Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is a leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for an estimated 325,000 deaths each year (SCA kills nearly 1,000 people a day or one person every two minutes). Survival rates nationally for SCA are less than 8%. Delivery of CPR is life-saving first aid, and can sustain life until paramedics arrive by helping to maintain vital blood flow to the heart and brain. Only about one quarter of SCA victims receive bystander CPR. Without oxygen-rich blood, permanent brain damage or death can occur in less than 8 minutes. After 10 minutes there is little chance of successful resuscitation. Even in modern urban settings the response times for professional rescuers commonly approach these time frames.

The purpose of the app and PulsePoint activation system is to increase the survival rates of cardiac arrest victims by: 1) Reducing collapse-to-CPR times by increasing citizen awareness of cardiac events beyond a traditional “witnessed” area. 2) Reducing collapse-to-defibrillation times by increasing awareness of public access defibrillator (AED) locations through real-time mapping of nearby devices.

The app is provided free of charge to the public. The supporting IT infrastructure is also provided free of charge to public safety agencies desiring to offer the application in their community. Since the app requires a connection to the local public safety communications center, it is ONLY AVAILABLE where ADOPTED and IMPLEMENTED by the local Fire/EMS agency.