City of I.F. launches app that allows you to help those in cardiac arrest
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IDAHO FALLS — Citizens in Idaho Falls can now help change the survival rate of those in cardiac arrest through a simple smartphone application.
The Idaho Falls Fire Department announced Monday the launch of the application PulsePoint. The free app can be accessed on a mobile device and was designed to support public safety agencies as they work to improve cardiac arrest survival rates.
“It’s to save time getting CPR to a patient,” Assistant Fire Chief Eric Day told EastIdahoNews.com. “It truly is important to receive CPR quickly. Getting bystanders to start CPR until we get there is critical for keeping people alive. We’ve had several events where citizens around town were saved by bystander CPR.”
PulsePoint sends out notifications of medical emergencies. If a citizen is within a half mile of a cardiac arrest, they will receive information on the location of the emergency. Day said the app gives instructions on how to perform CPR and where the nearest automated external defibrillator (AED) is in proximity to the call.
Statistics from the American Heart Association show in 2016, 12 percent of people who went into a cardiac arrest survived. In 2017, the Idaho Falls Fire Department received 159 emergency calls of people in cardiac arrest.
“We’ve been talking about the application for a couple of years, and we’ve been excited to bring it here to Idaho Falls. We’re excited to get it out to the public,” cardiologist Blake Wachter said. “As a cardiologist, my goal for this app is to ultimately save more lives.”
A $13,000 grant from the Idaho Office of Emergency Managment allowed the Idaho Falls Fire Department to purchase ten additional AEDs. This will allow chief officers and other IFFD employees to have equipment in their vehicles.
Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center donated $2,000 to the implementation of the PulsePoint app. Elected Officials from Idaho Falls, representatives from the Idaho Falls Fire Department and Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center were present during the application launch. They also gave live demonstrations on how to use the app.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE APP
