Life-saving app “Pulsepoint” coming to Kent

 

Script

In the upcoming weeks, the city of Kent will be gain access to a life-saving technology: Pulsepoint.

Pulsepoint Respond is a phone application that connects CPR-certified users to emergency situations where their abilities are needed. Whenever someone goes into cardiac arrest and 911 is notified, Pulsepoint sends an alert to nearby Pulsepoint users. Users can then quickly arrive at the scene and sustain the victim until the professionals arrive.

The app was created by Richard Price, chief of the San Ramon Valley Fire Department in California. Price came up the idea one day when he was eating lunch and saw his team’s fire truck speed by and assist a man in the building next to where Price was having lunch. The victim died, and Price was devastated; had he known someone so close to him was suffering from a heart attack, he could have helped sustain the man before correspondents arrived.

“The idea was, everyone’s carrying these smartphones now and they’re all GPS located,” says Spokesperson for Pulsepoint Shannon Smith. “He thought, ‘what if we could alert people based on their location – they could start CPR before the paramedics arrive.”

The moments after the onset are crucial to saving someone’s life. Pulsepoint’s use of nearby civilians could cut the response time down by minutes, which could dramatically change the survival rates of heart attack victims.

“If you don’t do CPR for 5 or 6 minutes til we get there, the chances for saving are pretty dismal,” says Kent Fire Chief John Tosko. “The earlier you can do CPR, the better the chances are. Early CPR saves lives.”

The app was introduced to Kent’s city council this past April by a representative from University Hospitals and Chief Tosko. University Hospitals donated money to Kent’s fire department for the licensing agreement and software necessary to implement Pulsepoint.

The app has already been implemented in 15 other communities in Ohio, including Cleveland, Akron, Lakewood, Parma and several others.

“Anytime the city has a chance to participate in new technology – I think our residents are very interested in it,” says Kent City Council-at-Large Member Gwen Rosenberg. “And I certainly hope that it’s something that inspires more people learn how to give CPR so that they can participate too. The more people that know, the better.”

EMS Institute Director Dan Ellenberger of University Hospitals has been corresponding with Chief Tosko, and hopes to have the app live by June 1. Ellenberger says that University Hospitals has also implemented Pulsepoint in a number of other areas in Ohio. UH has implemented it throughout Cuyahoga County, and is currently working on getting it into Geauga County and Portage County.

“Pulsepoint was one of the top 10 innovations in EMS a few years back. So we looked at it, and we started deploying it in several areas.”

Pulsepoint has been sweeping the nation, and is currently available in 42 states with 1.1 million users. Soon, it will sweep Kent too.

“If it saves one life, we’re coming out ahead,” says Rosenberg. “So it’s absolutely worth it.”