ABC News: New CPR Phone App PulsePoint Uses Social Media to Save Lives.
On Wednesday, March 25, 2015 lifelong Sunnyvale resident Walter Huber was sitting down to dinner when he received an alert through PulsePoint, a 9-1-1 connected mobile app designed to alert CPR-trained citizens of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) emergencies in their vicinity. This app alert helped save a man’s life.
The PulsePoint app displayed a map showing Huber, 21, the location of the emergency, which was based on 9-1-1 call information. Using this map Huber made his way to the reported SCA patient’s location—a soccer field just steps from his home—where he found a man unconscious and surrounded by his teammates. Just minutes earlier the man had collapsed, unresponsive and without a pulse, prompting his teammates to call 9-1-1. Huber, who is CPR trained, immediately assessed the patient and began hands-only CPR. He provided chest compressions until a Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Officer arrived in a patrol car equipped with an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). The AED delivered a life-saving shock, effectively bringing Farid Rashti, 63, back to life.
No Fire Departments or EMS agencies Illinois are PulsePoint-connected
As of April 15, 2015, there are 760 fire departments or EMS agencies in the United States that are PulsePoint Connected. Not a single fire department or EMS agency in the State of Illinois is PulsePoint-connected. There are 36 PulsePoint-connected fire departments in Wisconsin. There are 139 PulsePoint fire departments in California — including Los Angeles Fire Department. There are 194 PulsePoint fire departments in Texas.
Coverage Map PulsePoint Connected — www.pulsepoint.org/pulsepoint-respond
“When someone suffers a sudden cardiac arrest, the heart stops beating without any warning so time is critical,” said Dr. Chad Rammohan, M.D., medical director of Cardiac Catheterization Lab and Chest Pain Center at El Camino Hospital and a Palo Alto Medical Foundation physician. “It’s the ‘electrical shock’ from the AED that helps to restore the person’s heartbeat and it’s the mechanical pumping from CPR that helps the SCA victim to recover some blood flow to vital organs such as the brain, heart, and the rest of the body.”
A family history of heart disease coupled with a 2004 heart attack, resulting in quadruple bypass surgery, has led Rashti, a Campbell, Calif. resident, to live a healthy lifestyle. However, while playing soccer on March 25th, he was hit by the ball on the left side of his chest. He felt a sharp pain, unlike during his earlier heart attack. He switched to goalie where he could catch his breath when, he recalls “suddenly everything started to go black and that is the last thing I remember.” Rashti had suffered a SCA. The only way for a person to survive a SCA is to immediately receive 1) CPR, 2) an electrical shock from an AED, and 3) transport to the closest hospital emergency room.
“Thankfully the PulsePoint app alerted me to someone in need, only steps away, so I could put my training to good use and, as it turns out, help save a life,” said Huber, a Mission College student. “The fact that you could potentially save a life with this app confirms how important it is for everyone to learn CPR and download PulsePoint.”
“I’m so grateful that I was in public, surrounded by people,” said Rashti from his home where he’s been recovering. “Without my friends calling 9-1-1, the PulsePoint responder starting CPR and the patrol officer shocking me back to life with an AED, I would not be alive today.”
Santa Clara County, in which the City of Sunnyvale is located, was one of the first counties in the nation to fully integrate this technology with its 9-1-1 system. The collaboration and allocated resources from the Santa Clara County fire departments, the PulsePoint Foundation, El Camino Hospital, and the tech company Workday brought this lifesaving technology to Santa Clara County citizens. The coordinated effort by Santa Clara County, Rashti’s teammates, the PulsePoint-notified citizen responder and the care provided by the emergency room at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center helped save Rashti’s life.
“Every element in this chain of survival was enhanced by quick action and cutting edge technology. All Sunnyvale public safety officers are trained as police officers, firefighters and EMTs so they arrive on scene and immediately bring life-saving support with an AED and first aid equipment,” said Steve Drewniany, Deputy Chief of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety. “It was the quick action by Farid’s friends and Walter that set the entire response in motion. You couldn’t ask for a better example of how technology like PulsePoint and AEDs can save lives, which is why we’re making full use of them here in Sunnyvale.”
