St. Louis Park Residents Invited To Join PulsePoint

ST. LOUIS PARK, MN — St. Louis Park residents are invited to participate in PulsePoint, a smartphone app that allows CPR-trained citizens to provide life-saving assistance to nearby victims of sudden cardiac arrest. The St. Louis Park Fire Department has led the effort to implement PulsePoint in St. Louis Park, making the city among the first communities in Minnesota to provide this service to residents.

“When minutes matter, the PulsePoint system offers the opportunity to get a trained person administering CPR as soon as possible,” said St. Louis Park Fire Department Chief Steve Koering in a statement. “This will be a powerful tool in our efforts to increase cardiac survival rates in St. Louis Park, and we encourage CPR-trained residents to download the app.”

App users who have indicated they are trained in CPR and willing to assist in an emergency are notified if someone nearby requires CPR. If the cardiac emergency is in a public place and 9-1-1 has been called, the app alerts trained citizens in the vicinity of the need for bystander CPR, along with the dispatch of police, fire and EMS crews, according to a news release. The app also directs citizen rescuers to the exact location of the closest publicly accessible AED (automated external defibrillator).

PulsePoint is a free app and can be downloaded from Apple and from Google Play. Residents who would like to arrange for training or a refresher in hands-only CPR or AED use may contact Nancy Schmelzle, St. Louis Park Fire Department community outreach coordinator, at (952) 300-1413.

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