Idaho Falls, ID: The Idaho Falls Fire Department is pleased to announce the launch of PulsePoint, a Smartphone app designed to support public safety agencies working to improve cardiac arrest survival rates.
Application users who have indicated they are trained in CPR and willing to assist in an emergency can now be notified if someone nearby is having a cardiac emergency and may require CPR. The free PulsePoint app is available to Apple IOS and Android users.
Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper states, “Over the past few years, the Idaho Falls Fire Department has made impressive strides toward improving service to our community by reducing response times, improving insurance ratings and ramping up department-wide training. This new app is yet another example of the department’s commitment to providing professional life-saving services to our community. It is just one of the many apps we have and will continue to make available to city residents to improve all-around service delivery.”
If the cardiac emergency is in a public place, the location-aware application will alert trained citizens who are nearby of the need for bystander CPR. This is done simultaneously with the dispatch of IFFD crews. The application also directs citizen rescuers to the exact location of the closest publicly accessible Automated External Defibrillator (AED), after the 9-1-1 system has been activated.
For professional responders, nurses and physicians who are off-duty and may be away from typical emergency communications, PulsePoint not only notifies them of cardiac arrests occurring near them, but it also improves the flow of critical information needed during an emergency.
“We believe PulsePoint will be a powerful tool in our efforts to increase survival rates in our community,” states Idaho Falls Fire Department EMS Division Chief, Eric Day. “We would like to thank the volunteers with Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center Volunteer Auxiliary for donating $2K toward bringing this lifesaving technology to Idaho Falls,” adds Chief Day.
IFFD responded to 11,000 total calls in 2017. Of those calls, 159 were cardiac arrests. According to the American Heart Association, cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death. Each year, more than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States. When a person has a cardiac arrest, survival depends on immediately getting CPR from someone nearby. Almost 90 percent of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests die. CPR, especially if performed in the first few minutes of a cardiac arrest, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival.
For additional information and instructions on how to download the app, as well as how-to-videos, FAQs, recent news stories and more, see the Idaho Falls Fire Department website.
Media note: For additional information, please contact IFFD Public Information Officer, Kerry Hammon at (208) 612-8122 or khammon@idahofallsidaho.gov.
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