Redwood City, San Carlos Fire Departments Encourage Residents To Join PulsePoint

News from Redwood City:

REDWOOD CITY, CA -- The City of Redwood City and San Carlos Fire Departments urge residents to join PulsePoint, a 9-1-1 connected mobile app designed to alert CPR-trained citizens of sudden cardiac arrest emergencies nearby.

In February, the County of San Mateo County announced the purchase of the license to implement PulsePoint countywide. Sequoia Health Foundation, Peninsula Health System and the EMS system technical fund contributed to the ability for the County of San Mateo to offer this free application to the public. Redwood City and San Carlos Fire Departments encourage residents to join PulsePoint to help provide life-saving assistance within the two communities.

Fifty-seven percent of US adults say they've had CPR training, and most would be willing to use CPR or an AED to help save a stranger's life. Community members who are willing to assist in an emergency can now be notified if someone near them is having a cardiac arrest and require CPR. Individuals will only be notified if the cardiac emergency is in a public location. The location-aware application will alert trained community members in the vicinity simultaneous with the dispatch of advanced medical services.

Nothing will require an individual to respond if notified nor will anyone know if an individual was notified and chose, for whatever reason, not to respond. The application also directs individuals to the exact location of the closest publically accessible Automated External Defibrillator (AED). A local Peninsula Girl Scout working on a community project helped to ensure updated public access AED information.

PulsePoint has been implemented throughout various cities within California and across the nation. The value of PulsePoint is its success in reducing the time from cardiac arrest to CPR and increasing the number of people who survive a sudden cardiac arrest. Community members interested in joining PulsePoint, go to your mobile phone's app store and type in PulsePoint to download the application. Once it's downloaded, go to the main menu and click 'Agencies'. Once in that window type in Redwood City, CA and click follow. Once you follow Redwood City, you automatically follow all San Mateo County agencies.

For more details on PulsePoint, visit http://www.pulsepoint.org. For more details on the City of Redwood City Fire Department, visit www.redwoodcity.org and to sign up for the City's emergency alert system, visit here: http://redwoodcity.org/departments/fire-department/disaster-preparedness/emergency-alert-system