PulsePoint is an app that has the potential to save lives, and the app has been the center of two life-saving stories in the last month. The app notifies people trained in CPR of locations nearby where people need help.
The app helped an off-duty doctor save a life in Seattle on September 23.
Dr. Matt Gittinger, a medicine physician, received an alert on his phone, too. Douglas Stine’s co-workers called 911 when Stine was gasping for air and lost consciousness. The co-workers called 911, but Gittinger was alerted, too, while at his home.
The app alerted the doctor who lived two blocks from Aurora Ave., where Stine remained unconscious. The doctor ran to the scene and started to perform CPR minutes before paramedics arrived on the scene.
PulsePoint has over 3,300 registered CPR-trained users in Seattle since being available in June.
Stine reunited with the doctor that saved his life, stating, “This gentleman right here saved my life and kept my kids’ father around.”
Seattle’s Stephen DeMont had a similar story of how the PulsePoint app saved his life. DeMont was at a bus stop in front of the University of Washington Medical Center when he collapsed. A medical student rushed to his side to provide aide. A nurse was alerted on her phone via the app and assisted until the paramedics arrived at the scene.
DeMont survived the ordeal, and is up and mobile days after the event.
The app is available for free and is located in 28 states in 2,000 cities. DeMont’s wife, a former nurse, stated, “I put it on my phone yesterday” speaking of the app. “He would not be here as we see him today,” she said when discussing the app.
The app has been downloaded 900,000 times, with 34,000 people activated to respond to alerts based on their training. A total of 13,000 cardiac events have been alerted through the app.
