PulsePoint is a 911-connected

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

that allows users to view and receive alerts on calls being responded to by

fire departments A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

and

emergency medical services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...

. The app's main feature, and where its name comes from, is that it sends alerts to users at the same time that

dispatcher A dispatcher is a communications worker who receives and transmits information to coordinate operations of other personnel and vehicles carrying out a service. A number of organizations, including police and fire departments, emergency medical s ...

s are sending the call to emergency crews. The goal is to increase the possibility that a victim in

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...

will receive

cardiopulmonary resuscitation Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spont ...

(CPR) quickly. The app uses the current location of a user and will alert them if someone in their vicinity is in need of CPR. The app, which interfaces with the local government

public safety answering point A public-safety answering point (PSAP), sometimes called public-safety access point, is a call center where emergency/non-emergency calls (like police, fire brigade, ambulance) initiated by any mobile or landline subscriber are terminated. It can ...

, will send notifications to users only if the victim is in a public place and only to users that are in the immediate vicinity of the emergency. In February 2017, PulsePoint introduced a professional version called Verified Responder that also alerts in residential settings. Based in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, PulsePoint is run by a public 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation of the same name. As of January 30, 2020, the foundation reported that connected agencies had requested the assistance of 350,000 nearby responders for 100,000 cardiac arrest events. In addition to Android and iOS, PulsePoint offers a web client at that allows users to view the same data that appears in PulsePoint Respond with a browser. PulsePoint uses a standardized set of incident types normalized across Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) and Computer-aided Dispatch (CAD) system vendors. The foundation also underwrites an automated external defibrillator (AED) app and registry to provide location information to PulsePoint responders and dispatchers. In September 2018, the PulsePoint Respond app was approved by the

First Responder Network Authority The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) of the United States was created under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (MCTRJCA) as an independent authority within the National Telecommunications and Information Adminis ...

(FirstNet) and added to the App Catalog. PulsePoint Respond is a FirstNet Certified app.

History

Richard Price, president of the PulsePoint Foundation, said that the idea for the application came to him in 2010 while he was serving as the fire chief in the

San Ramon Valley The San Ramon Valley is a valley and region in Contra Costa County and Alameda County, in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Geography The valley is between the Oakland Hills on the west, and the Diablo Rang ...

. While he was out to lunch, he heard sirens and saw one of his own engines pull up in front of the restaurant he was dining in. It turned out that someone next door had collapsed and gone into

. Since Price was the department chief, he was not dispatched to the call and did not know about it, but he was CPR certified and carried a

defibrillator Defibrillation is a treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation (V-Fib) and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia (V-Tach). A defibrillator delivers a dose of electric current (often called a ''coun ...

in his car. This incident left him wondering if technology could help produce a way for civilians who were trained to help in the event of a nearby emergency. The

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and death ...

estimates that 383,000 out of hospital

s occur each year in the United States. In April 2012, PulsePoint was one of only five

mobile application A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on de ...

s worldwide to be nominated for a

Webby Award The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories include ...

. It was nominated under the category of ''Best Use of GPS or Location Technology''. A year later, in 2013, it was once again nominated in the same category. In 2014, the application was once again nominated, this time in the category of ''City & Urban Innovation''.

AED Registry

Along with the intention of getting CPR started faster and more often, a key objective of the PulsePoint Respond app is to inform those near a cardiac arrest event of the location of

Automated External Defibrillator An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and pulseless ventricular tachycardia, and is able to treat them thro ...

s (AED) in the immediate vicinity of the victim. To accomplish this, the PulsePoint Foundation maintains an on‑demand (cloud-based) registry of AED locations and encourages anyone to contribute device locations. This crowdsourced AED location information is subsequently reviewed by local public safety agencies with support from the foundation. Approved AEDs are then shown to responders and dispatchers during cardiac emergencies via the PulsePoint AED Registry API. All aspects of the registry are provided free of charge. On April 12, 2017, the PulsePoint Foundation announced a partnership with Priority Dispatch Corporation to allow dispatchers to inform callers of the location of nearby AEDs when the

