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The PulsePoint mobile app is available for free download for all individuals trained in CPR.
A mobile app saved the life of a Seattle man after he went into cardiac arrest in front of the Washington Medical Center University. Thanks to the mobile alert, medically trained professionals in his vicinity were able to respond and assist, thus ensuring his survival.
Stephen DeMont fell near a bus stop located in front of Seattle’s Washington Medical Center University. Witnessing the event, a medical student rushed to his help and instructed another individual to call 911. After the call had been placed, a cardiac nurse came sprinting out of the building, assisting the medical student in providing care for DeMont.
Five days after the incident the 60 years old man is telling everybody that the PulsePoint mobile app saved his life.
Seattle officials are pleased with the outcome of the story. They stated that the incident comes to show the potential of the PulsePoint mobile app. As of now, the app has been downloaded by over 900,000 individuals around the country, and 34,000 have been activated as official responders.
Authorities hope that DeMont’s happy outcome will persuade more medically trained individuals to install the app on their phones. If the number of responders grows, the number of people saved from similar situations will rise. The app is the first of its kind, its incredible value being given by the fact that it offers victims the possibility of receiving help in those dead minutes in which the ambulance is on its way to the scene.
How the PulsePoint Mobile App Came to Be
The idea for the PulsePoint mobile app first came to Richard Price, a former North California fire chief when he was having dinner in a restaurant. While enjoying his meal, the man heard the sirens of a response car, thinking that his team might be responding to a nearby case. It took him a couple of minutes to find out that the emergency was undergoing in the same hospital, a couple of feet away.
When he found out that he could have helped the victim sooner, and that probably most medically trained professionals find themselves in the same situation over the course of their lives, he decided to do something about it.
That is how PulsePoint was created. When somebody calls 911, the app activates itself, uses the GPS on the mobile devices to locate the people who are in the vicinity of the caller, and sends out an alert, telling that somebody is in need of medical services.
DeMont’s wife, a former nurse, declared that after her husband’s accident, she also installed the app on her phone, ready to make those precious minutes while a victim waits for an ambulance count.
The man is out of immediate danger, but he needs a permanent defibrillator to be installed in his chest. The family has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to pay for the medical procedure.
Image source: Vimeo
