Orrville FD adopts app to register AEDs for easy access during emergency
Orrville Fire Department adopts PulsePoint AED to build and manage Public Defibrillator Registry
Free app registers and identifies community AEDs for easy access during a cardiac emergency.
ORRVILLE The Orrville Fire Department will officially adopt PulsePoint AED April 1 in the Orrville Area to further the commitment to creating a healthy and civically engaged community.
PulsePoint AED allows users to register publicly available automated external defibrillators (AEDs), which can be located on a map in the app for quick access during a cardiac emergency. Early application of bystander CPR and rapid defibrillation from an AED have proven to be crucial in improving a person’s chance of surviving sudden cardiac arrest, according to a news release.
Community members can download the free app to begin locating and reporting public AEDs or use the easy-to-remember web page, aed.new to easily add AEDs to the global registry, which is vetted and maintained by the Orrville Fire Department.
A study, published in the American Heart Association’s journal, Circulation, found that 66 percent of cardiac arrest victims who received a shock from an AED performed a bystander before emergency help arrived survived to hospital discharge. Conversely, without bystander use of a publicly available AED – waiting instead for emergency responders to arrive – 70 percent of cardiac arrest patients died or survived with impaired brain function.
“With PulsePoint AED, we hope to create greater awareness throughout our community around the important role AEDs play in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival,” EMS Captain, Kevin Baldwin, said in the news release. “Throughout the year, the Orrville Fire Department responds to nearly 20 cardiac arrest events, which would benefit from quick access to an AED. “Having an accurate AED registry within our community can greatly improve the odds that a nearby device will be accessible during a cardiac arrest event and can be used to help save a life.”
About the PulsePoint Foundation
PulsePoint is a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Through the use of location-aware mobile devices, PulsePoint is building applications that work with local public safety agencies to improve communications with citizens, increase civic engagement and empower the community to help reduce the millions of annual deaths from sudden cardiac arrest. Learn more at pulsepoint.org or join the conversation at Facebook and Twitter. The free app is available for download on iTunes and Google Play.
