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Average Citizen to First Responder? There's An App For That

Manny Velazquez

The Eugene-Springfield Fire Department has launched a smartphone app called PulsePoint. It allows average citizens to be emergency responders. 

This could happen to anyone, anywhere:

“911 Emergency.”

“I think my husband’s having a heart attack.”

“Is he breathing?”

“No”

“Alright stay on the line with me. Someone is sending help.”

This emergency re-creation by fire department personnel is meant to demonstrate how PulsePoint app users can save a life.

The first help to arrive is a citizen who was alerted of this cardiac arrest happening nearby- by the app on his smart phone. He performs hands-only CPR until paramedics arrive to take over. This could cut the average emergency response time of four minutes in half.

Credit Manny Velazquez

Officialas say every minute a patient is in cardiac arrest without treatment, survival rate decreases by 10%.

The PulsePoint app is free to download and uses GPS technology to notify subscribers within a quarter mile of a cardiac arrest event. The app also provides instruction on compression-only CPR.

Credit Manny Valazquez
Fire Chief Joseph Zaludek with Eugene Springfield Fire Department announces the launch of the PulsePoint app. It is free to download.

Tiffany joined the KLCC News team in 2007. She studied journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked in a variety of media including television, technical writing, photography and daily print news before moving to the Pacific Northwest.
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