Vancouver man designs life-saving app after losing friend to drug toxicity, preventing dozens of deaths

A photo shows LifeguardConnect, a life-saving app a Vancouver man designed to prevent drug overdose and toxicity deaths, on display at Vancouver's Terminal City Club on Jan. 26, 2023.

A Vancouver man has designed a life-saving app that has helped prevent at least 57 deaths since launching in May 2020.

Jeff Hardy was inspired to create LifeguardConnect while he was in a treatment program for alcohol addiction after his friend died at 27 years old from fentanyl toxicity.

“I was looking for a way that we could use something in the technology world to try and save people,” Hardy told CTV News at Vancouver’s Terminal City Club during a company event on Thursday celebrating the success of the app.

“It’s saved 57 lives and I just got a text to say we might have saved one more, so that’s awesome,” Hardy said.

The app offers a direct connection to B.C. Emergency Health Services and allows people to anonymously report information that would help first responders reach them in case of an emergency.

Once the app is opened, Hardy says users can report their name, the type of drug they’re about to ingest and modify the timer.

“It grabs your GPS location, and any other detail you want to put in there to help EHS find you…and when you hit start…if you don’t turn that timer off before it hits zero, it will send those details off,” Hardy explained.

Lifeguard recently launched a second app, LifeguardLite, which is touted as a “simple solution for those vulnerable individuals living alone in single resident accommodations and using substances.”

Lori Berezan, the mother of the man who inspired Hardy’s work, also attended Lifeguard’s celebration Thursday, and told CTV News that her son would be proud to see what his friend has done.

“I think Evan would just be doing a happy dance,” she said. “He would be like ‘Way to go!’ and high five and probably give him a hug and just be really grateful for what he’s done.”

She says the app is important because it recognizes the complexity of addiction.

“People look at people with addiction as, you know, street scum," she said. "They don’t really care, but those people have families and they have friends and to be able to save them and help them is really important and Lifeguard is doing that.”

Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes, a UBC public health professor, spoke about the importance of lowering stigma around drug use on CTV Morning Live Thursday.

One example is B.C.’s recent move to decriminalize the possession of a small amount of drugs, 2.5 grams, as part of a three-year, first-in-Canada pilot program.

“This is just one of the things we’re doing … to help people get their medication. Maybe you don’t see it as medication, but for people this is the medication they need, in a safe way,” Oviedo-Joekes said.

“Let’s work together…to make sure everyone feels safe. The community, the police enforcement and the person that is using. We don’t have all the answers but we need to work together to get there.”

The most recent data from the B.C. Coroners Service shows at least 1,827 British Columbians died of suspected illicit drug overdoses in the first 10 months of 2022.