MILTON, Ga. — Milton and Alpharetta in north Fulton County have begun using "PulsePoint" during 911 medical emergency calls, a service that uses smartphone technology to post alerts on a free app, in order to reach CPR-trained volunteers who are near the emergencies. Volunteers can then reach heart attack victims quicker.
Milton Fire-Rescue Captain Mark Haskins said the two neighboring cities went online with the new system in mid-November.
“The PulsePoint app actually will guide people right to someone who has an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, and will allow them to start CPR on these people right away, even before we arrive on the scene,” Haskins said Thursday.
The fire rescue department posts the address of the emergency to the app, along with a map and directions, to people who the app detects are just a block or two away from the incident. A companion app shows the locations of the nearest AEDs.
The app does not share any personal information about the person needing help.
“We want as many people as possible to download the app and to be responders here within the city limits,” Haskins said. “For every minute that there’s no CPR on a person, their chance of surviving actually drops by around ten percent each minute.”
PulsePoint shows success stories from across the country on its website, and shows data compiled since the app was first offered in 2010.
According to PulsePoint, volunteer responders have been able to help in nearly two million cases of sudden cardiac arrest so far. PulsePoint said the volunteers have been able to begin administering CPR on heart patients an average of two minutes and 49 seconds before first responders can arrive.
“A bystander or a family member might call 911,” Haskins said, “but you'd be surprised how many people are actually afraid to perform CPR on someone that they see that falls out right in front of them. So what we want to do is find people that have been trained in CPR, because if they can show up even 1 minute or 2 minutes before we arrive, it's going to help save somebody's life.”
The CPR is "hands only," involving repeated chest compressions using one hand on top of the other, as taught by the Red Cross.
And Haskins pointed out that Good Samaritans are protected under Georgia law from any liability. Also, the app only works in publicly accessible areas; it does not send volunteers into private property.
Haskins said he hopes that before long, his first responders will arrive at medical emergencies to find many people already there helping.
“We know the app works. We're excited to put it into practice here in Milton.”
The City of College Park, which straddles Fulton and Clayton Counties, has used PulsePoint since 2015. 11Alive contacted College Park to see what its experience has been with PulsePoint, but had not heard back as of Thursday night.