Medical Priority Dispatch System The Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS), sometimes referred to as the Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System (AMPDS) is a unified system used to dispatch appropriate aid to medical emergencies including systematized caller interrogation and ...

deemed them necessary. The PulsePoint AED registry is FirstNet Certified for use in emergency communications centers in the United States. In June 2019 PulsePoint extended the registry to include other collocated resources including

Naloxone Naloxone, sold under the brand names Narcan (4 mg) and Kloxxado (8 mg) among others, is a medication used to reverse or reduce the effects of opioids. It is commonly used to counter decreased breathing in opioid overdose. Effects begin within ...

(e.g., Narcan®) and

Epinephrine Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands and ...

(e.g.,

EpiPen An epinephrine autoinjector (or adrenaline autoinjector, also known by the trademark EpiPen) is a medical device for injecting a measured dose or doses of epinephrine (adrenaline) by means of autoinjector technology. It is most often used for t ...

®), along with Bleeding Control Kits.

Concerns

Some privacy experts have expressed concern that the app may invade the

medical privacy Medical privacy or health privacy is the practice of maintaining the security and confidentiality of patient records. It involves both the conversational discretion of health care providers and the security of medical records. The terms can also r ...

of victims. The

Los Angeles County Fire Department The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) provides firefighting services as well as technical rescue services, hazardous materials response services and emergency medical response services for the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County ...

, one of the many users of the app, has pointed out that The

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA or the Kennedy– Kassebaum Act) is a United States Act of Congress enacted by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1 ...

(

HIPAA The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA or the Kennedy– Kassebaum Act) is a United States Act of Congress enacted by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1 ...

) protects the privacy of identifiable health information. On a ‘CPR Needed’ notification, which is sent out through the app, the only information that is seen is an address (which must be in a public place) and a business name, if available. The individually identifiable health information protected by

, such as name, birth date, or SSN are not reported or even known by the PulsePoint application. Additional concerns that have been raised are that the app can cause too many bystanders to congregate at the scene of an emergency and that those responding via the app may not be trained in

CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore sponta ...

or AED. On May 9, 2018, the

International Association of Fire Chiefs The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) is a network of more than 12,000 fire chiefs and emergency officers.

(IAFC) issued a Position Statement on PulsePoint.

Features

Along with being able to view a list of calls in real time, users also have the option to listen in to radio traffic to accompany the application’s incident list. During a CPR-needed response, this functionality allows citizen and off-duty rescuers to hear the dispatcher update emergency responders regarding patient location, scene conditions, etc. To facilitate the live feed, PulsePoint uses Broadcastify, a website that is the largest broadcaster of live public safety audio feeds, to stream radio channels within the app. On December 11, 2018, PulsePoint released v4.1 for iOS that included the ability to override a device's Do Not Disturb setting and play an alert sound even when the device is muted for “CPR Needed” alerts. This required a special entitlement from Apple. An additional feature of the application is an interface with

Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and professional ...

that allows agencies to share photos through the app. Users can view incident, event, station, apparatus, and other photos that the agency chooses to share.

Users

As of February 2022 the dispatch centers in more than 4,200 communities were connected to PulsePoint. Some of the most well-known agencies include: * Akron Fire Department *

Alameda County Fire Department The Alameda County Fire Department (ACFD) provides all-risk emergency services to the unincorporated areas of Alameda County, California (excluding Fairview), the cities of San Leandro, Dublin, Newark, Union City and Emeryville, the Lawrence B ...

* Albuquerque Fire Rescue *

Anaheim Fire & Rescue The Anaheim Fire & Rescue is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for Anaheim, California. History In 1857 the City of Anaheim was incorporated and the City's volunteer fire system was established. Initially ...

* Anne Arundel County Fire Department *

Atlanta Fire Rescue Department The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department provides fire protection and first responder emergency medical services to the city of Atlanta, Georgia. The department is responsible for an area of with over 519,000 residents. As of January 21, 2021, the F ...

