App May Improve Odds Of Surviving Heart Attack In Everett And Snohomish County

Today Fire Departments from Everett and Snohomish County rolled out a new app that they hope will lead to more citizens getting involved in providing CPR to people suffering a heart attack. The app is called PulsePoint and can be downloaded to a smart phone from Google Play or the Apple App Store.

The primary purpose is to alert CPR trained community members to a report of someone experiencing sudden cardiac arrest within about a quarter-mile of their location.

It can also notify those using the app of the location of the nearest AED, which is a medical device that can analyze a heart’s rhythm and, then if needed, deliver an electrical shock, or defibrillation, to help the heart re-establish an effective rhythm. A registry is being crowd sourced through the app to identify AED locations throughout Everett and Snohomish County.

Say someone calls Snohomish 911 to report a person suffering a heart attack. At the same time the 911 dispatcher is alerting the fire department, the app is activated alerting nearby trained CPR registrants of the need for assistance. By getting CPR started before the fire department arrives the chances of survival increase greatly for the person suffering the heart attack.

The app only publicly alerts for those reportedly suffering a heart attack in a public place and does not contain private information on the victim. The app has been used for the past few years in King County and has undergone testing in the last couple of months here in Everett and Snohomish County prior to today’s roll out.

While it may be intimidating to some to use CPR and others have a concern over applying rescue breathing there is a hands-only method of CPR that takes only a few minutes to learn. South County Fire offers a class on the third Wednesday of every month that teaches the technique. It is free but you must register in advance.

Initial funding for PulsePoint in Everett and Snohomish County happened through a grant from the Medic One Foundation and a partnership between Snohomish County 911 and Snohomish County fire agencies. Future costs will be split among participating agencies. Click here to learn more about PulsePoint.