Williamson County EMS Launches Use Of Life-Saving Apps Helping Medics During Emergencies

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TX — EMS officials in Williamson County launched use of a pair of apps designed to utilize GPS on mobile phones to alert volunteers trained in life-saving techniques of someone nearby needing CPR, becoming one of the first public safety entities in Central Texas to use the technology.

The PulsePoint Respond app is used to alert CPR-trained residents to patients requiring immediate medical aid before their arrival while en route to the scene. Findings show a significant increase in survival rates among patients experiencing cardiac arrest when they are assisted early by a bystander trained in CPR. According to PulsePoint officials, for every minute a patient goes unaided, the person's survival rate drops by 10 percent, so the idea is to try to get someone in the area of the emergency to begin immediate CPR to a cardiac arrest victim prior to medics' arrival.

In tandem, the PulsePoint AED app harnesses those precious moments until medics' arrival by pinpointing the location of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in the area to which they are en route.

Emergency services officials have scheduled a news conference highlighting the apps' launch on Thursday, April 13 at 11 a.m. at the Williamson County J.B. and Hallie Jester Annex Public Safety Building, 1781 E. Old Settlers Boulevard, in Round Rock. In case of inclement weather, the event will be held in the community room in the J.B. and Hallie Jester Annex, 1801 E. Old Settlers Boulevard, county officials said.

Scheduled to be at the press conference are EMS Director Mike Knipstein; Round Rock Fire Department Chief Robert Isbell of the Round Rock Fire Department; Precinct One Williamson County Commissioner Terry Cook; and CPR survivor Bo Beaudin.

The PulsePoint Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Through the use of location-aware mobile devices, PulsePoint is building applications that work with local public safety agencies to improve communications with citizens, empowering them to help reduce the millions of annual deaths from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), according to information found on its website. To learn more, visit www.pulsepoint.org or join the conversation about the device at Facebook and Twitter. The free app is available for download on iTunes and Google Play.

-How it works: "With PulsePoint AED you can help strengthen the chain of survival for cardiac arrest victims. Download PulsePoint AED for free and use it to report AEDs in your community," the website reads. "Describe the location, snap a picture, and the information is stored for local authorities to verify. After that, the AED location data is made available to anyone using PulsePoint Respond."

The PulsePoint Respond app then alerts citizen responders who know CPR to local emergencies near them, along with the location of the nearest AED.

Related story: Williamson County EMS Studying Use Of Ultrasound Machines Inside Ambulances

The implementation of the apps marks the second bit of cutting-edge technology in recent weeks to be implemented by emergency personnel in the county. Last month, county officials announced the equipping of ambulances with ultrasound machines used to differentiate between air and fluid in the body, officials explained. Paramedics have been trained to use the machines primarily with trauma patients as a way of locating internal bleeding that would otherwise go undetected prior to a patient's hospitalization.

The test units are being deployed on a pair of Williamson County EMS ambulances for 90 days, officials said. The study is being led by Jason Bowman, a Texas A&M University medical student, with ultrasound machines for use in the study supplied free of charge to the county.

>>> Image via PulsePoint