Want to save someone’s life? Well, now there’s an app for that.
Thanks to a partnership between the county and city of San Diego, as well as emergency responders — including American Medical Response — a new app is now available to San Diego County residents that will undoubtedly save lives, perhaps someone you know.
The app, known as PulsePoint, is designed to help keep alive those who suffer a cardiac emergency.
Here’s how it works:
Have you ever been to a restaurant or somewhere else and you hear a siren off in the distance, and then it gets louder and louder, closer and closer, and then you see an ambulance pull up outside?
Oftentimes, paramedics are responding to someone who’s gone into cardiac arrest.
But many times, there are people nearby — across the street or next door — who are trained in CPR, but are unaware of the emergency and unable to help.
Using the PulsePoint app, which features the latest GPS technology, 9-1-1 dipatchers will now be able to send a text message to citizens who are trained in CPR of a nearby cardiac emergency at the same time they dispatch an ambulance.
Anyone who signs up for the app and receives the notification will be able to respond quickly and begin administering the life-saving technique, keeping the victim’s heart beating until paramedics arrive.
Without question, those first few minutes after someone goes into cardiac arrest are critical: a person’s chance of survival skyrockets when CPR is administered right then and there.
In fact, CPR almost triples one’s chances of survival.
Unfortunately, only 32 percent of cardiac arrest victims receive CPR. So sadly, only 8 percent of cardiac arrest victims will survive.
This app will undoubtedly improve these numbers.
Our message is clear: get trained in CPR, sign up for the PulsePoint app, and be a hero.
AMR offers free CPR training year-round. It’s easy to learn and takes only about 15 minutes.
For more information about our training, go to amr-sandiego.com.
Once you’re trained, you can sign up for the PulsePoint app by going to pulsepoint.org.
This is just one way we as a community are working together to save lives in San Diego County.
Please get trained in CPR and sign up for the PulsePoint app today.
Michael Murphy is General Manager of American Medical Response in San Diego County.