* Bloomington Fire Department * Brevard County Fire Rescue *

British Columbia Ambulance Service The British Columbia Ambulance Service (BCAS) is an ambulance service that provides emergency medical response for the province of British Columbia, Canada. BCAS is one of the largest provider of emergency medical services in North America. The f ...

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) is the fire department of the California Natural Resources Agency in the U.S. state of California. It is responsible for fire protection in various areas under state responsibi ...

* Chesapeake Fire Department *

Cincinnati Fire Department The Cincinnati Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services for Cincinnati, Ohio. The department, which was established on April 1, 1853, was the first fully paid and professional fire department in the United States. A ...

* City of Casa Grande Fire Department *

Clark County Fire Department (Nevada) The Clark County Fire Department (CCFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the unincorporated areas of Clark County, Nevada, Clark County, Nevada, United States. The cities of Las Vegas Fire & Rescue Department, Las Vegas, ...

Cleveland EMS The City of Cleveland Division of Emergency Medical Service, also known as Cleveland EMS or CEMS, is the division of the municipal government tasked with emergency ambulance transport for the City of Cleveland, Ohio. As of January 2019, the parame ...

* Columbus Division of Fire * Coral Springs Fire Department *

District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (also known as DC FEMS, FEMS, DCFD, DC Fire, or Fire & EMS), established July 1, 1804, provides fire protection and emergency medical service for the District of Columbia, in ...

* El Paso Fire Department *

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department is a combination career and volunteer organization that provides fire suppression services, emergency medical response services, technical rescue services, hazardous materials Response services, w ...

Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue Department Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue Department is the fire and rescue service provider for the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as the cities of Wilton Manors and Lazy Lake through service contracts. Additionally the FLFRD is responsible for A ...

* Frisco Fire Department * Hawaii Fire Department *

Henderson Fire Department The Henderson Fire Department (HFD) is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Henderson, the second largest city in Nevada with 279,226 residents spread out over . USAR Task Force The HFD is a ...

* Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue * Honolulu EMS * Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services *

Kansas City Fire Department The Kansas City Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical service for Kansas City, Missouri, and under contract to Village of the Oaks, Village of Oakwood Park, and Village of Oakwood. It provides fire protection only under c ...

* Kansas City Kansas Fire Department *

Kern County Fire Department The Kern County Fire Department (KCFD) provides fire protection and emergency response services for the unincorporated areas of Kern County, California, and for multiple cities within the county. The department covers an area which spans over . I ...

Las Vegas Fire & Rescue Department Las Vegas Fire & Rescue provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the second largest fire department in the state of Nevada after the Clark County Fire Department. The Las Vegas Fire & Resc ...

* Lincoln Fire & Rescue Department *

Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department The Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department (LPFD) provides fire suppression and emergency medical services to the neighboring cities of Livermore and Pleasanton, California. The organization uses a joint powers authority (JPA) model with esse ...

* Long Beach Fire Department (California) *

Los Angeles Fire Department The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD or LA City Fire) provides emergency medical services, fire cause determination, fire prevention, fire suppression, hazardous materials mitigation, and technical rescue services to the city of Los Angeles ...

* Madison Fire Department *

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

Fire Department *

Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Mecklenburg County is a county located in the southwestern region of the state of North Carolina, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,115,482, making it the second-most populous county in North Carolina (after Wak ...

* Miami Beach Fire Department *

Milwaukee Fire Department The Milwaukee Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The department is responsible for an area of with a population of 594,833. It is the largest fire department in the Stat ...

* Naperville Fire Department * Norfolk Fire Rescue * Orange City Fire Department *

Orange County Fire Authority The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for unincorporated areas of Orange County, California as well as 25 cities within the county that contract OCFA's services. There ...

Orange County Fire Rescue Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

* Orlando Fire Department *

Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Palm Beach County Fire Rescue is an ISO Class 1 department and one of the largest fire departments in the State of Florida. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue provides fire protection, Advanced Life Support emergency medical services, technical rescue ...

* Pittsburgh Dept. of Public Safety and Allegheny County Emergency Services *

Plano Fire-Rescue Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Hist ...

