If you live in Ada County and know CPR, first responders could use your help.
In an emergency, those moments between when someone's heart stops beating and when first responders arrive is critical.
It could be the difference between life, death or severe brain damage.
It's a free app called Pulse Point, which you can download on your iPhone or android.
The app will alert you if someone nearby needs help and you could potentially save their life.
“Our hope is that the more people we get signed up, the more people in our community that know CPR and are willing to save a life, the better,” said Boise Fire Chief Dennis Doan.
It’s simple.
Go to the app store and download Pulse Point.
If you know CPR, check the CPR notification box.
And in the event someone needs emergency resuscitation, once 911 is called, dispatch will notify you of the person's location through the app.
“Let’s say you’re at a grocery store and a few aisles over somebody needs CPR. You will get notified on your phone, they will give you directions right where you need to be to give CPR to someone,” explains Doan.
The app launched back in March but only a few thousand residents have downloaded the program.
The department is aiming for at least 25,000 people to get Pulse Point on their phones.
“In the Boise Fire Department, we can respond to any emergency, 90 percent of the time within five minutes but if somebody else is there to start CPR, for every minute that CPR is started, it increases their survival rate by seven to ten percent,” said Doan.
Pulse Point only works if the person in need is in a public place.
For privacy reasons, users will not know if the emergency occurs in someone's home.
You can still download the app even if you don't know CPR and just want to know what's going on in the community.
“So you hear sirens by your house and your like, I wonder what's going on, you click on it, there's a fire, there's a medical emergency, there's a traffic accident,” said Doan.
Users who respond to an emergency through Pulse Point are protected from any liabilities through Idaho's Good Samaritan Law.
If you don't know CPR and are interested in taking a class there are several resources:
Emergency Academy
6055 Corporal Lane
Boise, Idaho 83704
(208) 996-9248
info@emergencyacademy.com
Idaho Center on Emergency Medical Training
2107 Industrial Rd.
Nampa, Idaho 83687
(208) 463-7880
studentservices@icemt.net
Red Cross
Christopher Bolton
Please Call or Email Directly
(208_)859-8764
Christopher.Bolton@redcross.org
College of Western Idaho
Program Director: Dexter Hunt
2707 Caldwell Blvd.
Nampa, Idaho 83651
(208) 562-2152
dexterhunt@cwidaho.cc
Idaho State University
Program Director: Rod Hackwith
Please Call or Email Directly
(208) 373-1879
hackrodn@isu.edu