Washington, D.C., joined other area jurisdictions in using a potentially life-saving app that alerts people who know CPR to the location of people suffering heart attacks.
People who have the PulsePoint app on their phones are alerted to 911 calls for cardiac arrest within a quarter mile of their location when they are in a city or county that uses the app. The alert goes out the exact time an ambulance is dispatched, and it also tells you where to find the nearest AED device.
Last summer, Sean Macguire had a heart attack at work in Howard County, Maryland, and someone called 911. Around the corner, Simone Rockstroh got an alert and got to Macguire and performed CPR before paramedics arrived.
“The fact that she showed up a few minutes before them, it’s the only reason I’m standing here,” he said.
Howard County officials credited PulsePoint for saving his life.