County Launches Lifesaving App "PulsePoint"
Tuesday, June 4, 2024, In conjuction with "National CPR and AED Awareness Week" Waukesha County announced the launch of the PulsePoint app. The mobile app is free, and designed to empower citizens to help save lives by notifying them of nearby cardiac emergencies, including overdoses.
At a news conference June 4, at the Waukesha County Communications Center, speakers detailed the benefits of PulsePoint, a free-to-download mobile app, which 1) alerts CPR-trained citizens of cardiac events in their vicinity so they may administer aid, 2) helps build a comprehensive Automated External Defibrillator (AED) registry and 3) informs the community of emergency activity in real time. The AED registry also allows users to indicate if naloxone is co-located with the AED, enabling Waukesha County to continue making naloxone widely available to assist when overdoses occur.
The initiative stemmed from alarming statistics revealing that more than two-thirds of all drug-related deaths in Waukesha County in 2021 involved fentanyl. In response, County Executive Paul Farrow declared a community health crisis in 2022, launching various efforts to address the epidemic head-on.
"In Waukesha County, we are committed to leveraging every available tool to support and protect our community,” Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow said. “The launch of PulsePoint is a significant step forward in our efforts to save lives. By empowering our residents with real-time alerts and access to life-saving resources, we are enhancing our emergency response capabilities and fostering a safer, more resilient community for everyone."
According to the Waukesha County Medical Examiner’s Office we will see at least a 20% decrease in overall overdose deaths from 2022 to 2023. 35% decrease from 2021 to 2023.
"It's encouraging to see our overdose death numbers moving in the right direction, but until that number is zero, our work is far from over,” Director of Waukesha County Department of Health and Human Services Elizabeth Aldred said. “By making life-saving resources like naloxone more accessible and engaging our community in emergency response, we are striving to save lives and build a healthier, safer Waukesha County."
PulsePoint Respond empowers everyday citizens to provide life‐saving assistance to victims of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). PulsePoint Respond app subscribers who have indicated they are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and willing to assist in case of an emergency can be notified if someone nearby is having a SCA and may require CPR. If the cardiac emergency is in a public place, the location-aware application will alert users in the vicinity of the need for CPR simultaneous with the dispatch of advanced medical care. The application also directs these potential rescuers to the exact location of the closest AED and other lifesaving resources such as naloxone.
The companion app, PulsePoint AED, lets you report and update AED locations so that emergency responders, including nearby citizens, can find an AED close to them when a cardiac emergency occurs. You can help build the community registry by using PulsePoint AED to describe the location of an AED and add a picture. This information is then staged for local authorities to verify. After that, the AED location data can be made available to dispatchers and anyone using the PulsePoint Respond app. This information will also allow Health and Human Services staff to reach out to registered AED owners and ask them to co-locate naloxone with their AED.
About the PulsePoint Foundation
PulsePoint is a public, 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation that builds applications for use by public safety agencies to increase community awareness during critical events. The PulsePoint Respond mobile app notifies trained individuals of the nearby need for CPR and the PulsePoint AED registry identifies AED (automated external defibrillator) locations for use by the public and 9-1-1 telecommunicators during emergency call taking. PulsePoint also provides specialized mobile apps for professional responders. Learn more at pulsepoint.org. The free apps are available for download on the App Store and Google Play.
About Sudden Cardiac Arrest
Although a heart attack can lead to sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), the two are not the same. SCA is when the heart malfunctions and suddenly stops beating unexpectedly, whereas a heart attack is when blood flow to the heart is blocked, but the heart continues to beat. Each year, more than 326,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur, making it the leading cause of death in the United States. Survival rates nationally for SCA are less than eight percent, but delivery of CPR can sustain life until paramedics arrive by maintaining vital blood flow to the heart and brain. However, only about a third of SCA victims receive bystander CPR. Without CPR, brain damage or death can occur in minutes. The average EMS response time is nine minutes, even in urban settings; after 10 minutes there is little chance of successful resuscitation. The American Heart Association estimates that effective bystander CPR, provided immediately after SCA, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival.
News Conference Launch
