San Diego city and county officials on Monday unveiled a smartphone application that will alert people trained in CPR that there’s an emergency nearby.
The PulsePoint app is designed to get help to victims of sudden cardiac arrest in the critical moments before paramedics arrive. With every minute a patient has to wait for CPR, the chance of survival drops by 10 percent, officials said.
“Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in our country, and just 8 percent of those who experience it survive,” Supervisor Ron Roberts said. “We can do better. This app can help us change these grim statistics.”
People who know CPR can sign up for the app, and they’ll be alerted when a 911 call for a nearby cardiac arrest patient is made to one of the five fire communications centers in San Diego County.
The app is available on the iOS and Android platforms.
“San Diego is again on health care’s leading edge by adopting this technology,” said Mayor Kevin Faulconer. “It is going to allow us as citizens to help one another in previously unimaginable ways. But it’s up to us to get trained, download this tool and use it.”
The region will be one of the largest so far in the U.S. to adopt the system.
The app was developed by the Pleasanton-based nonprofit PulsePoint Foundation and distributed by emergency medical device company Physio-Control Inc. of Redmond, Washington.
San Diego joins more than 500 communities around the nation that have begun using the app.
– City News Service
