VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The City of Virginia Beach will be launching the lifesaving app PulsePoint in the next couple weeks.
The city announced the move in a press release to News 3, where they say that a soft launch will take place on June 25, with a “Go Live” date of July 14.
Officials say the launch will be announced by City officials at an Open House to be held at EMS Headquarters & Training Center, 4160 Virginia Beach Blvd., on July 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The lifesaving app alerts people to nearby cardiac emergencies through notifications that come through the downloadable phone app with a goal of getting CPR to a cardiac arrest patient as quickly as possible.
People will get alerted about the emergency at the same time as first responders.
Both the Chesapeake Fire Department and the Newport News Fire Department have been using PulsePoint since 2017. The City of Norfolk started using the app this spring.
Pulsepoint, which hit the market around 2010 to 2011, has helped save lives in a variety of places across the nation, and is even getting funding from health groups and organizations, so that localities in cities and towns can receive the technology.
Citizen CPR Foundation announced Sonoma County EMS/Save Lives Sonoma, in California, as the inaugural winner of the 2017 PulsePoint Grant Competition at a conference in New Orleans this past December.
Chesapeake’s Fire Department saw the use of the app almost immediately when it launched it. February 2017 saw 1,200 people and more with the app. The department also said in March 2017 that 60 users had been alerted to 16 emergencies in the city.
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), each year more than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurs in the United States. The AHA estimates that effective hands-only CPR provided immediately after a cardiac emergency can double or triple a person’s chance of survival, but only 46 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims received bystander CPR in 2017. Even fewer receive a potentially lifesaving therapeutic shock from a public access AED. Hands-only CPR has been shown to be as effective as conventional CPR for cardiac arrest at home, at work or in public spaces.
Related Links:
Norfolk joins other Hampton Roads cities in using life saving app
Newport News Fire Department hopes app can be lifesaver for cardiac arrest patients
