Watch: Resuscitation Council launches practical Lifesaver VR app

The Resuscitation Council has turned to virtual reality to produce a “unique” practical video that teaches people what to do when someone has a cardiac arrest.

Lifesaver VR is a free app designed to teach effective CPR skills and provide people with the confidence to use them in an emergency situation. The charity said the film-in-a-game app is suitable for everyone to use but it has targeted younger people by creating a teen-based scenario in the video.

The viewer is placed in a life-or-death situation through the eyes of Chloe, whose friend Harry has collapsed. To play the game, users interactively control her reactions through the VR headset. The game begins in VR cinema format and then enters full 360-degree video as the user performs CPR by pushing down on a firm cushion. The VR headset senses the user’s movements and gives feedback on performance. It’s up to the user to make sure Harry survives his cardiac arrest.

This new scenario has also been added to the original Lifesaver app, which now has four different linear scenarios. The original Lifesaver has seen more than 700,000 people trained in CPR since its launch in 2013.

Dr Andy Lockey, honorary secretary of the Resuscitation Council (UK), said: “Lifesaver continues to be a revolution in terms of easy-access, free, ‘app’-based education for these essential life-saving skills. Lifesaver VR takes this to the next level and utilises cutting-edge technology to deliver an even more realistic experience.”

The Lifesaver VR app is available through iTunes and Google Play for iPhone and Android phones and from visiting http://lifesavervr.org.uk. Lifesaver, the non-virtual reality option, is also available for download through iTunes and Google Play, and can be played in a web browser by visiting http://lifesaver.org.uk.

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Digital round-up: CBM launches app to help disabled people access life-saving disaster relief

Overseas disability charity CBM will launch the full version of its Humanitarian Hands-on Tool on Saturday to coincide with World Humanitarian Day.

The app, which is designed to provide help for people with disabilities seek life-saving relief services during emergencies, was unveiled in prototype version last year, since when CBM has consulted with humanitarian and disabled people’s organisations and incorporated their feedback.

HHOT aims to provide practical, step-by-step guidance that emergency workers can access freely and easily to ensure that the help they provide, such as emergency shelters or food and water points are accessible to people with disabilities or other marginalised groups.

Zoe Hopkins, senior programme officer at humanitarian aid agency Mercy Corps, who took part in the consultation sessions, said it was important to adapt common emergency responses to be more disability inclusive.

“Interactive use of the HHOT tool revealed many practical ways of adapting all sectors of emergencies, from quick wins such as appropriate signage in a camp, to more participatory approaches of ensuring disabled people’s organisations are present at Cluster meetings,” she said.

Breast Cancer Care has created a video to celebrate 25 years of the pink ribbon, the global symbol for breast cancer.

The Pink Ribbon 25 anniversary film, which also features the charity’s new limited edition pink velvet ribbon, has been launched across Breast Cancer Care’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels. It features 25 people who have been affected by breast cancer in some way whether that is through facing their own cancer diagnosis or supporting someone else.

Samia al Qadhi, chief executive of Breast Cancer Care, said: “Since the first pink ribbon was created we’ve helped millions of women, men, their friends and families live with, through and beyond breast cancer. This year, as we celebrate and mark its 25th anniversary, it remains as compelling as ever – a powerful symbol of hope, strength and unity.”

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Charity’s app allows people to report cetacean sightings

Whale Track from the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust was helped by a grant of more than £79,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund

The conservation charity the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust has developed an app to allow people and boat operators to report sightings of whales, dolphins and porpoises off the Scottish coast.

The Whale Track app was made possible by a grant of more than £79,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and is available to download to Apple and Android phones and tablets for free.

The app is designed to work in areas with little or no network coverage, so that boat operators, fishermen and other seafarers can share their sightings, and coastal communities and visitors can report their sightings from land.

Of the 92 whale, dolphin and porpoise species in the world, 24 have been spotted off the coast of western Scotland. The app includes a guide to help people identify the marine life they see.

All the scientific data collected by the app feeds into a web portal, allowing anyone to see what sightings have been reported and where.

Registered users will also be able to upload photographs.

Dr. Lauren Hartny-Mills, the charity’s science officer, said: “Whale Track is an exciting innovation that will help to gather crucial data that will improve our understanding of local species of cetaceans – especially coastal species such as bottlenose dolphins and rarer ones including killer whales and humpback whales – and  inform policies to safeguard them.

“By using the technology most of us carry around in our pockets, Whale Track makes recording and submitting sightings of marine mega-fauna more convenient and accessible to everyone. This is important in an area that is difficult to monitor because of the nature of the remote coastline.”

Whale Track has been developed by the mobile app company Natural Apptitude.

Lucy Casot, head of HLF Scotland, said: “Our natural heritage is a most precious resource and, thanks to National Lottery players, Heritage Lottery Fund grants have helped to protect an amazing range of landscapes, habitats and species of plants and animals.

“HLF is delighted to support the Whale Track app, which will stimulate people’s interest in the marine wildlife along Scotland’s west coast and help them conserve it for future generations.”

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