Idaho Falls Fire Department reveals new app
The Idaho Falls Fire Department revealed an app that could save lives. PulsePoint notifies everyday citizens when a cardiac arrest is nearby so they can get CPR started until help arrives.
The goal of the app is to decrease the amount of time between when someone goes into cardiac arrest and when CPR gets started.
“By essentially crowd-sourcing CPR so it notifies people when there’s a cardiac arrest in their immediate vicinity, in this case, it’s within a half-mile of the patient, the fact that there are a cardiac arrest and the location of the closest automatic defibrillator,” says Chief Eric Day, Idaho Falls Fire Department.
And there’s no downtime or extra work involved for dispatch.
“The information is sent out simultaneously, and automatically so there’s no extra work on the part of our dispatchers and the call goes out at the same speed that we get it to the public is getting these calls in real time just like we are,” says Chief Day.
The app doesn’t reveal private information in order to follow Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPPA.
“It’s nothing to be worried about, it’s not going to know if you didn’t respond or etcetera, or who the victim may be because that is important for patient privacy and protection,” says Dr. Blake Wachter, with Idaho Heart Institute.
And it can potentially save a life.
“With the encouragement of the public to actually get involved and start CPR and use AEDs, especially with technology such as that it just makes that so much easier in order to be a first responder that we could actually work together to save lives and get people home to their loved ones,” says Dr. Wachter
The app also has instructions for how to perform CPR and use an AED. They are the second department in the state to use this app. The fire department received a $13,000 grant from Idaho Emergency Management and was able to buy 10 additional AEDs.
EIRMC’s Volunteer Auxiliary Program donated $2,000 toward the implementation of the PulsePoint app.
You can download the app for iOS HERE.
You can download the app for Android HERE.
