New Phone App Gets CPR Help To Scene Quickly

An Urbana hospital is launching a phone app that alerts people that someone nearby needs life-saving CPR. 

Dr. Jared Rogers, regional vice president for Presence Health, says over 300,000 people suffer cardiac arrest every year, and for each minute without CPR, survival chances drop 10-percent.

"So the chances of survival without CPR being initiated pretty quickly or effective deployment of external defibrillation, I mean, the chances really start to diminish quite readily," Rogers said.

Presence helped pay to launch Pulse Point in Champaign County. It’s a phone app that alerts people that they are needed nearby to perform CPR.

Pulse Point is connected to the local 911 dispatch center, and to a smart phone’s GPS system. When the dispatch center calls for an ambulance for someone at a public place, Pulse Point finds the closest smart phone with the Pulse Point app, and alerts the owner that someone close to them needs their help. 

Gregg Abbott, deputy director of METCAD, the local 911 dispatch, believes this technology will help save lives. "We’re excited to see it go live and to see our cardiac save rates increase in the county and we think that’s an excellent thing," Abbott said.

Rogers hopes many good Samaritans download the app to help those who need emergency care.

People can download Pulse Point from the Apple App Store or Google Play.