COLUMBUS (WCMH) — A cardiac arrest victim’s brain starts dying almost immediately after a heart attack.

But a smartphone app could help you become a first responder and maybe even save a life.

The app is called PulsePoint. If you know basic CPR and download the software, the smartphone app will alert you within 300 feet of a person in cardiac arrest. This allows you to get to the scene quickly and keep the victim’s heart beating until medics arrive.

That is exactly what happened with 20-year-old Brock Jenkins. On Valentine’s Day Jenkins, said he was dining and shopping in the Arena District with his girlfriend when they were alerted to a heart attack through PulsePoint on his smartphone.

“It said CPR needed Buca Di Beppo, so I ran over here with her,” Jenkins said.

He said when he arrived there was a crowd around the man, but no one was performing CPR, so he moved him to a flat spot and went to work.

“He was pulseless and wasn’t breathing for me. Moved him out of the way and I just started compressions and did continuous compressions until paramedics arrived.” Said Jenkins.

That man is recovering at Grant Medical Center. So what does Jenkins think of the PulsePoint application?

“I think it is great it is phenomenal, that they have come up with an APP that can activate bystanders to an emergency nearby,” Jenkins said.

Ironically he is studying to be a paramedic at Columbus State, and hopes to join the Columbus Fire Department in the future.

Statistics show 57 percent of Americans say they know CPR but rarely ever use it.

“When we have bystander CPR our survivor rates go up, “said Dr. David Keseg, Medical Director for Columbus Fire.

Dr. Keseg said only one percent of people with smartphones in the Columbus area have downloaded PulsePoint and he said bystander CPR here is just a little over half of Seattle’s rate. He said PulsePoint has been available in the area since 2013 and he would like to see the number of people downloading and using it increase.

“Cardiac arrest is a time-critical diagnosis, so every second counts, so it is important that that CPR happens within seconds after that cardiac arrest occurs,” Dr. Keseg said.

The APP alerts only with sudden cardiac arrests in the public, not those at residences. The APP also lets you know if an AED or defibrillator device is nearby. In Jenkins’ case, he said there was not one shown on his smartphone within blocks. Columbus Fire officials said when they do building inspections they designate when AED devices are and that is entered into the dispatcher’s computer system.

Columbus Fire along with the American Heart Association hold CPR classes throughout the year. Those can be found at this link.

You can download the PulsePoint APP at pulsePoint.org or at you APP store.