CLEVELAND, OH--The Cleveland Clinic, the city of Cleveland and five West Side suburbs are rolling out the use of a smartphone app called PulsePoint, which alerts users in the area of an emergency when there’s a need for CPR. The app is designed to get nearby trained bystanders to the scene to start CPR during the time it takes for an ambulance to arrive.
Sudden cardiac arrest affects about 1,000 people a day across the country, can occur in outwardly healthy people, and claims nearly 90 percent of its victims, according to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation. Early CPR, defibrillation, advanced cardiac life support and mild therapeutic hypothermia can all help reduce the risk of death and lasting damage.
PulsePoint is a free app launched in 2009 after California Fire Chief Richard Price watched his own fire department’s trucks arrive to a medical emergency at a store next to the deli where he was eating lunch. A man at the store had collapsed and needed CPR, but because it was a medical emergency and Price wasn’t on duty, he’d had no idea.
Price worked with engineering students at Northern Kentucky University to develop the app, and it is now in use in 500 cities in 16 states.
The Cleveland Clinic is sponsoring the cost of the software integration in the dispatch centers in Cleveland and the West Side suburbs-- Bay Village, Westlake, Rocky River, Fairview Park and North Ridgeville .
University Hospitals did the same for 10 East Side suburbs that began using the system through the Chagrin Valley Dispatch system Jan. 1. Those suburbs are: South Russell, Chagrin Falls, Chagrin Falls Township, Bentleyville, Gates Mills, Hunting Valley, Moreland Hills, Orange, Woodmere and Highland Hills.
PulsePoint is integrated into the 9-1-1 protocols of participating cities. When there is an emergency in which a person suffers a sudden cardiac arrest in a public place, app users within a quarter-mile will receive a notification of the event and also see where the nearest automated external defibrillator (AED) is located. An AED is a portable device that checks the heart rhythm and can deliver an electric shock to restore a normal rhythm if necessary.
Users can download the app on the iPhone and Android marketplace after indicating they have CPR training and are willing to help in an emergency.
“We hope that local citizens will join us in our fight to combat the No. 1 cause of death in the United States and encourage everyone that is trained in CPR to download and use the application,” said Dr. Brad Borden, chair of the Clinic’s Emergency Services Institute in a news release.
“The seconds and minutes following a sudden cardiac arrest are critical to saving a person’s life,” said Bay Village Fire Chief Christopher Lyons in a news release. “The PulsePoint app will allow citizens to partner with their local fire departments in providing immediate assistance to those in such need…We hope that everyone with CPR training will download this app immediately.”
SOURCE: The Plain Dealer