Ontario, California Resident Honored with VITA™ Wireless Samaritan Award

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Wireless Foundation and CTIA-The Wireless Association® honored high school basketball coach Eric Cooper of Ontario, California with a VITA™ Wireless Samaritan Award at the 17th Annual Achievement Awards dinner on Monday, June 6. Eric received the award for using a wireless application (app) to help administer CPR and revive a high school basketball player who had collapsed on the court.  

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During a high school basketball game, Eric Cooper experienced a nightmarish situation for a coach: a player had collapsed on the court and was unresponsive. Fortunately, only a few days before the incident, he downloaded an app to help him brush up on first aid. Coach Cooper and his assistant coach used the knowledge he'd received from the app to administer CPR and revived the student.

"It was really fresh and clear in my brain," said Eric Cooper. "We are trained in CPR, but the iPhone app was a stabilizer for us."

"The benefits of wireless technology are truly infinite for a number of reasons, including the hundreds of thousands of apps that can be downloaded to our devices. Coach Cooper and his lifesaving first aid app are important reminders that mobile devices, at their core, are public safety tools. I am pleased to present a VITA Wireless Samaritan Award to Coach Cooper," said Steve Largent, president of The Wireless Foundation and president and CEO of CTIA-The Wireless Association.

The awards are presented annually to recognize Americans who used wireless technology to save lives, stop crime and help in other emergency situations. Recipients are the epitome of good Samaritans who put safety first and use wireless to help those in need. With more than 300,000 wireless phone calls made to 911 every day, the awards also reinforce the crucial role wireless technology plays in emergencies.

Thanks to his lifesaving actions, Eric was selected by a panel of law enforcement and emergency response representatives. There were nine VITA Wireless Samaritan Award recipients from across the nation.

The Wireless Foundation is a non-profit organization that was formed by member companies of CTIA-The Wireless Association® in 1991. The Foundation oversees a number of programs designed to put wireless technology to work addressing the challenges of society.

www.wirelessfoundation.org

SOURCE The Wireless Foundation