Jim and Alexandra Stears were at home when Jim suddenly went into cardiac arrest while watching TV. Luckily, their neighbor is Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue Lt. Jason Morgan, who was at home when he received a PulsePoint Professional Responder alert on his phone indicating that CPR was needed at a private residence...next door. Morgan retrieved his Philips AED, which he obtained through the PulsePoint Professional Responder pilot program, and made his way to the Stears' home, with his wife and son by his side. When Alexandra opened the door she was initially surprised by EMS' quick response, but then soon realized it was her neighbor and later remarked, "Oh, that's good. He's got the right training." Jim went on to make a full recovery after receiving high-quality CPR and a shock from the defibrillator, all before crews arrived.

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Public safety telecommunicators utilizing APCO’s IntelliComm software can now quickly direct 9-1-1 callers during time-critical cardiac emergencies to the closest automated external defibrillator (AED). The life-saving advancement comes from the implementation of an AED geolocation plan between APCO’s IntelliComm and the PulsePoint Foundation.

The tool enables 9-1-1 telecommunicators to inform callers of the location of AEDs while using existing medical dispatch protocols within IntelliComm’s software, with no changes to workflow—saving critical time during life-threatening emergencies.

Each year in the U.S., there are approximately 360,000 Emergency Medical Services (EMS)-assessed cardiac arrests outside of a hospital and on average, less than 10 percent of victims survive. The keys to survival are early recognition, early CPR and early defibrillation. Action taken by bystanders prior to the arrival of EMS results in victims being two to three times more likely to survive.

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The New Hampshire Department of Safety, Division of Emergency Services and Communications (DESC) proudly announces a new initiative that will make registering new Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) easier than ever before for New Hampshire businesses, thanks to collaborative efforts between the PulsePoint Foundation and Google.

On Monday, April 3, 2023, Google sent an email to all businesses in the State of New Hampshire that have created a business profile on their platform, encouraging them to register new AEDs that are not yet in the statewide database. The email included a link to the PulsePoint AED registration website, where Google will pre-populate the business’ location information, making it easy for business owners to complete the registration process.

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By James Careless, All Things FirstNet

Every day in the United States, about 1,000 people suffer cardiac arrests. Every minute that passes between a cardiac arrest and the administration of aid decreases their chance of survival by 10%. Clearly, the sooner that medical assistance arrives, the better.

Speeding the arrival of help is the goal of the PulsePoint Foundation (PulsePoint), a 501(c)(3) public nonprofit organization. Mindful that even the fastest-dispatched EMS and fire agencies can take precious minutes to arrive, PulsePoint recruits CPR-trained volunteers to step in when they are closer to the scene. This is possible due to these volunteers running the free PulsePoint Respond app on their smartphones (available in Android and Apple iOS), and living in jurisdictions whose local 911 centers have registered to forward cardiac-related calls to PulsePoint as the calls come in.

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By Dr. Michael Sayre, MD, Medical Director for the Seattle Fire Department and PulsePoint and Professor of Emergency Medicine at University of Washington

The unsettling collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin during a Monday Night Football game brought sudden cardiac arrest to the attention of millions of Americans. Surviving sudden cardiac arrest relies on immediate medical attention, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation and AED (automated external defibrillator) use. Mr. Hamlin was fortunate in that he was quickly surrounded by medical professionals armed with an emergency action plan, and experienced paramedics joined them within minutes. Now, even with the best, most rapid care, Americans are learning that recovery from cardiac arrest takes time.

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County will receive $5,000 grant for the purchase of public defibrillators.

The PulsePoint Foundation, a public non-profit 501(c)(3), announced today that Fairfield County, Ohio has won the inaugural PulsePoint AED Contest, winning a $5,000 grant to purchase AEDs for public safety staff and/or the community. The contest took place during the month of October, Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month, and was eligible to any community using PulsePoint AED to locate and register AEDs. Fairfield County, with the help of Fairfield Medical Center’s Community Heart Watch Committee, collectively registered 238 AEDs at locations throughout the county including schools, government buildings, places of worship and sports centers. Once the newly registered AEDs are vetted by public safety personnel their location will be made available to emergency responders during cardiac emergencies.

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With your help dispatch center staff can inform 9-1-1 callers of nearby lifesaving devices.

In recognition of Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month, the PulsePoint Foundation will be holding a contest throughout the month of October to encourage AED location identification and registration so these life-saving devices can be disclosed to 9-1-1 dispatchers and those nearby during a cardiac emergency.

Anyone who registers an AED in October with the free PulsePoint AED app, or online at AED.new will be eligible to win one of ten $500 Amazon gift cards. Collectively, the community that registers the most AEDs will be granted $5,000 worth of new AEDs to provide to public safety staff or place in their community.

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CASE STUDY / APRIL 2021

Alaska’s Fairbanks North Star Borough sought to address the rural community challenges of low bystander engagement and slower response times in out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest response. As part of a comprehensive strategy that included participation in the C.A.R.E.S. Registry and Resuscitation Academy, bystander CPR training, CPR and AED awareness programs, and strategic AED placement, Fairbanks launched PulsePoint May 2019.

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Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) telecommunicators are a critical link in the cardiac arrest chain of survival. Placing the proper tools in their hands can improve outcomes.

The PulsePoint Foundation provides PSAP technology to make "Is there an AED nearby?" an unnecessary question during cardiac arrest call processing while also advocating for broad adoption of this lifesaving capability. Our goal is for the telecommunicator to instead inform the caller of the location of nearby AEDs. Consider how much more effective it would be to say, “there is an AED at that store,” and direct the caller to “send someone to retrieve the AED from the customer service counter,” as CPR instructions begin? We back our advocacy and commitment with comprehensive and accessible resources. By providing exceptional, industry-supported AED registry solutions at no cost—and we genuinely mean free in all aspects—we strive to remove deployment impediments.

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We've added a powerful new search tool that quickly locates AEDs by establishment, geographic location, or prominent point of interest. You'll also find a flexible new filter tool that displays just the AEDs or colocated resources you would like to see.

AED administrators can now view and resolve user-reported issues from within the app. Administrators can locate these AEDs by using the “Has reported issue” map filter. Also, expired consumable dates are now highlighted so they’re not overlooked.

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