App designed to help save lives gaining widespread use in the Bay Area
TAMPA - In an emergency, first responders might not be close, but a civilian who can help may be nearby. The PulsePoint app connects not only first responders, but anyone in the community, to emergency alerts in their area.
Several agencies around Tampa Bay use the PulsePoint app. A spokeswoman for the PulsePoint Foundation says the app is geared towards the entire community.
"Those notifications are in real time, so you can kind of see these things as they unfold," Sarasota County Lifeguard Division Chief Rick Hinkson said.
Sarasota and Manatee counties use the PulsePoint app.
"It takes, on average, nine minutes for an ambulance to respond and get to your incident," Manatee County Deputy Director of Public Safety James Crutchfield said.
Anyone can sign up for the app and get alerts when there are emergencies in their area like a cardiac arrest requiring CPR or an AED.
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"We get pings that say water rescue," Hinkson said. "All the lifeguards generally tie to that, but it’s EMS calls, any sort of hazmat calls."
On Saturday in Sarasota, an off-duty lifeguard received an alert through PulsePoint about a water rescue. He was nearby and was able to save nine people, including a family of seven, from a rip current.
"We’ve had a first responder who was shopping at Sam’s and their PulsePoint went off, and they were able to respond inside the grocery store," Crutchfield said. "They were off duty."
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Manatee County public safety officials a bystander might be minutes or even seconds away from an emergency, and have the training or tools to help while they wait for first responders to arrive.
"It directs that individual to the individual who needs help and assistance, and provides onscreen, audible instructions," Crutchfield said.
He says a business or residential community that has an AED on site can also sign up through the app, in case there’s an emergency in that area.
The app allows more people to have a finger on the pulse of their community.
"It can kind of help bring that community of lifesavers when life is one the line," Hinkson said.
Crutchfield says he hopes to see the app continue to grow.
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"In the future, I’m hoping to get the app to have access to individuals who need access to Narcan," Crutchfield said.
PulsePoint says the app is used in 5,100 communities in North America. IT says 170,830 AEDs are currently registered.
Anyone can sign up for the app for free. The app doesn’t require people to submit training certification for their skills in order to sign up.
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