Escambia County Emergency Medical Services has joined more than 2,800 communities nationwide to launch the PulsePoint mobile app in Escambia County, a lifesaving app that alerts CPR-trained citizens when someone in a nearby public place suffers sudden cardiac arrest.
Public safety communications centers send alerts through the app at the same time they dispatch first responders to the scene, so that citizens may administer aid while responders are en route. The app also notifies users of the closest available automated external defibrillator, or AED.
According to the American Heart Association, there are more than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests annually in the U.S., about 90 percent of which end in death. Early application of bystander CPR and rapid defibrillation from an AED have proven to be crucial in improving a person’s chance of survival.
The American Heart Association estimates that effective hands-only CPR provided immediately after a cardiac emergency can
double or triple a person’s chance of survival, but only 46 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims received bystander CPR in 2016. Even fewer receive a potentially lifesaving therapeutic shock from a public access AED.
Anyone with a smartphone can download the free PulsePoint Respond app through the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Once the app is installed, select the agency serving the area where you live or work to receive alerts. Users may follow more than one agency.
If the cardiac emergency is in a public place, the location-aware PulsePoint app will alert users in the vicinity of the need for CPR simultaneous with the dispatch of advanced medical care. The application also directs these potential rescuers to the exact location of the closest AED. To watch a video about how the PulsePoint app works,
click here.
PulsePoint is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation building applications that work with local public safety agencies to improve communications with citizens and off-duty personnel, empowering them to help reduce the millions of annual deaths from sudden cardiac arrest. Learn more at
pulsepoint.org.
