Rajesh Trivedi

Rajesh is well on his way to make his vision of ‘train one in every family’ as the accepted social norm in India. From creating a coalition of leading corporates to police associations across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and expanding volunteer programs across universities to local vendors and rickshawalas, he is changing the way people respond to medical emergencies during the critical first hour.

In 2006, Rajesh came face-to-face with an alarming number of medical emergencies that occurred on Chennai's streets during his daily commute to work. He realized that while there were emergency response plans in place, they were not suited to the Indian context. India’s narrow and congested roads led to accidents where there was at least a thirty to forty-five minutes lapse between the time of a crash and the arrival of the patient at the hospital. Rajesh began to dig deeper and found various stakeholders in the ecosystem working on policy change and building infrastructure in terms of ambulances and the Good Samaritan Law. Yet, there was no one actively working to develop innovations for the last-mile delivery of these programs.

Rajesh established ALERT with the insight that the only way to make the system of emergency response in India effective was to organize a large-scale coalition of people, including governments, students, the private sector, and local communities, to create a practice of being able to respond to medical emergencies in the golden hour (before the ambulance arrives) - to create a workforce of first responders. He began working on this by ensuring that knowledge of first response is accessible to everyone and developing programs as practical, comprehensive, hands-on, easily understood pedagogy.

To work on the information gap, Rajesh began by getting himself trained in emergency response. Then, he brought together a team of 6 doctors to develop a comprehensive curriculum that could be used to train everyone in the local communities, like youth, shopkeepers, waste pickers, drivers, and the police department among others, to become first responders on the ground. Once this curriculum was designed and approved, ALERT signed an MoU with the Indian Medical Association in 2007 to bring this training across the country. This curriculum is now endorsed by the Governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and is approved to be offered as a credit course at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. ALERT’s core initiative started with Golden Hour Care & Emergency Response management, focusing on training a layman in emergency response protocols. Over the years, Rajesh went on to design innovations like Personal Empowerment in Emergency Response (PEER), ALERT VoICE - India’s first community-driven technology-based solution bringing together first responders in case of emergencies, and ALERT SimLab for Emergency Response Management - India’s first for every individual to develop life-saving skills using high-end simulation equipment.

To tackle gaps in the legal system, Rajesh focused on working with state governments on the implementation of the existing Good Samaritan Law which provides legal protection to bystanders who come to the aid and rescue of victims of road crashes. Rajesh has worked on extending the applicability of this policy to aid emergencies other than road crashes, including cardiac arrests, strokes, and snake bites. In working towards the goal “Train one in every family in Emergency Response”, set by former Indian President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, ALERT has conducted 3500+ workshops in over 64 cities spanning over 13 states and trained over 250,000 people across varied walks of life. In addition to empowering the common person by training them in emergency response protocols, ALERT also works with various stakeholders in the emergency care ecosystem, which includes law enforcement, government and private hospitals, government entities, educational institutions and research partners to advocate policy making in this space. Finally, ALERT, led by Rajesh has been invited by the Government of India, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, and the World Health Organization as the content and technology partner on India’s expert panel for rolling out the First Aid curriculum for the nation.

India grapples with a concerning emergency situation, particularly in the realm of medical interventions. In 2007, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the National Crime Records Bureau reported staggering statistics that painted a grim picture of the country's emergency landscape. An alarming 300,000 emergencies occur in India each day, impacting approximately 9.5 percent of the population annually. Shockingly, a whopping 80 percent of these emergencies were medically related, while 18 percent were police emergencies, and the remaining 2 percent constituted fire-related crises.

To compound these challenges, the Indian Emergency Journal, in its August 2005 issue, exposed a glaring truth - 12 percent of institutions within the trauma care sector had no access to ambulances. Even more disconcerting was the fact that only half of the available ambulance services possessed the critical acute care facilities required to sustain accident victims during transportation. A mere 4 percent of the personnel staffing these services held certified formal training, underscoring a substantial gap in emergency response proficiency.

The situation in India was further exacerbated by the World Health Organization's projections, which indicated that by 2020, road accidents were poised to become a leading cause of mortality, contributing to over 175,000 deaths per year. Additionally, the rise in cardiac diseases and strokes foreshadowed a significant increase in both deaths and disabilities.

