A new free phone application called Pulse Point that alerts people trained in CPR that someone nearby might be suffering a cardiac arrest may have already saved someone’s life – less than one day after the application’s official launch.
“We had an incident with a man in Journal Square yesterday” said Robert Luckritz, director of Government Relations and EMS at Jersey City Medical Center (JCMC) on Sept. 24.
JCMC received a 9-1-1 report of a person in cardiac arrest during rush hour and put out the notice about it on the new app. A commuter, who was in the area of the train station at the time, went to the rescue of the man, applying life-saving CPR until an ambulance from JCMC arrived to take over and transport the patient for further medical evaluation.
JCMC’s emergency medical techs have provided emergency cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to the public for years. Now Pulse Point allows people to be informed on their phones of the location of a possible cardiac arrest, how close the person reporting the emergency is to the victim, and – perhaps most important – where the nearest heart-starting defibrillator is.
Once a 9-1-1 call indicates a possible cardiac emergency, a JCMC dispatcher issues an alert that is picked up by anyone with the Pulse Point app. A person within a quarter mile of the victim will receive the notification and vital information, including real time instructions on how to perform CPR.
During any cardiac arrest, a simple procedure can prevent serious heart and brain damage until a defibrillator can restart their heartbeat. By pushing hard and fast on the appropriate part of the chest, since oxygen remains in the blood for up to five minutes even when the heart is not pumping, a person applying CPR can continue blood flow and oxygen to the brain and heart. The application also provides a clicker to which a person can time his or her pushes.
Tick, tick, tick…
“Every minute delayed decreases the person’s chances of recovery by ten percent,” said Luckritz. “While we have a great response time when we get a call, this will increase a person’s chances and have someone there performing life saving CPR until we arrive.”
During the CPR training session, trainers said the song, “Staying Alive,” by the Bee Gees tends to provide the rhythm to the procedure.
Residents who respond to an event such as this are encouraged also to call 9-11 and to use the defibrillator as soon as it is available. But instructors at the CPR class said pushing on the chest hard and regularly is considered the best thing for a patient.
Paramedics and EMS people, who arrived later, may provide more extensive treatments, but simply knowing how to press on the chest can be the difference between life and death.
The application offered by JCMC provides detailed pictures on how to perform the procedure as well.
In few days that the app was offered, more than 300 people downloaded it free, Luckritz said.
The app is available from Apple and Google app stores for iPhone and Android phones.
He said while JCMC has offered CPR classes for years, the availably of the app and also September being National Preparedness Month, JCMC is offering free extra CPR classes each week in English and Spanish, and this, he hopes will encourage even more people to download the app.
“We’re hoping to make Jersey City the healthiest city in America,” he said.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.