kiosk helped save a life, it has really had an impact on our entire team," Chaffin said. "Getting to be involved in something that has that kind of impact makes us all feel great. It’s not every day that a kiosk and software company can say that one of its products had a direct impact on saving a life. We hope that it helps many more people as people use it to learn hands-only CPR."

Watch the segment on Lickenbrock and Ferguson's story on "The Doctors" below:

About Bradley Cooper

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Bradley Cooper is the editor of ATM Marketplace and Food Truck Operator. He was previously the editor of Digital Signage Today. His background is in information technology, advertising, and writing.

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