Respondr

Respondr increases the effectiveness and extends the reach of trained people carrying Narcan / Naloxone by providing real time alerts and directions to nearby individuals witnessing an overdose.

Summary

Opioid overdoses are one of the leading causes of death in North America and are projected to only increase over the next ten years. Emergency services are struggling to keep up with this burgeoning epidemic.

Respondr starts with the premise that no one uses alone and that together members of effected communities (and no community is untouched by this epidemic) can save lives.

With Respondr people can make an expanding circle of hope, connecting first respondrs, whether they are nearby outreach workers, shelter staff, neighbors, or just passers by, to people witnessing an overdose. With this tool the existing network of people who have Narcan will be empowered to respond in real time to overdoses in their communities and save lives.

Problem

Traditional centralized first responder services like police and fire are unable to effectively match the devastating scale and scope of one of the most severe epidemics in North America in recent history.

Solution

Respondr leverages the widespread availability of mobile technology and wireless data to create real time connections between people with the resources to help and the people in need, potentially delivering help faster than would otherwise be the case.

Quote from You

With Respondr everyday people can help save a life as easily as ordering an Uber.

How to Get Started

Join the app and sign up as a first responder. Select your privacy settings (you can be either visible to everyone or only visible in an emergency) and mobility settings (respondrs can register as mobile or static). Once you’ve signed in you can toggle your availability from online to offline easily. Online responders will receive notifications on their phone whenever a nearby beacon is created.

Respondrs can choose to accept a beacon. If they do they will be given directions to the beacon and the option to chat with the person who created the Beacon. Through the chat window Respondrs can negotiate a safe pick up location

Protecting Our Users’ Privacy and Safety

We take the safety of our users seriously and have built privacy and safety into the way our app works.

No data is stored on Users who create a beacon and Responders are not given any personally identifying information about the beacon they are going to.

Responders need to negotiate a mutually accessible and safe meeting location through the chat window. Responders can easily cancel a mission, and a new beacon will be created. Forcing this kind of negotiation helps keep our responders safe.