An app credited with saving countless lives could be coming to Kansas City.
Pulse Point already has one million users, spanning 2,500 cities in 33 different states. The Mid-America Regional Council hopes it will implemented across several Fire and EMS agencies throughout the metro by the end of 2017.
"I think it's revolutionary,” said Eric Winebrenner, Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) Public Safety Director.
The free app is built by volunteers and depends on Good Samaritans. Once users confirm they are CPR trained, they will get push alerts on their phone any time a 911 cardiac arrest call comes in nearby in a public area.
"There are a lot of people in the country that know CPR. This connects those people to where people who need the help are located,” said Winebrenner.
Pulse Point also maps out nearby automated external defibrillators (AEDs).
Winebrenner is a retired police officer who says even though many first responders aim to arrive with five minutes, even that amount of time can be too long.
"But that five minutes, you know, there could be somebody in the building who could be doing CPR before we arrive, which increases those rates of survivability,” he said.
MARC is coordinating the implementation of the technology after several metro Fire and EMS agencies approached them about using it in their 911 computer-aided dispatching systems. Once the logistics are sorted, along with the syncing of Pulse Point’s software, several areas of the Kansas City region could be benefiting from the life-saving app.
“Two-thirds of the time, when the crews arrive, nobody is doing CPR,” said Richard Price, the inventor of Pulse Point. "Now, you just have to have people in the area. They might be on the floor above or in the business next door. They just need to be close now."
Price is a retired fire chief from California who came up with the idea of Pulse Point six years ago. His city did a soft launch five years ago and saw immediate success.
"Our sole mission is to try to increase the efficiency around the resources that already exist,” he said. "You got this excruciatingly small window of opportunity to make a difference. And you can only have so many fire stations, so many ambulances. We really rely on our community to be CPR trained to use those defibrillators that are in public spaces."
Roughly 1,000 people a day suffer sudden cardiac arrest. For every minute that passes without a pulse, the chance of survival dips 10 percent.
Price told 41 Action News that Pulse Point activates about 50 alerts around the country daily. Since its inception, the app has had more than 22,000 activations.
-----
