By James Careless, All Things FirstNet

Every day in the United States, about 1,000 people suffer cardiac arrests. Every minute that passes between a cardiac arrest and the administration of aid decreases their chance of survival by 10%. Clearly, the sooner that medical assistance arrives, the better.

Speeding the arrival of help is the goal of the PulsePoint Foundation (PulsePoint), a 501(c)(3) public nonprofit organization. Mindful that even the fastest-dispatched EMS and fire agencies can take precious minutes to arrive, PulsePoint recruits CPR-trained volunteers to step in when they are closer to the scene. This is possible due to these volunteers running the free PulsePoint Respond app on their smartphones (available in Android and Apple iOS), and living in jurisdictions whose local 911 centers have registered to forward cardiac-related calls to PulsePoint as the calls come in.

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As the country prepares for a summer of excessive heat and drought, the Western Fire Chiefs Association (WFCA) introduces its Fire Map to provide near real-time information about active wildfires.

“The current climate situation is incredibly scary,” said Chief Mark Niemeyer, Board President of the WFCA and Fire Chief of the Boise Fire Department. “The WFCA is providing public access to definitive information around the paths of wildfires so that communities can quickly take action,” said Niemeyer.

The WFCA Fire Map pulls data from the US Forest Service via the National Interagency Fire Center IRWIN feed, and 911 Dispatch data via PulsePoint to track the location of the wildfire as they start and while they’re burning. The WFCA Fire Map is the first map of its kind to pull such data from 911 Dispatch in relevant areas.

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CASE STUDY / APRIL 2021

Alaska’s Fairbanks North Star Borough sought to address the rural community challenges of low bystander engagement and slower response times in out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest response. As part of a comprehensive strategy that included participation in the C.A.R.E.S. Registry and Resuscitation Academy, bystander CPR training, CPR and AED awareness programs, and strategic AED placement, Fairbanks launched PulsePoint May 2019.

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