Physio-Control and PulsePoint Foundation Expand CPR and AED Awareness

Physio-Control, the leading provider of emergency medical response technologies worldwide, and the PulsePoint Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing mobile technologies to help everyday citizens save lives, have announced that over 200 US cities and communities across six states will be launching new PulsePoint programs during American Heart Month (February). 

The communities initiating the program will be promoting the PulsePoint mobile phone app and expanding their citizen responder CPR and public access AED programs to millions of new potential citizen responders.

The PulsePoint app alerts CPR-trained citizens by smartphone of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) emergencies in their proximity and provides the location of the nearest public access AEDs. Deployment of the PulsePoint app can significantly strengthen the “chain of survival” by improving bystander response to SCA victims in public settings and increasing the chance that lifesaving steps will be taken prior to the arrival of emergency medical services (EMS) professionals. Just two years after launching outside the San Ramon Valley, CA the PulsePoint app has been adopted by over 500 cities in 17 states.

“One of the most exciting things about the growth of PulsePoint is the increasing ability of CPR-trained individuals to share their lifesaving skills seamlessly across agency borders,” said Richard Price, President of the PulsePoint Foundation. "As these connected citizens travel to work, shop in a neighboring town, or travel to another State on vacation, they remain in reach within any PulsePoint-protected community."

“The multiple PulsePoint app launches taking place during American Heart Month show the power of community momentum around sudden cardiac awareness and the importance of using CPR and AEDs to impact survival rates,” said Physio-Control CEO and president, Brian Webster. “It’s exciting to partner with PulsePoint and communities across the country to expand the reach of lifesaving technologies to the citizen responders.”

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for an estimated 424,000 deaths each year, more than 1,000 deaths per day. The American Heart Association estimates that effective bystander CPR, provided immediately after cardiac arrest, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. However, less than half of cardiac arrest victims receive bystander CPR and even fewer receive a potentially lifesaving therapeutic shock from a public access AED. Improving bystander CPR rates and access to AEDs is critical to survival. 

“The American Heart Association is dedicated to strengthening the processes that can improve the chance of surviving sudden cardiac arrest to help save more lives,” said Robert W. Neumar, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the University of Michigan Medical School’s Department of Emergency Medicine. “We are always thrilled to see innovative ways for communities to improve their Chain of Survival. In communities where awareness is high and the Chain of Survival is strong, the usual survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest can be doubled or tripled,” said Neumar, who serves as Chair of the American Heart Association’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee.

Source: Physio Control 

17 February 2014