By Khalida Sarwari
The San Jose Fire Department unveiled a free mobile phone app Tuesday that will alert CPR-trained residents to a person who is suffering from sudden cardiac arrest.
The “PulsePoint” app is free and available to residents in San Jose. Users can simply download the app and check a box indicating that they are trained in CPR and are willing to assist in case of an emergency. They are then notified if someone nearby is having a cardiac emergency and may require CPR.
The app, which also notifies residents about the nearest public access automated external defibrillator, is intended to get heart attack victims help in the critical minutes prior to the arrival of paramedics.
Information about the location of the cardiac victim is derived from emergency dispatch calls.
Workday, Inc., a Pleasanton-based financial management and human capital management software vendor, developed the app with $100,000 in funding provided by El Camino Hospital.
“I believe this is community activation at its best,” El Camino CEO Tomi Ryba said at a news conference in San Jose Tuesday afternoon.
San Jose is the second region in the Bay Area to implement the app. The technology was piloted two years ago in the San Ramon Valley based on an idea by Fire Protection District Chief Richard Price.
The PulsePoint app is available for iPhone and Android phones.
More information about the app is available online at pulsepoint.org.
