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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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Smartphone App Can Save Cardiac Arrest Victims! Many people own at least one smartphone. But how many of them really use all of the features. According to a survey, 62 percent of Americans own smartphones yet less than 5 percent actually use them to their fullest potential. The same survey also indicated that 81 percent of smartphone users utilized their devices only for text messages. Besides sending and receiving text messages, a smartphone user can do all kinds of things like reading emails, sending documents, taking pictures, making to-do-list, saving appointments, and even use the GPS installed in the phone to get directions to where they want to go. More importantly, a smartphone is made to install and run applications (app). PulsePoint is a smartphone app created to alert users when someone is in cardiac arrest nearby. On May 9, 2014, a victim who had collapsed outside a gym used the app to alert a bystander who later performed CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) to him and saved his life. CPR is a lifesaving technique performed to manually preserve intact brain function until further medical help is available to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person who is in cardiac arrest.
On that particular day, the rescuer was working out in the same gym. As he walked on the treadmill, he never expected the alert that showed up on his phone informing him that someone urgently needed CPR. A map popped up on his phone showing an icon of where he was, another icon to the closet AED (automated external defibrillator), and an icon indicating the location of the victim. He quickly ran down 2 flights of stairs. In the car park, he saw the victim was sitting in his car, unconscious, not breathing, and no pulse. The rescuer pulled him out of the car and started performing CPR until emergency crews who arrived within minutes and took over. Every year in the United States, there are about 360,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, or about 1,000 a day. The survival rate is less than 8 percent and brain death begins in just 4 to 6 minutes. Even the best emergency medical services in the country might not be able to save a victim in time. Bystanders’ CPR and early use of an AED are extremely critical to a victim’s survival. PulsePoint was created in 2009 by a former fire chief at San Ramon, California, who did not want to miss an emergency call. Today, more than 140,000 people have signed up for PulsePoint so far and more than 7,300 have responded to nearly 2,300 alerts. According to the founder, the app focused on improving bystanders’ CPR and rapid response. He recalled he was at lunch one day when he heard sirens and saw a fire truck pull right up to the shop next door. He was actually in uniform and had an AED in his car. But he was not even aware of it because he was not plugged into those kinds of calls. Using technical skill learnt from years of operating dispatch centers, he worked with engineering interns from Northern Kentucky University to develop the app. Now, it is updated and maintained by the firm Workday that provides technical services for free. Communities from Anaheim, California, to Orlando, Florida, have signed on to PulsePoint. Progress has, however, been slow probably because there are some worries about the costs of implementing the app (about $25,000 per center) and about paying for the marketing necessary to set it up. Some experts are also concerned about invading people’s medical privacy by responding while others wonder if rescuers will really get to patients first and if enough people will sign up to make it worthwhile. Nevertheless, the founder still hopes that the app is gaining favor with people who prefer the odds of getting willing bystanders to the exact location of an emergency instead of hoping someone will step in.
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