SaveLIFE Foundation - Misplaced Pages

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SaveLIFE Foundation (SLF) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that aims to reduce the high number of road accident deaths in India through rapid emergency care for injured victims. The foundation trains police personnel and community volunteers to provide basic but urgent care to road accident victims to enhance their chances of survival. SLF is also working to create a supportive legal framework for bystanders to help victims of accidents and other trauma. SLF is registered as a Public Charitable Trust under Sections 12A & 80G of the (Indian) Income Tax Act, 1961.

SLF was founded in February 2008 by Piyush Tewari, the 2010 Rolex Young Laureate with support from Krishen Mehta, Co-Chairman of Global Financial Integrity and Former Partner at PwC Japan.

Over the last 3 years, SLF has trained over 2500 Police responders in the states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra in Basic Trauma Care skills. It is presently training community volunteers in Basic Trauma Care skills and plans to connect and mobilize them through a dedicated call-centre. In year 2010, SLF won the Rolex Award for Enterprise for breakthrough innovation in enabling urgent care for road victims. Two US-based filmmakers, also faculty members at the Film School at University of Colorado Denver USA, are producing a feature-length documentary on SaveLIFE Foundation and Piyush Tewari’s journey in building the organization. The film, titled The Golden Hour, is slated for worldwide release in mid-2012.

In June 2011, 41 police personnel trained by SLF in Basic Trauma Care received the SaveLIFE Jeevan Rakshak award for saving lives of critically injured victims.

History

SLF was founded on 29 February 2008 following the death of Shivam Bajpai, Piyush Tewari’s 17 year old cousin, in a road accident the previous year. Piyush soon discovered that Shivam’s death was due to delayed care and that he may have been saved had he not waited by the roadside for 45 minutes for someone to rush him to hospital. Following thorough research that lasted several months, Piyush Tewari understood the gravity of this problem on a national scale and how prevalent were accident fatalities due to missing emergency care. He then invited his friend and mentor Krishen Mehta to join him in setting up the organization with a mission to enable Bystander Care – the immediate life-saving care that trained Police and community persons can provide road victims. This is urgently required as India faces the highest number of road accident deaths in the world with recorded deaths for year 2010 exceeding 160,000 mark. The WHO, in its report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention (2004) has predicted that by year 2020 India will have over 546,000 road accident deaths if they continue to grow at current rates.

Mission

To create community-driven emergency response systems across the country to fill the severe gap in India’s emergency response mechanisms.
To advocate for a supportive legal framework for bystanders to help victims of accidents and other trauma.
To create awareness programs around road safety targeted towards “high-risk” groups such as truckers, pedestrians, and two-wheeler drivers.

Milestones

In year 2010 SaveLIFE Foundation and its founder Piyush Tewari won the Rolex Award for Enterprise.
SaveLIFE Foundation has received letters of commendation from Delhi Police (2011) and National Security Guard (NSG, 2009) for its efforts to equip first responders with life-saving skills.
In year 2010 SaveLIFE Foundation was invited to join the Confederation of Indian Industry’s National Core Group on Road Safety and present it’s model to a national audience.
In year 2011, faculty from the Film School at University of Colorado Denver visited India to shoot a feature documentary on SaveLIFE Foundation. The film titled The Golden Hour is slated for release in mid-2012.
In year 2011, SaveLIFE Foundation was invited to the National Committee constituted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (India) and WHO to frame guidelines for pre-hospital trauma care.
In December 2011, The Week (Indian magazine) covered SaveLIFE Foundation in its anniversary issue.

Three pillars

The work of SaveLIFE Foundation (SLF) is centred on three principal approaches: Community-driven Emergency Response, Policy Advocacy and Awareness.

Community-driven emergency response

The most common response to dealing with medical trauma in India is to create ambulance services. It has been observed however that this approach is inadequate as it does not account for the realities of Indian road conditions. Ambulance services in India remain sparse as a result of being costly and capital intensive, and the massive traffic congestion on urban and even rural roads prevents ambulances from promptly reaching victims. SLF has therefore chosen to focus on leveraging existing resources and empowering those first able to reach and stabilize victims—bystanders and police. SLF aims to build a chain of survival by coordinating, linking, and training those already best positioned to provide lifesaving care. The low cost of the model makes it extremely replicable, not just in India but across the developing world where emergency response remains a challenge.

Policy advocacy

80% of road accident victims in India do not receive emergency care within the Golden Hour after an injury, when the chances of survival are highest. Consequently, thousands die in accidents on India’s roads every hour. In the absence of formal emergency services, police serve as first responders in most cases. Yet they lack any training in first aid/Basic Trauma Care and often aggravate injuries while transporting victims. Bystanders are reluctant to provide support to victims for fear of police harassment and very few in India have received training in CPR or other life saving measures.
SLF is therefore advocating for a policy framework that,

Explicitly protects, from any legal hassles, bystanders who help injured trauma victims, and,
Makes basic trauma care skills training mandatory for Police and school students.

Awareness

Despite the high number of road deaths in India, there’s very little awareness in the country on what drives the problem. As a result, there’s very little action from the community or the government to curtail the problem. SaveLIFE Foundation’s efforts are directed towards creating better awareness on the issue so that more informed decisions and actions can be taken. Some of the awareness activities include,

Presenting SLF’s perspective at policy forums.
Running social media campaigns.
Series of School & College Talks.
Providing expert panellists to News and TV debate programs focused on the issue.

Regulatory Information

Status

Public Charitable Trust

Registrations

Delhi Registrar (Indian Trust Act, 1882)
Section 12A, Income Tax Act, 1961
Section 80G, Income Tax Act, 1961

References

External links

SLF Official website

Category:

Emergency medical services in India