Portland Fire & Rescue Portland Fire and Rescue Bureau, also known as the Portland Fire Bureau, and sometimes informally the Portland Fire Department, is the principle fire suppression, prevention, and rescue agency of the City of Portland, Oregon, United States ...

* Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department *

Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue Prince William County is located on the Potomac River in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 482,204, making it Virginia's second-most populous county. Its county seat is the independent city of Manassa ...

* Rapid City Fire Department * Reno Fire Department * Richmond Fire Department (Virginia) * Riverside Fire Department *

Sacramento Fire Department The Sacramento Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Sacramento, California. The department was first organized on February 5, 1850. It was not until March 30, 1872, when it finally became the fi ...

Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District provides fire protection and emergency medical services to many unincorporated areas of Sacramento County, California as well as multiple contract cities. The fire district is responsible for the citie ...

* Salem Fire Department * San Bernardino County Fire Department *

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of San Diego, California, United States. The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department is the second-largest municipal fire department in the st ...

San Francisco Fire Department The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) provides firefighting, hazardous materials response services, technical rescue services and emergency medical response services to the City and County of San Francisco, California. History Volunteer Depa ...

San Jose Fire Department The San Jose Fire Department (SJFD) provides firefighting, rescue and emergency medical services to the city of San Jose, California, United States. The San Jose Fire Department protects the third largest city in California (after Los Angeles and ...

* San Luis Obispo Fire Department *

San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District The San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the cities of Alamo, Blackhawk, Danville, Diablo, Camino Tassajara and San Ramon as well as southern areas of the Morgan Territory in ...

Santa Barbara County Fire Department The Santa Barbara County Fire Department (SBCFD) provides fire protection and emergency response services for the unincorporated areas of Santa Barbara County, California, and for multiple cities within the county. Together, these areas compose ...

Santa Clara County Fire Department The Santa Clara County Fire Department (SCCFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the county of Santa Clara, California. Established in 1947, the SCCFD is responsible for the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County as ...

Seattle Fire Department The Seattle Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. The department is responsible for an area of , including of waterfront, with a population of 713,700. There is ...

* Seminole County Fire Department * Sioux Falls Fire Rescue * Sonoma County Fire District * South Bend Fire Department *

South Metro Fire Rescue South Metro Fire Rescue (SMFR) is a fire protection district which provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the municipalities of Bow Mar, Castle Pines, Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, Columbine Valley, Foxfield, Greenwo ...

* Spokane Fire Department * Suffolk County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services *

Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue (TVF&R) is a special-purpose government fire fighting and emergency services district in the Portland metropolitan area of Oregon. Established in 1989 with a merger between Washington County Fire District 1 and the Tu ...

* Tucson Fire Department *

Ventura County Fire Department The Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) provides fire protection and emergency response services for the unincorporated areas of Ventura County, California, and for seven other cities within the county. Together, these areas compose the Ventu ...

Virginia Beach Department of Emergency Medical Services The Virginia Beach Department of Emergency Medical Services is the 911 EMS provider for Virginia Beach, Virginia. Virginia Beach is the largest city in the United States with a volunteer based EMS system. Since the 1940s Virginia Beach has offe ...

* Wake County EMS * Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service

Incident Responder Unit Codes

Orange=Dispatched (?=Awaiting Acknowledge) Green=En Route Red=Arrived The codes themselves are defined by each agency, and are typically followed by a number to identify a particular instance of each asset type. A legend is sometimes provided on the agency information page, and following are some common examples: B=Battalion BC=Battalion Chief E=Engine CMD=Command CPT=Helicopter C=Crew DZR=Dozer HM=Hazmat ME=Medic Engine MRE=Medic Rescue Engine P=Patrol R=Rescue RE=Rescue Engine SQ=Squad T=Truck U=Utility WT=Water Tender

References

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External links

PulsePoint Website@PulsePoint (Twitter)

PulsePoint Web ClientPulsePoint AED Registry

PulsePoint Respond on App StorePulsePoint Respond on Google PlayPulsePoint AED on App StorePulsePoint AED on Google Play
Android (operating system) software IOS software