To address some of these issues, India introduced the National Good Samaritan Law, aimed at fostering a culture of compassion and aid during emergencies. However, despite its existence, the law's implementation was limited, focusing primarily on road accidents. Regrettably, medical emergencies outside the context of road accidents remained unaddressed. Even with the law in place, the general public lacked the necessary knowledge and know-how to act as good Samaritans in times of medical crises, leaving a critical gap in the emergency response framework.

Upon assessing these gaps, Rajesh realized that 98% of Indians are unaware that as an individual they can make a difference in a victim’s life, during a medical emergency. There is a lot that can be done to save lives before an ambulance arrives and the paramedics take over. Through outreach and training, Rajesh sensitizes the general public on the need to be trained and prepared for emergencies to bridge the gaps in the system.

Rajesh's journey began during his daily commute when he repeatedly witnessed accidents and recognized an alarming lack of public response. His realization prompted a transformational question: "What are we doing about it?" In 2006, Rajesh founded ALERT, setting in motion a unique strategy that has since led to the establishment of a powerful coalition dedicated to emergency response. His vision was clear: to create a community of first responders ready to make a difference within the crucial golden hour - that precious window of time before an ambulance arrives.

As the founder of ALERT, Rajesh's mission began with the pivotal goal of assembling a community of first responders, and this goal has been central to his overarching strategy. The core project, Golden Hour Care and Emergency Response Management, served as the initial step in achieving this aim. ALERT's pioneering approach has reached every corner of society, from corporate organizations and educational institutions to state police departments and various social bodies.

Recognizing that knowledge gaps often hinder emergency responses, Rajesh set out to empower individuals with the skills and confidence to take action during critical moments. Initially partnering with the Indian Medical Association to train the public in emergency care, Rajesh noticed a disconnect between how doctors taught the course and how the public perceived it. To bridge this gap, he obtained recognition from the Department of Health, Government of Tamil Nadu, to offer training in first aid and emergency care, specifically focusing on hands-only CPR and utilizing non-medical professionals to instruct the public. This pivotal shift in approach made emergency response accessible to all and was the cornerstone of building a robust community of first responders.

In the years that followed, Rajesh solidified ALERT's mission by establishing partnerships with governments, corporations, and educational institutions. His strategy evolved to encompass various initiatives, connecting the dots to reach the goal of training one member of every family in India as a first responder. Rajesh has gone on to build partnerships with corporates like Reliance Industries, Ashoka Leyland, IBM, Hyundai, Unilever, Ford India, Jasmine & Firmenich, Taj Group, Decathalon, and Think Infinity among many others. These partnerships entail working with the CSR departments to provide face-to-face and online trainings in first response for corporate employees. The training programs for corporates are offered at a cost for it to become a revenue stream that covers the programs for other audiences.

Rajesh's commitment to building a community of first responders led to the creation of ALERT's simulation lab for the common man. This groundbreaking lab utilized cutting-edge technology to provide training in basic life support, previously reserved for medical professionals. It was a paradigm shift in emergency response education and emphasized that these life-saving skills could be learned and applied by anyone.

Further expanding his vision, Rajesh developed the Personal Empowerment and Emergency Response (PEER) program to cater to the needs of laypeople. The pedagogy of the PEER programs has been designed keeping in mind the requirements of a layperson to learn emergency response. The 3 programs – PEER Basic, PEER Advance, and PEER Intense incorporate the latest recommendations from the American Heart Association and weave them into real-life scenarios in an Indian context, thereby giving the learner universal protocols for handling emergencies while relating to an Indian setting. This program has transformed the way emergency response was taught, ensuring that more and more individuals across India could be part of the growing community of first responders – with over 20,000 individuals having gone through the program since 2020.

In 2018, ALERT took its commitment to building this community to the next level by developing the ALERT VoICE (Volunteer In Case of Emergency) mobile application. It is a community-driven technology-based first response solution that is uberizing first response, connecting local first responders to emergencies around them. Driven by community participation and driven by technology, it bridges the gap between the occurrence of an emergency and the arrival of professional help whether on the road, at home, in the office, or at other public places. So far, the application has generated over 1000 trained ALERT VoICE’s. The purpose of the application is to disseminate information and make it participative so users can feed data about localized emergency wards, available clinics, along with certified first responders. Post a successful pilot, the idea is to scale ALERT VoICE through partnerships and onboard volunteers across the country. The journey of an ALERT VoICE begins with registration and screening. Participants are screened based on their motive, time availability, and past experience in handling emergencies (if any), followed by 2-days of intensive training involving theoretical inputs, hands-on training using high-end technology, and simulation. After the training, all the participants go through an external assessment by doctors from the emergency department, and post a successful assessment, the volunteers graduate through a formal ceremony and are inducted into the ALERT VoICE network. Lastly, regular town halls and exchange programs are conducted for cross-learning and rewards.

