Emergency phone operators in Victoria, Australia, may soon have access to AI that could alert them to callers in cardiac arrest, ZDNet reports.
According to ZDNet, the Victorian government announced Feb. 2 that it would be funneling $1.36 million Australian dollars into the Artificial Intelligence in Cardiac Arrest Project—a joint effort from Monash University and Ambulance Victoria. The AI would monitor calls and, if it picks up on any key language or patterns suggestive of cardiac arrest, alert the operator to dispatch a high-priority ambulance to the scene.
“Cutting-edge AI will help paramedics get to the scene of a cardiac arrest faster, reducing the chance of brain damage and giving them a greater chance of surviving,” Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos said, per ZDNet.
Ambulance Victoria also reportedly received an additional $350,000 to develop a program that would allow people who typically call emergency lines for mental health worries to simply send a text message and be connected with a mental health nurse via video chat.
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After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.