Johnson County and Community Partners Bring Lifesaving Technology to the Area

Johnson County and Community Partners Bring Lifesaving Technology to the Area

On Monday, Feb. 14, 2022, the Johnson County Ambulance Service, in partnership with the Rotary-Kerber HeartSafe Community Campaign, announced the adoption of PulsePoint in Johnson County to further the commitment to creating a healthy and civically-engaged community.

At an event at the Johnson County Ambulance and Medical Examiner Facility, Johnson County Ambulance Service Director Fiona Johnson; Johnson County Supervisor Pat Heiden; Rotary-Kerber HeartSafe Community Campaign representatives Dr. James Merchant, Dr. Dianne Atkins, and Dr. Linda Kerber, and Kathy Jensen, a local Sudden Cardiac survivor detailed the benefits of PulsePoint, a free-to-download mobile app, which alerts CPR-trained citizens of cardiac events in their vicinity so they may administer aid, helps build a comprehensive AED registry and informs the community of emergency activity in real time.

“With PulsePoint, we hope to increase bystander involvement in time-sensitive medical calls by increasing the use of CPR and AEDs, while also keeping the community informed, in real time, of all emergency activities,” said Johnson. “It gives our residents and visitors the ability to know when a cardiac arrest is occurring close by, locate AEDs in the area, and perform potentially lifesaving CPR while our personnel respond to the scene. It also shows them general information for all 9-1-1 calls to keep them better informed of what’s going on in our community.” Throughout the year, the Johnson County Ambulance Service responds to nearly 13,577 incidents, including 79 cardiac arrest events.

PulsePoint Respond empowers everyday citizens to provide life‐saving assistance to victims of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). PulsePoint Respond app subscribers who have indicated they are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and willing to assist in case of an emergency can be notified if someone nearby is having a SCA and may require CPR. If the cardiac emergency is in a public place, the location-aware application will alert users in the vicinity of the need for CPR simultaneous with the dispatch of advanced medical care. The application also directs these potential rescuers to the exact location of the closest AED.

The companion app, PulsePoint AED, lets you report and update AED locations so that emergency responders, including nearby citizens, can find an AED close to them when a cardiac emergency occurs. You can help build the community registry by using PulsePoint AED to describe the location of an AED and add a picture. This information is then staged for local authorities to verify. After that, the AED location data can be made available to dispatchers and anyone using the PulsePoint Respond app.

In April, the Rotary-HeartSafe Community Campaign will launch an AED treasure hunt in Johnson County. Anyone can compete to find the most AEDs in Johnson County from April 1 to30, 2022. More information is available at www.iowaheartsafe.org.