To extend the reach of his vision, Rajesh initiated ALERT Bharat, a participative cellphone radio-based communication platform piloted in five districts of Tamil Nadu. Its success has led to discussions with the National Health Mission (NHM) for a nationwide rollout, currently in its nascent stage.

Rajesh's commitment to building a community of first responders garnered support from various quarters. ALERT signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the governments of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and India, as well as leading healthcare institutions. As a core committee member, Rajesh played a pivotal role in formulating the Emergency Response framework for India, in partnership with WHO and AIIMS.

Since the beginning of Rajesh’s work, beyond the quantifiable impact of training over 250,000 individuals across varied walks of life, who have saved over 5,000 lives, Rajesh's work has sparked intangible changes, shifting mindsets and creating personal empowerment. Rajesh has seen through testimonies over the years, the lives which were saved in emergency situations have mostly been the breadwinners of their families and this has had a huge impact on the individual saving the life as well as the family as a whole. As the sole breadwinner, the individuals tend to be out and about trying to earn an income and are met with unpredictable emergencies. With a first responder present and taking action to save a life, the effect is a lasting one on both, the life saved and the responder as he understands the impact he can create. The first response additionally plays a huge role when the injured is taken to a hospital. In the case of a first responder being present, it becomes easier for the hospital to interact with the patient and understand the care required. Rajesh’s work has addressed a huge gap in the system of emergency care and brought interconnectedness in government, private, and individual services, ensuring that lifesaving services are accessible and available to the common man.

Today, ALERT operates as a trusted partner for awareness and technology, collaborating with the 108 national ambulance services. Rajesh's roadmap includes continuing NGO collaborations and corporate partnerships to expand the network of volunteer responders and establish a center of excellence.

With a goal of "Training one in each family," Rajesh's vision for ALERT extends to reaching 100 million individuals in the next five years. His plans encompass replicating the model in other states and transitioning the content into an online program, all while advocating with governments to make first aid courses mandatory in educational institutions. His ongoing collaboration with educational institutions like IIT Madras, Anna University, and various schools underscores his determination to make India a safer place by building a formidable community of first responders.

Rajesh Trivedi, born in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, and raised in Chennai, demonstrated exceptional academic prowess and a deep affinity for music from a young age. He learned to play several instruments, including the tabla, violin, and trumpet and even mastered the Hindi language early on. Raised by parents who were followers of Sathya Sai Baba, Rajesh's upbringing instilled a sense of compassion and concern for societal issues.

Choosing to attend the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL) marked a pivotal decision in Rajesh's life. Over seven years, the institute cultivated his appreciation for diversity and multicultural perspectives. It also exposed him to social projects, sparking his passion for community service and holistic philanthropy. During this time, he led the institute's marching brass band, further nurturing his musical talents.

Equipped with a commerce degree and an MBA, Rajesh ventured into the corporate world, joining Xansa in Chennai. He was drawn to make a difference beyond the confines of his profession. His journey took a significant turn when he noticed a dearth of a CSR department at Xansa. In response, he initiated a transformative project at Kilpauk Medical Hospital's burns ward, launching Xansa's CSR program.

Alongside his co-founder, Kala, Rajesh undertook weekly visits to the burns ward, introducing substantial changes. The project received support from Xansa's Managing Director, leading to an initial funding of INR 500,000. Rajesh's efforts improved patient care, introducing specialized clothing, enhanced infrastructure, and music therapy.

In 2006, Rajesh co-founded ALERT, an initiative he managed alongside his corporate role until 2018. At that point, the organization had achieved credibility and significant impact, prompting Rajesh to commit full-time to ALERT's mission. His work with the Government of India and his dedication to millions of individuals have reshaped India's emergency response landscape.