Meet Bob Otter | Retired Firefighter and Founder of citizenAID

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bob Otter and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bob, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Well my background is in public safety, I spent 26 years as a firefighter/EMT and so often saw serious injuries that ended tragically, but the saddest part was those tragic outcomes might have been avoided if someone on scene prior to our arrival had rendered effective aid. I cant tell you the number of people who met me at the door of the truck I was getting out of and said “I wanted to help but didnt know what to do”. I started citizenAID to change that.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We know that when a personal is critically injured the first 1-5 minutes post injury are vitally important to the clinical outcome that patient has. We also know that professional medical care is not going to arrive in those first couple minutes and their arrival on scene is delayed even more if the scene happens to be violent. citizenAID is an organization that creates entire communities of FIRST First Responders, by training them and equipping them to aid in the treatment of life threatening emergencies prior to EMS arrival.
All of the training is done online with 30minute or 1 hour sessions taught by ER Pysicians and Subject Matter Experts, the classes are inexpensive ($14 for 12 months access), and each class is matched 1for1 by citizenAID and teachers are provided similiar training for free. The goal of this matching program is to train 1 million teachers how to save lives in their classrooms free of charge. When a bank for example trains 1000 employees with the citizenAID program, citizenAID will provide 1000 teachers, that same training for FREE! This match is being done by companies all across the country making their communities safer places to live, work and go to school.
The equipment or “Public Treatment Kits” contain all the equipment and instructions for someone, without any prior medical training, to address life threatening bleeding. The individual kits are small and great for vehicle glove boxes, a desk drawer, an AED Cabinet etc and wall stations with multiple kits can be found in schools, restaurants, businesses, public buildings, stadiums and airports. Thousands of these kits are in homes and communities across the country and they are saving lives every day.
citizenAID also has a free cell phone app that is available in the app store which acts as a life-safety guide. This app has been downloaded over 600,000 times across the globe.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Columbus Ohio is a growing city with a ton of things to do. In the fall it is Ohio State Football of course, but the Buckeyes aren’t the only game in town. The nearby Arena District is home to the NHL’s Blue Jackets, the MLS’ Columbus Crew and the Triple A Baseball’s Columbus Clippers. The Short North neighborhood has fantastic retsuarants, bars and art galleries and German Village is a must see for anyone coming to Columbus for the first time.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I absolutely wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasnt for the men and women I worked with in the fire service. I have had the honor and benefit to work, train and respond with some of the best in our profession and all that I learned from them over the quarter century of responding to emergencies helped shape me into the person I am today both at work and at home.

Website: www.citizenaid.us

Instagram: @CITIZENAIDUSA

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/citizenaid-usa/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/citizenAIDUSA