Pulse Point Enabling Community Superheroes

Pulse Point Enabling Community Superheroes
There’s power in our community. Bystanders are ready to help save lives from sudden cardiac arrest, but how do they know when to take action? Is it sufficient to simply rely on the stars aligning and being in the right place at the right time? While that may be convenient, it’s a rare occurrence.

The answer is PulsePoint Respond - and the City of Riverside Fire Department is excited to launch this life-saving technology, readily available to all.

Sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, at any time. PulsePoint Respond technology notifies and empowers cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) trained community members of nearby time sensitive incidents of sudden cardiac arrests in public spaces.

According to the American Heart Association, in 2018, sudden cardiac mortality in the United States was around 393,872 times, with nearly 20% of events taking place in a public setting. Immediate CPR and early defibrillation with an AED can more than double a victim’s chance of survival. For every minute that passes without CPR and defibrillation, however, the chances of survival decrease by 7-10%.

PulsePoint Respond app users who have indicated they are trained in CPR and willing to assist in case of an emergency can be notified if someone nearby is having a cardiac emergency 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 simultaneously with the conventional Fire/EMS response. The app directs potential rescuers to the exact location of the reported emergency as well as to the closest intention of providing life-saving CPR to the victim until advanced medical care arrives.

Riverside is thankful to become a PulsePoint community, like thousands of others nationwide. An immense amount of gratitude goes to the Riverside Medical Clinic Charitable Foundation, the funding source for the Riverside Fire Department’s PulsePoint subscription and implementation. The power of partnerships within our community truly makes a difference.

The chain of survival is only as strong as we make it - and by becoming familiar with CPR, downloading the free app to your device, and signing up for notifications, you too can become a community superhero.