The App That Teaches CPR in Emergency Situations
There are apps for business, there are apps for entertainment, there are apps for the weather, and there are apps that help save lives. One app that falls into the life-saving category is PulsePoint, a nonprofit application endorsed by the Red Cross and the American Heart Association, among others. The app provides updated CPR guidelines and otherwise encourages citizens to be active during emergency situations, rather than standing and watching them unfold.
Using The Training
Nearly 60 percent of adults in the United States have undergone training to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or use an automated external defibrillator (AED). These people have acknowledged their willingness to help during times of emergency, yet only about 11 percent do. Those behind PulsePoint have used mobile technology to streamline CPR guidelines while simultaneously finding ways to appeal to this trained segment of the population.
Think of the time it takes for paramedics or an EMS team to arrive at the scene when someone’s having a heart attack. Beginning the CPR process quickly doubles if not triples the individual’s survival rate; therefore, a mobilized, trained population could provide life-saving assistance during said window.
How PulsePoint Works
So, how does PulsePoint work? Those trained in CPR or AED use register with the app and receive notifications whenever they’re near someone suffering from cardiac arrest. The app also lets these people know where the nearest public AEDs are located.
EMS workers take over the emergency situation once they arrive; however, having a trained individual provide assistance until that time could easily be the difference between life and death. The app alerts anyone nearby who has PulsePoint the moment 911 is called.
Crossover Potential
PulsePoint is currently working in small and large cities, including Fargo, North Dakota and Cleveland, Ohio. The app also offers extensive crossover potential in areas of public health, security, and education. This naturally depends on PulsePoint’s level of success; however, variations of the innovative software could provide assistance to assorted civil service functions.
Creating Citizen Superheroes
The official PulsePoint website stresses that the app is a way to create superheroes out of regular citizens with CPR training who are interested in putting their skills to excellent use. The site notes that SCA can happen any time, at any location, and the more citizens are aware of the health of their community members, the more they become helpful partners to paramedics and similar service agents.
PulsePoint is challenging those trained in CPR and AED to be proactive instead of looking the other way when they see an ambulance go by or hear those familiar sirens. The website notes this is even more imperative when an ambulance or fire truck is stuck in horrendous traffic. Rather than depriving cardiac arrest victims of the help they need, PulsePoint is encouraging the average person with CPR training to help his or her fellow citizen when it’s direst.
Will the app become the new standard in cardiac arrest cases?