New Mobile Phone App to help save lives announced by San Jose Fire Department and El Camino (USA)

A free CPR "citizen responder" mobile phone application will help save lives through a new partnership between the San Jose Fire Department and El Camino Hospital. The PulsePoint app enables members of the public to provide life-saving assistance to victims of sudden cardiac arrest, which causes nearly 1,000 deaths a day in the United States. San Jose is the nation's largest city to utilize PulsePoint's location-aware technology. The app is available for both the iPhone and Android smart phones. "The first few minutes after a sudden cardiac arrest are critical for saving lives, and this app will help citizens provide immediate assistance," said San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. "Technology can help us build a safer, stronger and healthier community, and our partnership with El Camino Hospital to bring PulsePoint to San Jose is a wonderful example of this commitment at no cost to us." App users, who have indicated they are trained in CPR, can be notified if someone nearby is having a cardiac emergency and may require CPR. The app uses sophisticated location-based services to alert citizens in a public place of the need for CPR. The application also directs citizen rescuers to the exact location of the nearest publicly available automated external defibrillator (AED). The PulsePoint app will be made available to additional communities in Santa Clara County over the next year