The PulsePoint mobile app is designed to reduce collapse-to-CPR and collapse-to-defibrillation times by increasing citizen awareness of cardiac events beyond a traditional “witnessed” area. The app also directs users to the precise location of nearby public AEDs. The free app is available for download on iTunes and Google Play.
PulsePoint App
With a free PulsePoint AED app in many areas of the United States, citizens can receive and view alerts on calls dispatched by fire department EMS services. The app’s main feature, and where its name comes from, is that it sends fire department alerts to users at the same time that dispatchers are sending the emergency medical call to emergency crews. The PulsePoint Foundation is partnered with Physio-Control — the major manufacturer of hospital defibrillators, paramedic defibrillators and public AEDs.
This is a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to raise awareness about an innovative new location-aware mobile application (iPhone and Android) from the PulsePoint Foundation. The app empowers everyday citizens to provide life-saving assistance to victims of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). Application users who have indicated they are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can now be notified if someone nearby is having a cardiac emergency and may require CPR (NOT AVAILABLE IN ILLINOIS).
The goal of the PulsePoint app is to increase the possibility that a victim in cardiac arrest will receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) quickly and AED administration. The app uses the current location of a qualified user/subscriber and will alert the user if someone in their vicinity is in need of CPR. The app, which interfaces with a fire department’s dispatch center, sends notifications to users only if the victim is in a public place and only to users that are in the immediate vicinity of the emergency.
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) formally launched PulsePoint on Wednesday, March 4th at an event at Woodrow Wilson High School in El Sereno where 120 students became CPR trained. Fire Chief Ralph M. Terrazas was joined by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, LAUSD ESC-East Superintendent Roberto Martinez, PulsePoint Foundation President Richard Price and The Wireless Foundation Executive Director Athena Polydorou to discuss the LAFD’s rollout of the free PulsePoint app.
— PulsePoint
PulsePoint Extra Benefits
PulsePoint has numerous extra features that optimize public safety and life safety.
Public Safety Radio Streaming — Each agency can supply their own audio feed for use in the app (or can choose to use an existing public feed if available). This is not mandatory, but it is important in verifying information to confirm a proper response. For example if the Good Samaritan hears that the paramedics are having trouble locating the patient, he can direct bystanders to call 9-1-1 again. Citizens can monitor the fire frequency any time to learn how their systems work, and to be aware in real-time of any type of emergencies in their communities — including fires, crashes, smoke investigations, etc. Originating an official agency feed requires about $700 in hardware and a free account on RadioReference.com. Streaming radio feeds are optional.
Local CAD Data (a list of Fire/EMS incidents with date and time) — A key step in the implementation process is the installation of the PulsePoint Connect application in the 9-1-1 communications center and establishing a real-time connection to the local Computer-aided Dispatch (CAD) database or data warehouse.
PulsePoint AED and PulsePoint Registry (Map of AED Locations) — one of the hallmark capabilities of PulsePoint Respond is the ability to improve the frequency and speed of AED deployment by providing precise mapping of nearby devices to citizen rescuers in context with their present location. Accurate and complete public AED location information is required to realize the potential of this feature. Collecting this information is an essential component of a fire department or EMS agency’s implementation process.
An Agency Profile page within the app contains photo albums that allow users to view incident and other photos that agencies choose to share. Display of organization photos may increase community awareness around the critical work performed by public safety agencies. Such knowledge may cultivate public support and increase civic engagement and participation.
Stay informed with news from The Cardinal’s Emergencies Behind the Scenes Facebook page — Facebook.com/CardinalEmergencies. Includes links to favorite public safety and emergency rescuers and product manufacturers and safety companies that have facebook pages. Submit your pictures or just stay up-to-date on with fire, rescue, EMS and police photo galleries. Please add your public safety photo to the wall album — go direct to the Arlington Cardinal Emergencies Behind the Scenes photos. For a list of all of The Cardinal Facebook fan pages, go to Arlingtoncardinal.com/about/facebook …