Weld County will join with an online service and app designed to alert neighbors of emergency calls nearby – especially emergency calls for cardiac arrest.
The Pulsepoint app is meant to alert nearby users who can help; alerting neighbors trained in CPR that a person nearby needs their assistance, for example. It also allows users to connect with first responders who are en route and nearby a public location.
“In an emergency, time is critical, and people need as many resources as possible to help,” said Perry Buck, Weld County commission chair. “We’re excited to launch PulsePoint and even more excited to see its potentially lifesaving benefit.”
PulsePoint is available in the App Store for Apple devices and on Google Play for Android devices.
The PulsePoint app activates whenever Weld County 911 dispatches are made or when a text alert about a cardiac arrest is sent in a public place, such as a restaurant or store. First responders send out a notification through the PulsePoint Respond app, connecting nearby people to help.
Weld County Public Safety Communications Director Tina Powell said that notifications to most of the CPR-trained users will be limited to public places. The app also keeps a verified list of professional first responders throughout law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies countywide who will receive notifications of incidents in both public areas and private residences.
That’s a huge benefit, Powell said, especially in a county like Weld, which is both urban and rural and stretches more than 4,000 square miles.
“In some of our more rural areas, it could be a longer wait time for response just because of distance, but if a CPR-trained professional responder is nearby, perhaps they live nearby, they can get there much more quickly and begin providing help,” Powell said.
According to officials, the notifications will be sent to four types of CPR-trained individuals. Those include Public CPR Responders who are community members trained in CPR and how to use automated external defibrillators, or AEDs. They will only get notifications about cardiac arrest incidents happening in public locations.
The app also notifies nearby registered CPR Responders. These are community members invited by agencies who possess medical or rescue training. Examples include public safety retirees, Community Emergency Response Team members, medical professionals, and security staff for residences. Registered CPR Responders will receive alerts about incidents happening in both public and private settings.
Professional responders—active public safety employees, including firefighters, paramedics, and law enforcement—will also receive notifications for incidents in both public areas and private homes.
The app will also alert Automated External Defibrillator Responder, nearby community members who own AED devices or have immediate access to them, including employees, neighbors, or participants in an AED response program. AED Responders receive notifications about incidents in public areas.
According to officials, public safety communications will verify the PulsePoint notifications for incidents in private residences to ensure they meet the appropriate criteria.
The PulsePoint app is now live and will enable Weld County dispatchers to assist callers in locating Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in public areas. Officials expect this feature to be available later this summer.
Weld County joins a network of 4,400 communities across North America utilizing PulsePoint. Learn more at https://www.pulsepoint.org/. In Colorado, that includes the Fort Collins’ Poudre Fire Authority and several agencies in Larimer County.