CCSO Launches Lifesaving Smartphone App PulsePoint

The Collier County Sheriff ’s Office and its public safety partners are hoping a newsmartphone application will make it easier for people in Collier County to help save lives.

PulsePoint is a free app available to Apple and Android subscribers. It takes advantage of citizens and off-duty professionals who are trained in CPR and also willing to assist in the event of an emergency.

“This will significantly change lifesaving in Collier County by involving not only law enforcement, fire/rescue and EMS, but now citizens as well,” said Collier County SheriffKevin Rambosk. “We want to champion the community to do this.”

CCSO is the first public safety agency in Southwest Florida to implement thePulsePoint app.

The app is part of Sheriff Rambosk’s commitment to the community to reduce emergency response times and is one of several initiatives implemented in the past two years. Those initiatives include a countywide computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, digital Internet protocol-based station alerting system and computer terminals with CAD and GPS in all public safety vehicles to permit dispatch to the closest unit.

When there’s a cardiac arrest in a public area, the app is activated via the 911 system and sends an alert to nearby users who have the app on their phone and can perform CPR. It also shows the location of nearby automated external defibrillators (AEDs).

Citizen responders who render aid are legally protected under the Florida Good Samaritan Act.

“We appreciate the leadership of Sheriff Rambosk in his quest to use the latesttechnology to save lives,” said North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District Chief James Cunningham. “This app is the first step to rapidly providing CPR and an AED in situations where seconds mean the difference between life and death.”

More than 350,000 people each year experience out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest;only 12 percent survive, according to the American Heart Association.

“The time from a patient collapsing in cardiac arrest to receiving life-saving chest compressions followed by a defibrillatory shock is an absolutely critical few minutes,” saidCollier County Emergency Medical Services Director Dr. Robert Tober.

Dr. Tober cited an article published June 11, 2015 in the New England Journal of Medicinestating that bystander chest compressionsand use of an AED would double or triplethe survival from a cardiac arrest.“

PulsePoint brings us a step closer to getting chest compressions started and possibly getting an AED to the patient’s side in the shortest period of time before first responders from police, fire and EMS arrive,” he said. “And the 911 dispatcher will help citizen responders get this done until a higher level of help arrives.”

PulsePoint is not limited to emergency responders or those with official CPR certification. The app has a feature that instructs citizens how to use an AED and how to perform CPR.The app also provides users with a display of the CCSO’s active and recent incidents countywide.

Users can view incidents and instantly pinpoint the location on an interactive map. Curious about where the fire engine or ambulance that passed is headed? Is there an accident up ahead causing this traffic tie-up? Just tap the app to quickly find the incident location or plan an alternate route.

The PulsePoint app is available foriPhone and Android and can be downloaded from the iTunes Store and Google Play.

For more information about the PulsePoint App visit www.pulsepoint.org.