PULSEPOINT

Alameda County Fire Department Now Offers Free, Lifesaving CPR App to the Community

The Alameda County Fire Department (ACFD) now offers a free mobile phone application called PulsePoint that will help save lives.

An innovative, Global Positioning System (GPS) powered iPhone and Android application will allow community members to provide life-saving assistance to victims of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). Application (App) subscribers that have indicated they are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can now be alerted if someone nearby is having a cardiac emergency and may require CPR.

If the cardiac emergency is in a public place, the application, using advanced GPS technology, will notify community members in the vicinity of the need for CPR. The app also directs the “community responder” to the exact location of the closest public access Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

The PulsePoint App is available to all of the communities served by the Alameda County Fire Department (ACFD) and the Alameda County Regional Emergency Communications Center (ACRECC), which is managed by the ACFD.

The PulsePoint App also provides a virtual window into select 911 emergency communication centers giving users of mobile devices real-time access to emergency activity as it is occurring. Users are able to view active incidents, including the current response status of dispatched units, and instantly pinpoint incident location on an interactive map. Users also can choose to be notified of incidents by type when they are dispatched and monitor emergency radio traffic via this modern version of the traditional fire scanner.

The PulsePoint App is available for iPhone and Android, and can be downloaded for free from the iTunes Store and Google Play. Additional information about the PulsePoint App can be found at www.pulsepoint.org.