Credo CEO Choi Jong-kuk explains the importance of CPR and the benefits of its device, during an interview with Korea Biomedical Review at its headquarters in Wonju, Gangwon Province, on Monday.

Credo is a startup that garnered global attention during the CES 2020 from Jan. 7-10 for its cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) BAND, a device that notifies users if they are conducting CPR correctly and accurately.

“The company has been working hard to enter the vibrant and innovative healthcare sector, with the confidence that everyone can be a hero and can change the world,” Credo CEO Choi Jong-kuk said. “As a show of this belief, we have developed a CPR band as our first product, and we believe that the device will have great potential in helping to save lives in the event of cardiac arrest.”

Choi stressed that over the past few decades, there had been huge accomplishments in the field of diagnosis and treatment.

“However, the field of emergency response and treatment has not made much progress compared to a few decades ago,” Choi said. “Therefore, we decided to turn our attention to heart-related death first, which is one of the most primary causes of death in the world during emergency responses.”

According to Choi, heart-related deaths have been increasing due to population aging, excessive meat consumption, and lack of exercise.

“A cardiac arrest is a disease, but it can come at any time without any warning, while nobody knows who will be the next patient that suffers from the fatal disease,” Choi said. “If a cardiac arrest patient does not receive CPR within four minutes, also known as the ‘golden time,’ it can lead to the death of the patient or critically damage their brain even if they survive.”

Choi stressed that this is why CPR is an emergency treatment that everyone needs to learn.

“However, it is difficult to maintain accuracy for such a long time,” Choi said. “Without an assistance product, CPR could be inaccurate, and survival rates fall as time goes by.”

To help with such efforts, Credo’s educational CPR band can provide users with an efficient and accurate solution that people need during training, he added.

Educational CPR band (left) and CPR band for professionals.

According to Choi, the CPR band can be worn on the user’s wrist and gives information such as chest compression depth feedback, rhythm guide, and angle measurement.

“The chest compression depth guide is provided through the LED lights on both sides of the CPR band,” Choi said. “These indicators are instantly displayed when the user starts CPR and alerts them if they need to adjust the pressure depth of the CPR in real-time.”

If there is blue light coming from the band it means that the user is doing CPR correctly, however, if the device shines yellow it means that the user is pressing the CPR too softly, while if the device shines both blue and yellow it means that the user is pushing too hard, Choi added.

Regarding the chest compression rhythm guide, Choi noted that the device is equipped with a buzzer that provides the user with a beat most suited for the CPR.

“The most important feature of our device is the chest compression angle measurement,” Choi said. “The device provides the right compression axis, which is the information needed to conduct a CPR with the correct posture.”

Existing products have never provided such information, Choi added.

Other strengths of the device mentioned by Choi include the device’s compatibility as it can be used with any manikin and its efficiency as a single application can control up to six CPR bands.

With such benefits, the company has already received a lot of attention at various global conferences. It has been exporting its device to countries all over the globe, including Italy, Austria, Netherlands, U.S., Singapore, Indonesia, and, most recently, Japan.

Such interest has also led the company to develop a CPR band for professionals such as emergency responders and doctors working at hospitals.

While the function of the device is the same as that of the educational equipment, the company has added water-resistant and dustproof features so that it can be used in more extreme conditions.

Choi said that the company plans to launch the CPR band for professionals in Korea and the EU by next month.

“Even though CPR is still sometimes neglected as a critical tool in helping prevent such deaths, we believe that it is important for everyone to know about CPR and have the proper training to conduct CPR,” Choi said. “The company hopes that the band will be able to help save more people by providing high-quality training and assistance in real emergencies.”

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