Greater Sudbury considers Pulse Point app to help save lives sooner
A phone app designed to help save lives is being considered for Sudbury.
Developed in California, PulsePoint alerts people trained in CPR if someone nearby is experiencing cardiac arrest.
This week, the city's community services committee voted unanimously in support of the app.
Dr. Douglas Boreham of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine has been pushing for the app to come to the city, and said PulsePoint will increase people's chances of survival.
"The time between a cardiac arrest and when a first responder gets there can be a long time," he said.
"By having people being able to start CPR very soon after someone has a cardiac arrest is very important for survival and, of course, the cost to our healthcare system."
Time is critical after a cardiac arrest, Boreham added, as a person can lose brain function with every minute that passes after their heart stops.
According to the Pulse Point website, if the cardiac arrest is in a public place, the location-aware application will alert trained citizens in the vicinity for bystander CPR, and directs the rescuers to the exact location of the closest publicly accessible Automated External Defibrillator.
Ward 6 Councillor and paramedic Rene Lapierre said having more first responders available in the city can help save lives.
"Since our geography is so vast here in Sudbury, our response times maybe could be helped by having somebody — right near by — who's certified in CPR to be able to potentially save their life," he said.
If approved by the city, Sudbury will become the second in Canada to use the app.
Kingston has been using Pulsepoint since last March — and more than 1,100 communities in the U.S. have implemented this system.
The free app is available for download on Apple or Android devices, through your app store.