App could save lives by connecting people having heart attack to help nearby, paramedics say

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service says a new app it wants the city to invest in could improve the survival rate for someone having a heart attack.

The medical director for WFPS, Dr. Robert Grierson,says the app uses crowd sourcing to identify people in a public areawho can provide CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitationor administer an AED (automated external defibrillator). It would connectthem with someone in distress who is having a cardiac arrest. Grierson says these people would be on the scene before an ambulance arrives.

"If you bring people quicker to a scene where someone is in a cardiac arrest who can perform CPR or get an AED from somewhere nearby, we should be able to improve the survival rates for out of hospital heart attacks," said Grierson.

Buildingdatabase

Grierson says this app would be available for anyone to download but ideally it is being targeted to those already trained in CPR and AED.That would include off-duty professionals such as doctors, nurses, police officers, lifeguards and respiratory technicians. He says though in certain circumstances a person who has no trainingcould be instructed over the telephone how to administer CPR.

A database of users willing to download PulsePointcould be recruitedby an education campaign,saidGrierson. The app would be activated at the same time the 9-1-1 call comes in. PulsePointisalready up and running in the United States and in some jurisdictions in Canada. WFPSwill also be participating in a national study that is lookingat the benefits of the app.

How it works

Grierson gives an example of how PulsePoint can save lives. An off-duty fire chief is having lunch in a cafe. Someone next door is having a heart attack. The app findswhere the person suffering theheart attack is located, as well as the nearest AED. That information is then relayed to the off-duty fire chief at the same time that the 911 is dispatched.The fire chiefcould instruct the person she was having lunch with to go and get it. This would all happen before the ambulance arrives at the scene.

"If someone drops from a cardiac arrest, yourchance of survival declines by 10 per centevery minute. If you can get it two or three minutes before the ambulance arrives, you have increased the person's chance for survival," said Grierson.

Asking city for money

The initial cost for PulsePoint, $82,500, is covered by a grant from the Canadian Institute for Health Research. WFPS is asking the city for $12,600 annually for ongoing costs. It has to be approved by city council. Griersonhopes the new app will be up and running in Winnipeg in the new year.